tamsonfirst

tamsonfirst specializes in Neurosciences.

Latest Activity

1. Support Stickie for New nurses who are not coping

   tamsonfirst replied to madwife2002's topic in New Nurse

   Another new nurse here. I graduated in May, took boards in June and started working on the floor I was a Nurse tech on in July. The pluses to that were that I knew all the staff and I was familiar with the hectic pace of the unit. The downside: some ...

2. Gustav

   tamsonfirst replied to CHATSDALE's topic in General Nursing

   I'm watching CNN from Seattle on my lunch break. They just announced that some hospitals have decided not to transport their most critical patients...that seems unwise to me. It appears even the Canadian Armed Forces are offering their services to me...

3. Bipolar

   tamsonfirst replied to EMSnut45's topic in Psychiatric

   ruralnurs, I, for one, thank you. I agree that the label is given rather frequently just as I believe ADHD is. I became even more disheartened by it when I saw the number of women who were diagnosed when I did my psych nursing rotation. When I read t...

4. Bipolar

   tamsonfirst replied to EMSnut45's topic in Psychiatric

   just a quick encouragement, as I'm off to work. I know from family experience that bipolar runs a broad spectrum, it is difficult for some people to get leveled out on meds (but it can happen) and when one is only 18, their body is still maturing phy...

5. Has anyone considered going all the way?

   tamsonfirst replied to Aariah's topic in General Nursing

   If I understand things correctly from my observations as an employee in a teaching hospital where I see many med students, nursing students, ARNP, etc...In the simplest terms doctors are trained to diagnose and treat disease and nurses are trained to...

6. Are Student Nurses Prepared for "Real Life?'

   tamsonfirst replied to paperdreams's topic in General Nursing

   As new grad who has just recently begun my residency program within the last two weeks, I'd like to give the more veteran nurses my perspective. I worked on the floor with patients for the first time on Thursday and I was scared as hell! This despit...

7. Visiting WA to see if I want to move there.. Advice needed!

   tamsonfirst replied to nursedani08's topic in Washington

   The previous poster gave very thorough information on the hospitals so I will only add some things for your consideration: The cost of living in the Puget Sound region is one of the highest in the country.We do not have a state income tax but we have...

8. Any current nurses who were not strong in science?

   tamsonfirst replied to rachenos30's topic in General Nursing

   I got B's in Micro, A & P, and a B+ in Developmental Psych for pre-req's. For my core classes, I did horrible at Med-Surg and it almost got me kicked out of the program. The summer between my junior and senior years I did a lot of studying and al...

9. Harborview nurse techs?

   tamsonfirst replied to candiceena's topic in Washington

   I just finished working as a Nurse tech at HMC for the past year. In this state, you can only be a NT until 30 days after graduation and I graduated 5/3, so after the May schedule, I chose to step down, focus on NCLEX and prepare to start my job ther...

10. Harborview or Swedish?

    tamsonfirst replied to Icess64's topic in Washington

    5th floor is Psych Unit, not surprising, but, believe it or not, that sort of thing doesn't happen very often. Yeah, lots of drama but you get used to it and it saves you the trouble of having to watch television! http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...

11. How competitive is it to get into a nursing school?

    tamsonfirst replied to sunnyday1's topic in Washington

    I'd like to weigh in and say, I agree with the advice about being careful of new programs. The school I am graduating from (May 3rd--yay!) is a fairly new BSN program. I will be a member of the 7th graduating class and it is just finally starting to ...

12. What shift to work for a new grad??

    tamsonfirst replied to margo2007's topic in New Nurse

    I had alot of the same questions that are posed on this thread. I am currently a nurse tech at the hospital I have been hired to work at as an RN (I graduate in 3 weeks, hope to take boards in June, scheduled to start in July). I know I will be orien...

13. Harborview or Swedish?

    tamsonfirst replied to Icess64's topic in Washington

    Thanks for the encouragement and the reminder...I know all organizations have their positives and negatives. I am laboring on the assumption that if I can learn to be a good nurse there, I can work anywhere...

14. Low pay in Seattle

    tamsonfirst replied to WAstateRN's topic in Washington

    The best argument we have here is that the wage is disproportionate to the cost of living. My starting salary will be approximately 4104.00/month yet the average house in King Co costs 475,00.00. Do the math. On a whim, after visiting friends in Alba...

15. Compare Evergreen and Overlake ER's

    tamsonfirst replied to stumillardkm's topic in Washington

    I have done clinicals at Evergreen in the past and I think they are amazing. They have computerized charting and medicine administration. They are really big on customer service towards patients and families and they give employees kudos quite a bit...