How do you Nurse (Comparison) please assist!

[purseOnalityRN]

Hi Everyone! I'm am on my way down to California in a couple months. I am a Canadian Nurse about to take a travel assignment with a hosp (unsure of which on exactly yet) in San Francisco.

Apparently, I have heard very bad stories regarding the way travel nurses are perceived & treated by regular staff RN's. While I am sure this is not always true across the board, I would like to prepare myself as much as possible for the "dynamics" change I will face coming from a Canadian health care system.

Below are some things I would like to know & in brackets I have listed how my hospital in Canada functions on a typical MED SURG unit... Please tailor your responses to a typical med surg unit in a teaching hospital if possible!

Please any response/assistance would be appreciated!

*type of nursing (primary with a bit of team: one charge nurse who reports to docs, takes care of lab results, takes care of pt issues as reported by the primary nurse, each nurse has own pts)

*nurse:pt ratio (4:1 on days, 5:1 evenings, 6:1 nights)

*beds & specialty (18 beds, thoracic/gensurg, 650+ beds in hospital as a whole)

*staffing mix & duties (RNs provide primary care - vitals, assess, meds, washing etc, LPNs provide primary care - vitals, assess, meds, etc., NAs shower pts, clean equipment, run bloodwork, UNIT CLERK - processes orders)

*medication admin (pyxis machine: narcs & other meds, rarely mix iv solutions as pharm does it)

*iv push on the floor (rarely done except in emerg situations, only some RN's certified to do)

*EKGs done by whom (EKG tech, RTs, interns, never by nurses)

*unionized (yes big union)

*blood work done by whom (lab techs, RNs do central line draws)

*charting (tick charting, all on paper)

Please feel free to copy & paste etc. to make it easier... also add any additional info you feel is important.. I really do appreciate this! I am quite anxious about it all!

:balloons:Thanks!