CarrieH

I used to give allergy shots to a patient who said I hurt less than the allergy office. I always changed the needles after drawing them up, she said she never saw them change the needles. Don't know if that or my technique that made the difference.

Just tonight, my mother-in-law told me that one of her sisters needs to have the aorta in her neck cleaned out. My husband is always coming up with some weird comment or complaint, but I can't think of an example right now. (time for bed) He likes to use my name to give his family advise... ie: "Carrie said you should stop taking baby aspirin because there was blood on the tissue when you blew your nose"... excuse me? I said what now?

I usually go for Amazon and Barnes and Noble (online) and I buy ahead of time to get the best deal. Even new books are usually cheaper on these sites than in the school bookstore.

Keep in mind that a lot depends on the pH ect. of what you are injecting. Some things burn no matter what you do. Make sure you're not pushing the plunger too fast. It takes some practice to inject and talk at the same time, but the best way I've found to minimize pain during any injection is distraction. The more they focus on the needle, the more it will hurt.

I so happy to hear that you are being treated so well! As someone who has worked both as a "float" and with just one doctor I hear you on the I just want my own desk thing... but one real advantage to floating is that you never get burnt out in one area. Just when you're starting to feel that burn out, you're on to the next area. Give it time and you will have a few patients that will know you even if you don't see them every time. You might want to ask if you can have your own mini-spot some where in the office that can be officially "yours". Put a stapler and pen holder with your name on it there. I did that for a while and even though I wasn't always sitting at that spot, it made me feel a little more permanent.

I know this post is old, but here are typical days for me... (Med/Ped's office - previous typical day) Get to work, make sure rooms are stocked and clean, check oxygen, fridge/freezer temp, phone messages. Start bringing patients back... full vitals for the adult physical... temp, wt, quick strep test for the 10 year old with a sore throat... physical needs an EKG, blood drawn... bring back the newborn, do head, wt, length, growth curve, pinch cute little cheeks... strep test positive, tell doctor... geriatric follow up, vitals and mini-mental (doctor pre-ordered)... check messages... physical is gone, clean room... bring in 5 year old for school check up, do vitals, growth curve, vision, urine, glance at shot record (will need DTaP, IPV, MMR, VZV - give information sheets)... another sore throat with a cough on an 20 year old with asthma, do vitals, quick strep, peak flows... pull lab reports and put on doctors desk... 5 year old ready for shots (yippee), draw up, document, give with lollypop and stickers... strep test negative, tell doctor and send out culture to lab, correct what doctor told patient (we do NOT get the results back the next day, call in 2 days)... Holy crud! It's 10:00 already?!... Give your co-workers a hug and hope it slows down in the afternoon (at least until school gets out at 4:00) (Multi-specialty office - new typical day) Get to work, make coffee, check the schedule for the cardiologist who starts at 10:30, pull charts, file charts, organize charts on desk... help with primary care for an hour by faxing refills, pulling charts, bringing in a few patients... bring the first patient back for a follow up, make sure reports are in chart, do EKG, get weight, review med list, beg patient to bring a written list of meds next time... wait for doctor to wander in, pull faxes and charts to go with... bring in next patient (repeat above)... fill out reqs for stress test, echo, and labs as doctor orders before next visit, smile as you show to check out and remind again to bring med list with next time... repeat with second patient... doc leaves to do stress tests at hospital... prepare charts for next day... pull dictated stress tests off computer for doc to sign tomorrow, send info to billing department, help primary care again... smile at the neurologist (who scowls back) as you pass by to talk to the gen surgeon about a patient the cardiologist wants seen for a pacemaker implant, he'll see in office tomorrow... Watch primary care staff run around like crazy and thank your lucky stars no one else wants to work with your doctor but you...

I live and work on the Treasure Coast. Since I work in an office, I have no idea what the ratio's would be in our hospitals... just curious, what hospital do you work in?

Sad thing is, the college I'm attending right now just terminated several instructors during some cut-backs. Now it's even harder to get in the program since there are less teachers to teach it.

I worked 10 years with a doctor who was internal medicine and pediatrics and loved the peds. Ever since I started thinking about becoming an NP I thought it would be in peds... but the past two years I'm been working off and on with a cardiologist and I'm really starting to like that too. Guess I won't know for sure until I get there. (I'm sure I'll change my mind a couple more times between now and then.)

I'm thinking the same thing. I have two small children (one of whom is special needs) and I can't go full time to school since I still have to work full time. I'm aiming for doctorate since by the time I get anywhere close to being an ANP that will be the requirement. There is a college in our area that has a combined BS/MS program and I'm hoping I can figure out how to manage that by the time I finish the Associates program. Even if I don't, I guess slow and steady wins the race. I'll get there eventually, even if I'm retirement age by the time I get there.

Check with your high school. They may still have your shot record. BTW, immunize.org is an excellent vaccine website... I'm on there all the time.

All the labs list the theraputic ranges as "normal". It will show up as "low" on the lab result since the majority of pts getting this lab are on anticoagulant therapy. I confused a nurse that worked with my son's pediatrician once because I asked for some tests to be done (including PT) since he bruises so easily. He called my husband with the result the same day (since that's PT protocol) and asked him what dose of Coumadin he was on. It confused my poor husband too. PT/INR and aPTT are both common tests before any surgery where blood loss could be an issue. There are a few blood disorders that someone could have without knowing it that would cause them to bleed more. The surgeon wants to know your husband won't have a bleeding problem BEFORE he/she cuts into him.

Just an FYI to all the posters concerned about trace levels of Thimerosal in vaccines... You are exposed to more thimerosal from your cosmetics and several other household products that require a preservative. In addition, this is not the same mercury that causes "mercury poisoning". Why does autism have to come up in EVERY vaccine discussion?

Get the flu shot. The one time I didn't get it because I "didn't get a chance" I got the flu. Trust me, the side effects of the vaccine are nothing in comparison to the real thing. I remember a few years ago hearing about a nurse who was sued for not getting a flu shot. She got the flu and transmitted it to her patients. i think it was in Mass.

i don't know if this actually works or not, but i found a amplifier diaphragm for $6 on image911.net - http://image911.net/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=176 unless you have actual hearing loss, you might want to try some of your co-workers stethoscopes. some people hear better with a sprague type or with different earpieces (i prefer soft). the littman cardiology iii is pretty clear (borrowed this one from a doctor once) and is about $130. otherwise, there are a couple of electronic stethoscopes for just over $200, maybe you can find one on sale or clearance. i worked with some one who had a little hearing loss and loved her welsh allen electronic. it even had a cute little heart symbol that would flash with the heartbeat.