new to addiction

prettynurseL · Jun 24, 2013

What's CIWA?

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jun 25, 2013

Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment scale, used for alcohol withdrawal. It's a way to measure the extent of withdrawal that the patient is experiencing. Facilities may tweak the scale to fit their specific guidelines, but you're generally looking at pulse, tremors, N/V, agitation, hallucinations, sweats, and other S&Sx.

The key to using it is to not just listen to what the patient says (of course you should listen) but also go by what you see in the patient. Some patients will play up the symptoms they are experiencing in order to get medication, particularly Librium or Ativan. Others may play down symptoms as not being important.

A similar scale is COWS, the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale.

prettynurseL · Jun 29, 2013

Thank you ! :)

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jun 29, 2013

Another tip: get yourself a copy of The Substance Abuse Handbook (I believe Ruiz is one of the authors). It covers the basics of addiction and treatment for a wide range of drugs and behaviors. I swear by my copy.

cfaith · Jul 9, 2013

prettynurseL, How did the interview go?

IntNSA announced a LPN workshop at the annual conference in Oct, location Washington DC... just saw it on the web site. 2013Conference

CASTLEGATES · Aug 12, 2013

I would start off by getting the CARN study guide and CARN core curriculum and passbook (all 3) from the IntNSA website (or if you're really lucky, you can find them used). The psych mental health nursing review they publish is also a huge help in understanding dual diagnosis stuff. All four of these were useful for the course to pass

lilia123 · Jul 1, 2014

I had to quit a inpatient treatment facility. I was only per diem, and I was working 1 day a week. but on the day I would come in, the printer was offset to computer so I had to handwrite new meds on the med sheet, there was no internet explorer access. the full-time nurse works without using the internet. I use the internet to look up medication side effects. plus the nurses are doing billing. I was making copies for billing and faxing out to billing for: pharmacy billing as well as psychiatrist billing. I have to call pharmacy and answer their calls on billing refaxes and questions. so in summary, i was doing 2 peoples jobs without properly consistent working equipment.

i don't like to quit , but i realize my worth. I no longer willing to jeopardize my mental and physical health for $ or a referral.

i just had to vent. thanks for reading

SU2013 · Jul 21, 2014

Maybe call.your state department for Addiction counselling and ask them for websites, schools and suggestion. I have a degree in addiction and I bought my books on Amazon.