boogalina ADN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN

boogalina has 11 years experience as a ADN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN and specializes in Acute Rehab, IMCU, ED, med-surg.

Latest Activity

1. CRRN Certification & WGU

   boogalina replied to beekee's topic in Rehabilitation

   I sat for the June CRRN and passed it. I had just completed one year's experience in rehab, and had a year into my MSN at WGU. No problem, based on the scenario you outline in this post, you would meet the CRRN requirements with your year of experie...

2. How did you decide your specialty?

   boogalina replied to Irish_Mist's topic in General Nursing

   Get into a good new grad program. I recommend Float Pool nursing - your specialty will find you! Thought I wanted to be an ICU nurse...but was hired into float pool. Was privileged to gain experience in stepdown critical care, ED, med-surg, inpatient...

3. Be honest, what pt behaviors do you find annoying?

   boogalina replied to CrunchBerries's topic in General Nursing

   My goodness, this is the worst!" (The one about patients with add-on requests.) If you give a mouse a cookie" patients, I call them!

4. Are you really not a "real nurse" unless you work in acute care?

   boogalina replied to tenderfootjoe's topic in General Nursing

   I'm an acute care RN in my hospital's float pool. I go to inpatient psych, inpatient rehab, ED, critical care (stepdown) and med-surg-tele floors. Seems like it's nursing work wherever I go! Beyond that, my fellow ADN grads work in acute care, home ...

5. This is not why I became a nurse

   boogalina replied to DEgalRN's topic in School

   Encouraging the patient/client to do as much as they can for themselves is at the heart of nursing, at every level and setting in which care is delivered. Damn, I should write nursing textbooks!

6. Nursing is my passion but I feel like I am too dumb.

   boogalina replied to Katlin1315's topic in General Nursing

   If you are a kinesthetic learner (as I am) you may enjoy Wynn Kapit's amazing A&P coloring book. I still pull mine out from time to time for review. You can get them on Amazon. Hope this helps!

7. Night shift RN's :Do you eat in the morning after your shift?

   boogalina replied to DesertSky's topic in Stress 101

   I'm still (after > 5 years on nights) figuring this one out. I would get an activity tracker (I've been using a Fitbit Flex) that gives you info on the duration and quality of sleep, and pair that with a food tracking app (I use LoseIt but some li...

8. How to Nab those Nursing Scholarships $$

   boogalina replied to achurley's topic in General Students

   Great article! I received scholarships from two foundations during my associates program (hospital where I work and the community college I attended)...for my BSN and my MSN just from the hospital foundation (so far...waiting to hear about scholarshi...

9. Nurses and holiday exhaustion

   boogalina replied to Joe V's topic in General Nursing

   My late husband used to write special dates in the dust like my birthday, our anniversary, etc. It was annoying, but cute.

10. PCCN Certification Exam Preparation

    boogalina posted a topic in Critical

    I passed my PCCN examination yesterday on the first attempt, and would like to share what worked for me. I used the following courses and materials for my examination preparation, which I started in late August this year: AACN's PCCN Certification R...

11. Funny Things Patients Say

    boogalina replied to PMFB-RN's topic in Relations

    Patient, upon seeing the big red "RN" at the bottom of my ID badge asked "does that stand for really nuts?" Ah, out of the mouths of the demented....!

12. A (Long) Note to New Grads

    boogalina replied to PS1CK's topic in Psychiatric

    While I don't work in our hospital's inpatient psychiatric unit full-time, I get to float there (note: GET to float there, it's a privilege) and I always learn so much! It's really helped my ability to care for all patients. It sometimes happens t...

13. Father of a nursing student needs advice

    boogalina replied to Keane68's topic in General Nursing

    Application times/dates for hospitals vary by area. Your daughter will want to check each hospital's/health system for their information and process. Some hospitals will not allow an application until the license has been issued. I would let her tak...

14. Saunders book question

    boogalina replied to Asteria's topic in NCLEX

    I think so. SATA is timeless...it's not so much about content as it is techniques for attacking this type of question.

15. Reality check: Are my expectations high?

    boogalina replied to lewisac6's topic in Pre-Nursing

    Good grades and high SAT/ACT scores are helpful, but not predictive of anything other than passing the academic aspects of nursing school. Not that that's easy, mind you. Experience and connections will be key to your success. I do suggest you try...