ChocoholicRN

i couldn't find any free ceu's, just the one's to pay for. do they have free ceu's or does it vary by state?

i put this into google translator and got the same thing as you esme, i'm confused. american's don't speak english well? OP: ti trovi in Italia o in America? Sono confuso dalla vostra dichiarazione / domanda.

In NYC when I started there 4 years ago my annual salary was 71K on day shift, don't remember the hourly though. As per diem on nights I made $60/hr but no paid time off or benefits. Now as staff I am at 43/hr with night differential but not even including the added money for charge RN, preceptor, certifications, etc, which all add to our salary. So yea, those numbers they mentioned seem like a national average and not just one state or region.

While I am not in any type of CRNA program, to my knowledge there are no schools that allow you to work while in the program. One of my former classmates' wife was in a CRNA program and from what she told him, she was allowed to work a little bit in the beginning (no more than part time, if that) and then soon after she wasn't allowed to work at all. They make you sign a contract, and I don't know what happens if you try to break that contract.

This actually happened where I work. A patient was sent to the rehab floor in a different area of the hospital where the rehab is very aggressive and the gyms and therapists are very close to the rehab floor. This patient wanted to be on the VIP floor and eventually got his/her way, but rehab was effected because the patient was not able to get to the gym for the allotted amount of time and the therapists could not do the necessary activities from the patients VIP room. It was a P.I.T.A for all staff involved. Again, I don't like working on this floor or dealing with these types of patients when they are on other floors. Everyone gets the same level of care from me whether you live in a box on the street or a million dollar home.

We have a VIP floor where I work and have actually been floated there before. On this particular floor, the rooms are paid for out of pocket, insurance will not cover it no matter how good your insurance is. The nurse to patient ratio is lower with the assumption that the nurse will be able to be more attentive to these patients paying so much money. Also, the linens are higher quality, they get these fancy robes, the pantry is stocked full with name-brand everything-soda, juice, cereal, coffee (keurig all the way!!), snacks, gelato/ice cream, and the list goes on...They also have their own chefs on this floor who will make pretty much whatever the patient (and their visitors) want. If you've got the money, then go for it, but personally it is not my cup of tea. Oh, and they have one of the highest turnover rates for nursing in the entire hospital.

I tried posting this in the NJ nurses forum with no response, so I thought I would re-post in general nursing discussion. Any feedback is appreciated!! I recently moved from NYC to Bergen County and kept my job in NYC with the hopes that the commute wouldn't be too bad. Well, the commute has been getting to me lately and I am looking to apply to hospitals in Bergen County in a few months. NYC offers a high salary so I am hoping to match it as closely as possible at a NJ hospital. So far I have looked into Hackensack Medical Center, Valley Hospital and Holy Name Hospital. I only know that the salary is Hackensack is pretty competitive but I don't know about the other hospitals. Any recommendations? Any places I should avoid? I expect the salary to be lower but I don't want a huge decrease in income. Thanks for any tips and advice!!

On nights we have anywhere from 5-7 patients assuming we are fully staffed and all beds are full, which is usually the case. Sometimes on surgical floors the acuity might be lower because you start with say, 4 patients, expect 2-3 to come from the PACU so the beds stay booked, but then the patient may not stabilize until the morning which means you never actually got the additional patients. But 10-12?? That's a lot and sounds very unsafe, I wouldn't risk it.

The only non-narcotic we have to count now is Nexium, which just happened a few months ago. Apparently that is a popular med to steal in our hospital. Things like Tylenol and Maalox are kept as floor stock so we can just grab it from the cabinet, and I have taken a Tylenol if I forgot my personal travel pack of Motrin, but that's it.

A triple bypass, to put it simply.

My girlfriends told me about it one night when I stopped by their floor, so the next morning we all went and got one!! Yes, Bliss Spa is expensive and $75 won't get you much, but it's FREE MONEY!! I would normally never, ever spend $60 for a one hour pedicure (which is the starting price for one at this spa), but if I don't have to pay for anything but the tip, why not?? I'm looking forward to getting pampered for free, if only for an hour

We have been using them for a while now. At first I wasn't sure about them, but they are very user friendly, the screen is clear and easy to read. The only flaw is that sometimes the alarms are TOO sensitive. Like if there is an upstream occlusion, you can fix every part of the tubing give times and it will still alarm. But I would rather have them be TOO sensitive then not alarm at all. Overall I am very happy with them, and we are actually getting updates on the pumps soon so I am excited to see what happens!

As a Per Diem RN, at my facility we only get paid time and a half for actual OT (over 40hrs/wk), we don't get paid OT for holidays because we are not required to work them like regular staff. But, like previous posts have mentioned, every facility is different so check with either your supervisor or HR.

