experianced us nurses please help me

[english_nurse]

Hi There

i am an english nurse who is just about to start a job on a med/surg floor in a small hospital in arizona.

i am quite nervous about it as you american nurses have different assessment skills to us in the uk, we dont listen to heart/ lung/bowel sounds, these are done by doctors.

can you give me any advice? i feel like a new grad!

i presently work on a ward which nurses renal patients i do peritoneal dialysis, not heamodialysis and have some medical and surgical patients.

are your assessment skills difficult to learn, i have passed nclex but its not the same as learning the skills in practice.

i will be starting on nights, for all you night birds out there what does your nightime rountine entail?

i suppose im just looking for reassurance

thanks

claire x

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

I don't work with adults, but here is a link (related to heart and lung sounds) to get you started:

http://www.med.ucla.edu/wilkes/inex.htm

Good luck!

[english_nurse]

thankyou that very useful

anything like that is a great help

also which brand of stethoscope do you use? any suggestions as to which is best?