Away

Packing

A lesson learned from the Italy trip:
Not all pharmacies resemble Duane Reade.
On this trip,
I'm bringing my dolls,
A pharma-cornucopia in a Ziploc bag:
antimalarial
antibiotic
antidiarrhea
antiemetic
NSAID.

Hmm, maybe I need an antihistamine.

Future

"More nursing jobs will be created in the next decade than in any other single profession. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that nearly 600,000 new jobs for registered nurses will be created by 2018."

Nursing Offers A Healthy Employment Future
by Tamara Keith, NPR.org

I am for recruiting nurses.
But this is not the way to do it:
"The fact that the wages are pretty high also sort of separates it from many occupations that would be growing";
And "You can work any hours you want ... particularly if you're a bedside nurse."
"Nurse Jackie," "Mercy," and "HawthoRNe" do not tell you everything.

Will there be an inflationary effect?
Because there is a need, the bar lowers in order to meet that need.
(Diploma programs, associate degrees hinder the profession than advance it.)
I don't consider myself as one who eats their young,
But I may have to eat the old.
"Nursing is a young person's game," a professor said.
Entry-level at 40 and above? For 12 hours on your feet? Think again.
By no means am I agist,
But going there for the wrong reasons will send you back sooner to square one.
That is burnout - a source of the shortage not mentioned in the article.

Prophylaxis

Like a pin cushion,
An intramuscular shot on each arm.
Administered expertly - like mosquito bites.
And for malaria chemoprophylaxis:
The first of seven mefloquine tablets,
whose side effects include:
"anxiety, vivid dreams, visual disturbances,seizures, depression, and psychosis."

Rarin' to go.

Soup for a Filipino Soul

Soup for a Wintry Cold Day: Mom's Pancit Molo, leftover from New Year's Eve feast. I can smell the scallions.

Twelve Grapes

A patient's family member gave me grapes at the start of the shift. I did not know the significance until the ball dropped at midnight and I saw a young woman eating a bunch of them. She explained that "it's a Spanish thing." Each person eats twelve grapes before midnight, making a wish with each grape.

I couldn't come up with twelve wishes. Only 6. Maybe 7 if you count my wish that I don't choke on the rest of the grapes.

Another explanation for the custom: "The idea is to eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve. Each grape represents a month of the coming year. The sweeter the grape, the better the month will be that it represents. If you get a sour grape, it may be that the month it represents could be difficult for you." -How to Eat Grapes For New Years Good Luck

No wonder the woman who gave me the grapes earlier said, "They're good. They're all sweet." That's called cheating.