Meagan BSN, RN

Meagan has 13 years experience as a BSN, RN and specializes in CHF.

Latest Activity

1. My Life as a Nurse

   Meagan replied to CoMoNurse's topic in General Nursing

   Wow! I loved reading this and really felt your passion and true love for your career as a nurse through your stories. Good luck to you in your future endeavors. We need more nurses like you today :)

2. A Letter to my Hospice Patient

   Meagan posted a topic in General Nursing

   To the Patient I’ll Never ForgetWhen we first met, it was my third year of nursing. I was young and excited to start my new job in the clinic. You were in your 80's, and had been through a lot - Heart Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis, and no...

3. Teaching Your Patient How to Reduce Their Sodium Intake

   Meagan replied to Meagan's topic in General Nursing

   I work in a CHF clinic, so the focus with low sodium diet is specific to fluid retention and symptom management. For us, it's about the overnight weight gain that can accompany those high sodium foods. A Liter of fluid weighs around 2 lb, so in a pat...

4. Teaching Your Patient How to Reduce Their Sodium Intake

   Meagan replied to Meagan's topic in General Nursing

   Thank you for your response. I can certainly appreciate the need to better study the effects of an increased or reduced sodium diet on patients patient as it pertains to patient outcomes. I also like to look at lower sodium diets as a more health con...

5. Teaching Your Patient How to Reduce Their Sodium Intake

   Meagan replied to Meagan's topic in General Nursing

   Thank you so much for your response. In my area we also struggle with transportation and lack of grocery store choices. We have several patients that are limited to food that is given from food pantries. I will often times try to help them maximize o...

6. Teaching Your Patient How to Reduce Their Sodium Intake

   Meagan posted a topic in General Nursing

   What do your patients typically say when you tell them they need to reduce their dietary sodium? I hear, "What is sodium anyways?” Guess what? - Its salt! And in my clinic, most patients have never heard this before. As a heart failure nurse, teachin...

7. While we were arguing; We disappeared

   Meagan replied to Yep, Me's topic in General Nursing

   In our hospital we have the color coated scrub system, but we also have badges with large lettering to indicate our positions. We have to wear two so that if our badge is turned around anyone can still see it.

8. I failed twice, please help!!

   Meagan replied to lee_soon22's topic in Career Support

   If your personal goal is to become a nurse, don't let what your instructor says get you down! Dust yourself off and keep trying. If this school doesn't work out, do what you have to do to get into another one. Retake some of your undergrad classes to...

9. What made you leave bedside?

   Meagan replied to angelsigns's topic in Career Support

   The only reason I left the bedside was because I knew that CHF was a passion of mine, and I had to follow it. I will tell you, it took me a long time to adjust to working Monday-Friday and depending on where you work, it may not be any less stressful...

10. RN career development path

    Meagan replied to SparkMaster's topic in Career Support

    There are some certifications out there that she could obtain in order to be certified to provide dietetic education, like a CNS or a wellness coach. As an RN she will always have to work under a physician's orders. I don't know if RD's really prescr...

11. MSN but offered the salary of ADN

    Meagan replied to peaceluvandnursing's topic in Career Support

    The hospitals in my area just recently changed the pay scale for ADN vs BSN and it wasn't by much.. Is there any reason you aren't reaching for an upper level position now that you have you MSN?

12. Best experience for a new grad?

    Meagan replied to Patty0102's topic in Career Support

    Does your hospital do a graduate-nurse residency? The fact that you are a new grad could be used to your advantage and you could start working on the unit you really want to without having to build up the experience first.

13. Am I too stupid to be a nurse?

    Meagan replied to iconicqueen's topic in General Nursing

    You made some really good points here, and I can tell you from my personal experience with anxiety and my first nursing job felt the same in many ways. Try to find a little bit of light if you can. Maybe you needed a different preceptor, or a differe...

14. Preceptor is SO BAD!

    Meagan replied to Guest606's topic in General Nursing

    When I was a new grad, I had a preceptor that just didn't click with me. She was a great nurse and a wonderful person, but I knew I wasn't getting what I needed to succeed. I wound up going to my manager and telling her I didn't feel that I would be ...

15. transitioning from acute setting to ambulatory

    Meagan replied to thomas76's topic in Ambulatory

    The hardest thing for me to adjust to was working 5 days per week. It's still hard to find the time to schedule appointments or get errands done. You will find your balance and what works for you though. The nice thing is not having to worry about ho...