___Mimi__

At the crap-hole job I currently have (for another week), I get a whopping 5 days per year. I had to be employed full-time for a year, then was so graciously gifted those days. But the kicker is, I can't use more than one day at a time. They will "let" me take a "vacation" using my one PTO day and one unpaid day. So I am limited to a long 4-day weekend and nothing else. If you're sick, you just don't get paid. Of course Aflac will kick in after 7 days for short-term disability, but a regular sickness or illness screws your paycheck. It is a privately owned RTC in Texas. I made my one year anniversary in March. I've been nursing almost 20 years and never had such **** PTO benefits. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to better benefits with a new company.

Sounds like you'll have a good start!

It's been awhile since both my LVN and RN programs, but I'll take a stab. For the LVN program, we started with basics like hand washing, infection control, hygiene, etc. So if you could find some reputable YouTube videos on those things, you could watch and learn. For my RN program, which was LVN transition, more of a general start involving medical terminology and pharmacology basics. We had to learn/use Dimensional Analysis for solving med-math problems, which was tough for some students. I don't know if this has been helpful at all, but I hope it was at least a little bit. Good luck!

What the actual fudge???

When I worked med/surg some years ago, we hadn't gotten a bladder scanner yet (small community hospital with limited budget and slow to jump on advancements). If I thought that I might be getting a big volume, I would use a regular Foley kit with a 2000ml bag. I know it's not as cost effective, but it was easier to collect those larger volumes. Using a graduate cylinder can be done, but having everything in easy reach or using a second set of hands definitely helps.

I have done this numerous times. I had the most patient shift his pelvis forward, get all tubing loose, and remove. I did it this way per patient request/agreement. The gentleman did not want to get back in bed, so we improvised!

Ugh! Sounds tough! But how about prepping well with non-sting skin prep, then using a hydrocolloid (Exuderm, Duoderm, etc)? Might be worth a try.

Yes, I think they're actually broken down into med/surg 5 patients, med/surg 6 pts, ICU 2 its, etc.

There are some really good report sheets on the site. You can organize your day/patient using those; then consult/read off that sheet.