josbarRN

Latest Activity

1. mixing pain medications with a flush

   josbarRN replied to painmeds's topic in General Nursing

   In response to "So you spend 40 minutes pushing 2 mg of IV Push Dilaudid?" No, I have never spent 40 minutes giving a med IV Push. I realize it can seem to take forever; fortunately, there are ways to lighten your load: if the patient has maintenanc...

2. mixing pain medications with a flush

   josbarRN replied to painmeds's topic in General Nursing

   If you draw up a dose of 4mg/mL Morphine in a syringe, you would have to push 0.25 mL per minute in order to follow the one mg/min recommendation. You would have to guess how much that is if your syringe isn't marked to measure out 0.25 mL increment...

3. mixing pain medications with a flush

   josbarRN replied to painmeds's topic in General Nursing

   And how many times do you give Dilaudid IV Push to see your patient in a slumber five minutes afterwards? I hope you will read my response on why it is important to dilute an IV Push Opiate: these drugs *must* be given slowly to reduce the risks of n...

4. Split-Shift Floating

   josbarRN replied to CameToSlay's topic in Travel

   Your post brings back bad memories: I have worked at two hospitals that informed me that, "as a travel nurse, you can expect to get floated to another unit before a permanent nurse will get floated". At Hospital#1, I was unprepared for how aggravat...

5. mixing pain medications with a flush

   josbarRN replied to painmeds's topic in General Nursing

   In Nursing School, the rule I was taught was to administer IV Morphine 1 mg per minute. I had to deliver a 10 mg dose and my instructor made sure I knew exactly how I was going to administer the dose. Drawing the dose up in a 10 mL syringe allowed ...

6. Can I please get a Parking Spot!

   josbarRN replied to ArrowRN's topic in General Nursing

   "Second Grade"? I was not driving or parking anything except my bicycle in Second Grade. I believe the term is "second rate". Yes, I know it is "frowned upon" to correct another nurse's grammar on a nursing board blog, but I believe that if we wan...

7. Overtime Pay, who really benefits?

   josbarRN replied to NurseRies's topic in Travel

   I have read travel nurse forums that recommend setting your overtime pay as $10/hour above the bill rate. Not the hourly pay but the actual *bill rate*. Even so, I have spoken to recruiters who maintain that the OT rate is fixed as 1.5 of the hourl...

8. Overtime Pay, who really benefits?

   josbarRN replied to NurseRies's topic in Travel

   I have also had an issue with OT pay as a travel nurse. One hospital explained that they could not afford to allow me to pick up OT shifts even though my OT rate was only $30/hr. Once I considered that the agency bills the hospital 1.5 times the bi...

9. Getting past the 1 year IRS rule

   josbarRN replied to josbarRN's topic in Travel

   Thanks, I appreciate having the truth.

10. Getting past the 1 year IRS rule

    josbarRN posted a topic in Travel

    As we travel nurses *should* know, one of the main benefits of Travel Nursing is the ability to choose non-taxed travel stipends. We should also know that these stipends are dependent on our status as temporary employees and the good old IRS only co...