sweetyjen

I graduated from UCO in 2005. WONDERFUL program, and I can tell you that now, after working for almost 2 yrs in Med-Surg. Compared to my fellow coworkers that graduated the same time I did from other schools, I caught on super fast and felt and appeared very prepared. I highly recommend UCO's nursing school.

ok...scenario.... a patient of yours comes to the floor after surgery with a pca pump. policy is that the pacu nurses hook it up prior to leaving recovery room then once to the floor, pacu nurse and floor nurse check it together. ok...so your pt has a pca pump...you check it with the other nurse, everything's fine and you go about your business. 2 hrs later the pacu calls and says to check your pump b/c they think it may have been programmed with the wrong concentration. ok so you go check and it is programmed for 1 mg morphine/1 ml. You look at the syringe and it is morphine 5mg/ml. The pt has used 8mg. remember that is what the pump "thinks" is 8 mg...in reality it is 40 mg!! ok so tell me what you would do first, etc... what is your policy with everything going on here.... i want to know everything you would actually do in a situation like this. i'll tell you a story after i hear some responses!!

Wow, this thread came at the perfect time!! I had the weirdest dreams last night! I dreamt I overslept and called into work at about 7:30 and asked to speak to our charge nurse. she wasn't there, so my coworker talked to me and told me it was ok, just come in when I'm ready. So I get there at about 9. No one had even seen my patients yet and all their meds were late and some were waiting to be discharged. Then my charge nurse and nurse manager showed up and I had to pray that they wouldn't find out what happened and wouldn't figure out the patients hadn't had their meds yet, etc...It was so real!!! I can still remember every detail!!! This was by far the weirdest, yet most real, dream I've had yet about work! Oh and I have been a RN now for almost 3 months!!!

Hi! I'm a new graduate, have been on my med-surg floor since june. typically our ratios are 5-6 patients per nurse. On a great day, it's four, bad day 7. We get lots of abdominal surgeries, such as colon resections, hernia repair, appys, choleys. we get gyn such as hysts, post partum hemorrhage. anything really! uncontrolled diabetes, pneumonia, n/v/d. Our wing has about 20 rooms. we normally have 3-4 nurses on our side plus a charge nurse that does not take patients and helps out whenever needed, plus makes assignments, deals with payroll and our schedules. usually have 2 techs, and a unit secretary that puts in all new orders and prepares the new charts when new patients come in. As of right now as a new grad that just finished orientation, I am actually not TOO stressed out. I am lucky to have some wonderful nurses that work with me and are willing to help out anytime, which seems like all the time!! :) I am constantly asking questions but they haven't told me to shut up yet so I guess it's ok! :) I like the fast pace of med-surg...patients constantly coming and going. yesterday I sent 4 patients home and got 3 new post op pts within the hour. I'm slowly getting the hang of things. I think I am lucky to have such a great group of nurses to work with. My nurse manager also makes sure we are taken care of too. So I pray that I feel the same in 6 months!!!! :) This could likely be the "honeymoon phase" of my career!!!!!!! I'm trying to prepare myself for the possibility that I may become extremely overwhelmed soon!

Hi! I am a new nurse working in Med-Surg. I had a patient today that had a picc in her arm...I noticed slight swelling when I did my morning assessment. Pt said it has been like that.She left the floor for a while and when she came back it was much worse. I called the Dr and he ordered an US of her arm. Results came back...blood clots in her arm. So I dc'd the picc. Started her on Lovenox. What is this caused from?? She had a double lumen, iv fluids infusing at 30/hr and tpn @80. She has had this picc line for about a week or so with fluids infusing constantly. Except she mentioned today that they did unhook her so she could put her own shirt on...but that shouldn't have anything to do with it, should it? I am just trying to think of why this would have happened since I don't have any experience with this. I just pray that I did not somehow do this to her!!!! Her arm is about 4 times the size of her other arm. Very scary to me. I will go back to work in the am and find out more of why and what is going to happen now I guess. But I'm just curious if anyone has any answers for me!! :) Thanks so much for your help...

Hi! I'm a new grad and yes, we learned that demerol is pretty much being "phased out". HOWEVER, I just had a post op patient today on a Demerol PCA! Very interesting. I have had demerol IV before and honestly, it worked for about 5 minutes tops...i think it is a horrible drug for pain control and all alternatives should be done first!

Hi!!! I graduated May 6, took boards June 7 and have been actually practicing as a RN since June 9!! I started full time on the Med Surg unit of my hospital this week! What a wonderful feeling to know that a dream has been accomplished!!!!

This same thing happened to my daughter a week ago. The bite on her leg got very swollen, red, hard, and hot. Looked like an infection. The back of her leg was swollen 2X normal. I took her to the Dr. and she said she has been seeing about 2 kids a day for a few weeks now with the same thing. She said it should be fine but gave me an antiobiotic just in case it got worse and told me to use benadryl for itching prn. So apparantly this is normal!! I've never seen anything like it so it scared me. I thought it was a spider bite or something. It did look bruised a few days after the swelling and everything went away. Very weird.

HI! Well my computer shut off at 75 and I did pass. Of course, I couldn't tell you at that time that I did or not. Very hard test. A classmate of mine also had 75 questions and failed! So you really never know. Good luck to you!

Hi! Well I started looking for jobs a little before spring break of my senior year and actually applied during spring break. I had a job that week. The hospital said that their new grad positions fill up soon after spring break. I took the NCLEX last week (& passed!!). My new job started yesterday. So it is definitely a good idea to get a job before graduating, in my opinion. Especially if you want L&D. If you have a certain place you want to work, I would let them know that you are very interested as soon as possible!! Even if you have a year left!! The sooner the better! :) Just look at all your possibilities. I'm sure it is possible to not find a job before graduation too. But you might have a better selection to choose from before. Good luck!!

Hi! I just took the NCLEX and passed with 75 questions. :) A lot of the questions were almost identical to Kaplan's review questions. Kaplan's tests, were, in my opinion, hard. You feel like you're doing well and come out with a score of 60!! I think their scoring is just hard. But definitely, i think that as long as you are taking the tests, answering the questions, and then looking at the rationale afterwards, you will be fine!! I know after taking Kaplans review tests, I was so scared!!! Before that, I thought I was doing well. Kinda hurt the self-confidence I guess. But I will say that a lot of questions were very similar. I had lots of priority questions...which patient would you see first, or call first, some disaster responses. Look over herbal remedies also. I think you will do great!!

congratulations!!!! :balloons:

Hey!! Sounds like you have prepared very well. I took the NCLEX on Thursday and I also took the Kaplan review course. I will have to say that the majority of my questions were very very similar to those from Kaplan. I swear there was one exactly word for word with almost exactly the same answers to choose from also. I had a lot of "priority" questions, like which patient would you see first, or call back first. Sounds like you're doing a great job preparing, try not to stress out so much. Get the ear plugs at the testing center and then just relax in your own little world!!! Good luck!!!

HI! I got my results this morning (Saturday) on Pearson's website!!! I passed too by the way!!!! :) Finally a RN!!! I took the NCLEX on Thursday at 9 am. When did you take yours? Good luck to you!!!

Start Monday, June 13 , med surg floor. lucky to get day shift!! well i guess, lucky for me since I have a 2 yr old (single mommy) :)