Stratiotes

Stratiotes has 4 years experience and specializes in Critical Care.

Latest Activity

1. How do people feel about male nurses?

   Stratiotes replied to Natgurad's topic in Men

   I don't believe gender has any part in getting hired or how you're treated by employers. However, as much as stereotype deniers try to say otherwise, there are situations in which male and female nurses are treated differently. The truth is, while w...

2. Disturbing Conversation on Overweight Healthcare Workers

   Stratiotes replied to FutureDNP2021's topic in General Nursing

   I think that it depends on the context. If I were a patient, I wouldn't judge a nurse's worth by his or her bodyweight. That said, I would have trouble listening to any teaching they might have to offer on nutrition and/or weight control. This would ...

3. Health care administration - non nurses

   Stratiotes replied to nutella's topic in General Nursing

   From what I've experienced, even those who have worked as nurses seem to lose touch once they get into admin. I'm not sure it really makes a difference.

4. Why do you wear a white coat? (if you indeed do)

   Stratiotes replied to RNdynamic's topic in Professionalism

   I can't answer why normal staff nurses would want to wear a lab coat. They are hot and I would imagine easy to get soiled during patient care. I have never worn one while working as a bedside nurse. I do wear one when I am working as a clinical instr...

5. New grad starting out in ICU?

   Stratiotes replied to DCtooRN's topic in MICU

   I would say a lot of it depends on your personality. I think for the majority of people, it is a better idea to spend a year on a tele or stepdown floor. That said, I've precepted and worked with several new grads who have done great. I have also wor...

6. Transition from step down to ccu

   Stratiotes replied to RescueNinjaKy's topic in CCU

   I think whether or not people are successful in ICU (or any new setting) largely depends on personality. We mostly get nurses who transfer after a year on tele, but we've also hired on med/surg transfers, and even new grads. Some do well, some don't....

7. CABG recovery ratios?

   Stratiotes replied to brook0224's topic in CCU

   We have the same policy, but as a charge nurse, I generally would try to let the nurse with the CABG take over someone else's patient and have the other nurse take the admit. This depending on the acuity of the new admit. We get a lot of not-so-criti...

8. 1 month new ICU job. I want to run

   Stratiotes replied to RNMeagz's topic in Critical

   I'd say the ICU takes around 3-6 months (depending on the acuity level when you start which I've noticed can be vastly different at times) to even feel halfway comfortable. I didn't start feeling competent until year two! Now I have my CCRN and charg...

9. How to develop ICU critical thinking skills and move away from being "task" focused

   Stratiotes replied to midnitej's topic in MICU

   I struggled with this for several months after moving to ICU nursing. While I have encountered the rare individual who simply does not seem to learn from experience, most people do. At first, everything in the ICU is so overwhelming, task based nursi...

10. Should ICU get more pay than floor nursing?!?

    Stratiotes replied to francoml's topic in MICU

    Sorry to bump an old thread, but I thought I'd throw my $0.02 in. I've done both med-surg and ICU. Everywhere I've worked has a "Critical care" differential. In my opinion, this is absolutely fair. I never claim to work harder than a med-surg nurse,...

11. RN pay in NW Arkansas

    Stratiotes replied to holly111's topic in Arkansas

    Actually, most registry positions around NWA are around $35 an hour. There are also a couple of PRN agencies that pay this. But, these jobs do not come with benefits.

12. Beginner's Blues?

    Stratiotes replied to jrsRN07's topic in MICU

    I thought I'd made a big mistake by going into critical care my first few months. The fact that you feel the way you do is actually a great thing. It shows that you care about your level of knowledge and want to learn. Soak it up. I posted this one ...

13. New ICU Nurse: Wanting helpful tips

    Stratiotes replied to RNbelth's topic in MICU

    Keep a notepad with you at work. Anytime you question something or feel that you don't fully understand a concept, write it down and study it later. Unfortunately, in my case, I run into these questions at the worst times. For example, when I was new...

14. Critcal care as new grad

    Stratiotes replied to bryan_del's topic in CCU

    Many new grads have been accepted into our ICU, though it is a smallish hospital. However, we do take open hearts and stuff--so it isn't an "easy" ICU. I started after a year of med surg right along with some new grads, and I can tell you that I didn...

15. Hospital policy: no letters of recommendation?

    Stratiotes posted a topic in SRNA

    Has anyone encountered this? According to my director and verified by HR, it is hospital policy to not write letters of reference due to liability. It is nice to find this out after 18 months of employment.