tutored

Hi everyone, I am an inner-city trauma nurse back in the northeast, and am thinking about relocating to the Bend area....(anyone see "Mercy" on TV :heartbeatlast night? Everything the doc said about NJ is true!)....it seems as if the only hospital in the area is St. Charles...any comments from anyone who's worked there, or is working there, particularly in the ICU? And is this a union shop? Thanks! Appreciate any feedback.

not at all true...I, and two other nurses I work with, went straight into ICU with ADNs...BSNs, with their extra management courses under their belt, offer no particular advantage to an ICU manager looking to hire (as a new nurse and a first position, that is)....We've had some BSNs start right on the unit out of college who can't dose liquid Tylenol. Don't let your lack of BSN be an issue - it isn't, not for your first job.

I may be wrong, but I remember back in school my final-semeseter instructor explaining to us that we, as students, could never practice starting IVs because in NJ only RNs, or Paramedics, can start IVs...I was incredulous that there would be unfortunate patients in my future as a nurse that I would have to "practice on"....going straight into critical care out of school, you can imagine the nightmares I had to face trying to start lines on these kind of patients. There was an LPN in my class that was also in the same boat. YOu're also right that LPNs can't push IV drugs. If you can tap a vein well for blood draws, I imagine you'll do just find starting indwelling catheters. Do you have a "significant other", so to speak, who would let you try? (half-kidding, half-serious)

Hi Steve RN: Are you still at NYP? I'd love to work there. I'm in MICU/SICU in NJ. only 1-1/2 years experience, though. Offhand, hard to get into your MICU with this level of experience?

I work in NJ. Call, first, hospitals in your area to see if they will open their internal IV access course to outsiders for a fee. (I'm assuming you have your RN license. Only RNs can start IVs in)...nearly all hospitals have IV access courses. If you don't find one in NJ, NY Presbyterian Hopsital opens their IV Access course to outside nurses, and I'm almost certain the UMDNJ will. Both are teaching hospitals.

What about a simple albumin infusion for a short time, even if just to suspend medication in the bloodstream and maintain osmolarity? Did this patient need the calories from the prosource?

I went into the ICU for my first nursing job out of school - it took me a half a year to get it, but I didn't want any other specialty....I learned how to make myself more marketable while I was looking - it costs a hospital (at least here in the northeast) approximately $40,000.00 to hire and train a new nurse for the ICU. I discovered all the courses a hospital must send a new hire to, and took them on my own on the outside. Find out what hospitals in your area have their internal courses open to outside nurses...if possible, take those courses at the most prestigious teaching institution you can afford and/or travel to...You'll need a substantial four-day basic critical care nursing course...BLS, and then take ACLS afterword...find a IV access class and take that.....take basic dysrhythmias course for regcognizing basic heart rhythms, and take 12-Lead EKG interpretation after that...believe me, you walk into a hospital looking for an ICU job with all that under your belt, you will look most favorable, and motivated, to a nurse manager! The whole downside to this is that this will cost you money. But it will help you become less of a liability to a potential hospital. Join the AACN, too, you can get a student rate before you're a full-blown critical care nurse. Put that on your application, too. Be prepared for an interview question, "why do you want to work in critical care?", and have an enthusiastic answer that doesnt' sound canned. If you really want the ICU, you should have no problem coming up with a response. But know this: Your first couple of years in the ICU will be an overwhelming, stomach-churning experience while you get your feet wet. Try very, very hard to keep your outward composure during your baptism-by-fire first year, because you will be watched to see if you can handle the pressure.

I looked up the cost of Xigris through Henry Schein last year - $880.00 per dose.

Me, too....I have to say the sound quality if "ha-a-a-arible", and can get a little annoying, but the material is excellent. I work with an older RN on my unit who worked with Ms Gasparis, said she was not just an incredible nurse, but sort of a "rebel".....

