Galore

I'm looking for experience/advice on what to do after being informed of a high risk Covid exposure at work. Exposure occurred 3 days ago - I was wearing my own KN95, surgical mask, and eyeglasses. Pt has since tested positive, and I was with this pat...

Precautions should have started months ago? I take precautions to prevent covid in my daily life this past year - I was specifically asking about what I should do if I'm asymptomatic, had high risk exposure from a patient, and still have to be home a...

So true! I can sometimes get away with starting an IV or doing blood draws without the baby ever waking up, but they pitch a fit when it's time for their temperature!

We just use the standard swaddling blankets as well, but most of the time parents will bring in nice ones or volunteers make the heavier quilted blankets to put over the giraffes.

My facility does cooling of newborns for HIE and I just went to a conference that covered this topic. Our neo who specializes in this said it's successful in helping 1 in 8 babies. Pretty crappy odds, but I guess if you're the one baby who it helpe...

Most important to me is good fit/comfort and pockets! I'm picky about my pockets - I really prefer the kind with 2 on the bottom and not the side-slit kind. I don't have to carry much around but it's much easier to keep track of my pens and calculat...

I work at a teaching hospital too. Sometimes it is annoying having to run after the residents to get them to 'fix' the orders they write, but I have rarely encountered any attitude from them. Most of them are very receptive to suggestions or reques...

I'm no longer a new grad, have now been working in my unit for almost 2 years, but it's definitely been a tough process switching to nursing (I also worked in another field first). I went through a really rought time too. The first thing I did just...

I would say, please don't forget what it's like to be a bedside nurse and treat them with respect. Most of the NNPs on my unit are great, but there are a few who talk to me more like an assistant than a colleague and they are generally just grouchy ...

I'm a NICU nurse too and when I saw the title of the thread I though maybe there was some over-reacting going on. Some of our patients can be very trying and we may have to deal with them for several months, so it's common for a doc or nurse to use ...

As a new nurse, you aren't held to the same standards as much more experienced nurses though (or at least shouldn't be!). Better to feel stupid for asking for help, then trying to do it yourself and having an accidental extubation. I remember being...

That is depressing! Even on my busiest nights I can get someone to cover my kids for a minute if I need to use the restroom. We are allowed to have water bottles out on the floor. Even drinking water all night long, the air is so dry that I still f...

I graduated a little over a year ago, and I don't think it's true that hospitals prefer to hire GNs into med-surg if you are looking to ultimately do a specialty. The majority of my peers who wanted specialties (ER, ICU) were hired right into that u...

Off the top of my head...strong organization and time management skills, ability to advocate for patients, communication skills (you will need to translate complex medical information for parents and do a lot of teaching). If you feel like browsing,...

I was a new grad hired straight into the NICU, along with several other new grads at the same time. However, I was fortunate to graduate right before the economy went downhill and hospitals started doing hiring freezes. In general, I think the NICU...

You will use math on a daily basis for drawing up the correct dose of drugs, checking drips, and checking drug dosages, but it's basic algebra type stuff. On my unit, the big things like drawing up PRN narcotic doses and hanging drips need to be ver...

I have occasionally had 3 baby assignments in Level III, but that's usually due to a baby in another nurses's assignment getting very sick so it's changed to a 1:1 midshift, or already having 2 babies and getting a new admission. Routinely having 3 ...

UF has group tours available but they are mostly aimed at incoming freshmen and cover more of the college experience highlights - the dorms, dining facilities, admission/financial aid office, etc. The College of Nursing is at the southernmost part o...

Paco, I waited until early January to take the GRE since I decided at the last minute to apply to UF as a backup. You will be fine if you take it by November. However, I bought a prep book and halfheartedly crammed for it. I've always been pretty ...

My unit has a protocol on Vital Signs, frequency, and blood sugars on new admits. As a new grad, I also received a checklist of things I should have at my admit bedside and I added in every single item I would need to start an IV (tegaderm, needles, ...

I work 7p-7a, usually 3 12's in a row. On my first night back, I can take a quick nap beforehand and usually be ok (sometimes it's only 30 minutes or so, I aim for an hour but it's hard when I'm not sleepy). My next two nights, I try to go to bed b...

My hospital is on a hiring freeze also. Technically there is not supposed to be overtime but due to staffing situations, I was able to get an extra shift just a few weeks ago.

Why wouldn't you use sterile water in the tube? I don't need to do that very often but for example, I had a baby that was NPO except for meds which were given by NG tube. I used sterile water to flush the meds down, otherwise they'd would be sittin...

I sent out emails to those who inquired about books, I do still have them. I made the mistake of searching for all white shoes, but once we started I realized that most instructors don't care if they're all white. A little bit of color like the Nike ...

Since a few of you have already requested the charts, I'm going to see if it will let me upload the charts here. Hopefully it works, and you can all just download them from one central location. I will point out that while I think studying off the ch...