I work at a smaller community hospital that is rich in acuity, but lacking in resources. That being said we have a very high turnover, and the nurse:patient ratio is usually suffering because of lack...
The patient is already on levophed, unless they’re maxed on levo and it’s time to get another pressor on board which is a different issue in itself, why would the mag be questioned? mg and K are...
RN_atlast replied to Nurse Pure-Spring's topic in General Nursing
Work together with them. Show them you are not above doing something, that goes a long way. As a new grad you are pressed for time, making it hard to help
The first 2 months on my own were awful. Everything was so new. I worked nights on a busy tele/CV Stepdown, and we were always slammed with admissions. Admission charting would take me an hour. I...
Now you will always check your PRN orders for your patients. Try to make it a habit to do this as early on in your shift as possible. If time-willing, I check my patient’s labs, H&P, consult...
I’m in Chicago too. If you’re trying for level one trauma centers and trying at the nicer hospitals (Northwestern, Rush, any union hospital here) you will have a harder time. I got into ICU with...
RN_atlast replied to FutureNurse0201's topic in General Nursing
At my first RN job, if you picked up OT before your last shift of the week they would find a way to cancel you/ put you on call for your last shift so you didn’t end up with OT. It got to a point I...
If I'm assigned to that patient, I am that patient's nurse. The charge is charged with running the unit, staffing, assignments, etc and on some units they have their own patients. I have one charge...
Not unclamping the secondary is a different “mistake” than say accidentally bolusing a K rider or something. But it’s a good time to learn to take your time with medications. When I’m pulling...
During nurse-nurse report I don’t think families should be present the entire time. There are labs, imaging, etc results which may not have been discussed with the patient/family by the proper...
If you feel like you want to try med-surg, do it. It’s a tough specialty and you get great at time management and prioritizing. You learn what tasks and patients are a time trap and how to deal with...
No you’re not in the wrong. I’m a male so I won’t personally ever breastfeed but my coworkers who do I always want them to have time and a place to do so. When one of my coworkers needs to pump...
RN_atlast replied to Guest1030824's topic in Critical Care
Location, location, location. The hospitals with nice shiny facilities that everyone wants to work at will probably be extremely saturated with applicants, especially to their critical care...
If not normal, similar to my experiences. When I became an RN I started on a tele/CV step-down/neuro (stroke) unit. My orientation was with one preceptor (and she was amazing, always gave me good...
RN_atlast replied to NewKidOnTheFloor's topic in Nursing Career
1:10 sounds insane. I work nights currently, so our ratios can get high with admissions but I haven't had a higher ratio than 1:7 thus far, knock on wood. If it were me personally, I would be looking...