Hi Nurse 901! I should say from the start but I live now in NJ ....but it's not my fault! (lol)...I come from several generations of Colorado families - I'm looking to relocate to Colorado again, and so I'm going to post a question about this right after I answer your question. ...I am a trauma nurse in a busy inner-city hospital in New Jersey. It was my first job - I've worked there fourteen months, right out of school into the ICU. I took me six months to find a job as a new grad, in a state with the most number of hospitals per capita in the whole country. I was beginning to think I would never find a job, and i was looking in the most disappointing of all avenues, desperate for work. What I learned got me a great job: I started finding out all the classes that hospitals have to place new grads in before they can hit the floor - it costs, at least here in NJ, about $40,000.00 for a hospital to hire and train a new nurse!!! So I set out to not be such a liability to a hospital...I discovered which hospitals opened their internal training classes to outsiders (for a fee, naturallly), and took everything I would need as a nurse, and them some (since I wanted Critical Care)...I had to drop more money out of nursing school (the big downside), but I was then a lot more "hire-able", and less of a liability, during job interviews. It's hugely impressive to nurse managers, and it makes you less expensive, so the hospital realizes you "COST LESS MONEY" to them as a new nurse. Start calling and taking all the courses: IV Access, BLS,....it all depends on what you need, or what position you want. I added ACLS, Critical Care Nursing, Hemodynamics and Shock Monitoring, in short, anything I could get a seat in, I took. Try this approach, and let me know how you're doing! Good lUck:heartbeat

Thank you to you both! :bowingpur:flowersfo

Hi fellow ICU RNs! ....I'm a fairly new nurse (2 years) trying to study for the CCRN. I have the AACN book (dry, dry, dry,...), but I keep hearing about these famous DVDs from Ms Gasparis. They are nowhere to be seen on any website, and I've done an extensive search, even using rare book sellers who were kind enough to search for audio and video material from this person. I've found NOTHING, but I DO see lots and lots of raves about her work in this forum, and it's making me cukoo!:lol_hitti Would ANY of you good people out there know how to get a set of her DVDs? I find it hard to believe she's become wealthy and no longer needs to sell her material. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I can't believe how difficult it is to get these famous gasparis DVDs for passing the CCRN....I can't find them anywhere. There's no material out there from her except for a ten year-old paperback book on Amazon. Can ANYONE PLEASE tell me where these are? I find it hard to believe that Ms Vonfrolio has become independently wealthy and stopped selling her material. Thanks to anyone out there who knows how to get one! Thanks

Do you work the day shift, burnout RN, and if so are you on twelve-hour shifts? quote=ACRN06;3532057]I'm tired... I'm so tired. I'm worn out. I've found myself thinking more and more of different jobs I'd like to do if I weren't a nurse. And the thing is... I can't think of one that I'd really like that would provide enough. Don't get me wrong, I really do still love nursing... it..just..... really gets to you after awhile. You're dealing with the sick and the dying, the sick in body and sick in mind. You're being lied to, cursed at, conned, and unappreciated. Your putting yourself at risk of exposure to a hundred different illnesses, some life-threatening. And they just don't stop! When I'm fulfilling my morning ritual of paying alms to the Starbucks god in exchange for some coffee goodness, I watch the baristas and think of how much fun their jobs must be, how relaxing, how nice, what bright shiny happy people they are. I want to be a shiny happy person. Haha. No lives in danger in you screw up. Just delivering caffeinated goodness to grateful customers. I think I need a hobby. I've thought of taking up a second non-nursing part time job...but maybe just a good hobby would do the trick. What do you do to stave off the burnout?

So why are you here? Why continue to talk to us, and why contribute to this forum? Or is it because you want to dissuade, discourage, and make sure as many nurses as possible are unhappy as you? To the original poster, I love my job very much, and the nurses I work with love our job, too...Don't let depressed burnouts get you down. This is a wonderful profession, and there's room to go onto your own autonomy - The Nurse Practicioner, which in my state has far more autonomy than the PA. Don't let people get you down!! This is supposed to be a SUPPORT forum, by the way.