I have heard of restraint free facilities, but I would think that means just not using wrist, mitten or vest retraints. Siderails are not considered a restraint unless all four are up. It makes no sense for all of the siderails to be removed. You should be able to have them still on the bed, but only use three as that is not considered a restraint. I have patients who are not even confused or high falls risk ask me to put up 3 siderails (sometimes all four, which I explain I can't do) just because they move around a lot at night and it's not their own bed so they are afraid of falling. I would leave this place fast, sounds like a million law suits waiting to happen.

There are a few medications like this which have beads in the capsule making it very difficult to push through a PEG tube. What I have tried, and this doesn't always work, is make sure to draw up plenty of water with the medication and as you push it into the G-tube, jiggle the syringe so it loosens the beads and they will sort of float around. This gives the medication more of a chance to get in rather than just stick to the syringe. Hope this makes sense!

mine was on the 5th, and hubby's was on the 6th!! happy birthday to all the cancer's out there!! and let us know how that cake comes out, sounds yummy!

We don't have an official policy, but we do offer the patient the chance to come up with a "codeword" of somesort that they will remember and tell them whoever they wish to have access to information, they should tell them the codeword. This word is documented in the patients chart and only the people who can verify the code can get any information. This isn't a hospital wide policy, but when patients are admitted especially with a lot of family or a high profile patient (we get a lot) then I strongly encourage the use of a codeword. Otherwise, when a family member calls I tell them I can't give out much information, but I can tell you the patient is sleeping/resting and is comfortable and if you would like more information you can call them or ask them when you come in to visit. I have had incidents where a patient will tell me "don't say anything to so-and-so if they call, they're not allowed to know anything" and I respect their wishes. The person on the other end isn't always happy but it's HIPAA policy.

So sorry this is how you have to spend your time off. It drives me nuts when people don't cover their mouth to cough or sneeze, let alone spread their germs around the nurses station. My husband will sneeze "into the air" but turn away from me and it still drives me nuts because the germs are still not contained. Hope you feel better, use this time to let your hubby pamper you!!!

Just as a heads up, I am fully aware of the policy about asking for medical advice on this website and I am not asking for medical advice right now (at least I hope not). What I am trying to find out is what type of doctor to see. I'm not asking anyone to tell me how to solve my problem or what treatments to use. I am young (27) and in pretty good shape, work out 3-4x/week and have been having awful knee pain for months. I have tried taking glucosamine supplements with no relief. I work nights so I am not on my feet as much as when I worked day shift so that's not a factor. All I want to know is if someone can tell me which type of specialty doc I should see-orthopedics? rheumatologist? general practitioner? with my insurance I don't need a referral so I can go straight to a specialist, but I don't want to waste my time and money doctor hopping till I get to the right type. Again, I am not asking for advice on what to do, just what type of doctor would be best.

If there are things that I have not charted or meds I have given but not signed off yet, I always tell the oncoming nurse "Just so you know, I'm not done charting yet. I will be here for a little while if you have any questions." We try to give report in front of the computer (we do computer charting) so I can open up the MAR and show them what I gave but haven't signed off, or any new orders that I have not completed because they were ordered near change of shift (that way they see the time it was entered and can't b***h at me for not doing it). Of course, nobody's perfect and I have called the day nurse to tell them something I forgot in report. And there have been plenty of times where a med will not be signed off and the nurse never told me anything about it, if it was given/held, delayed for whatever reason. Just remind the oncoming nurse that you still have charting to do so it's best to go by the verbal report right now and not rely completely on the chart until you are done. Otherwise, do what previous posts mentioned and just stop report and start charting if the nurse is really giving you a problem, then ask them what they prefer-if you chart or give report. :)

So I'm walking around the area today to run a few errands, headphones on and bopping along, when I see this woman near the crosswalk (but not in the middle of the street) who must have fallen a few minutes before I passed. There were 2 men who helped her stand, and from a distance I could see she was alert, not bleeding, not in any respiratory and general distress, just maybe a little shook up from her fall. I did not go over to offer any more assistance as the 2 men there were staying by her side. I continued on my way and when I passed by again after one stop on my errands I noticed the woman was still there, with the 2 men who helped her and now a police officer by her side (seemed like he was taking down a report of what happened). Again, I did not stop as it seemed like there was not much I could do to assist. On my last trip passed her (it was a block away from my street) I noticed that an ambulance was there and the paramedics were helping her onto a stretcher. Was I wrong to not stop the first or second time to see if she needed any more assistance? As I mentioned, the 2 men that helped her up stayed by her side and she was not alone at any point after what I'm assuming was a fall. I have stopped before to help someone but I can't possibly stop every single time. Thanks for any feedback!!

I'm assuming the DNR here stands for Do Not Rehire. I was confused too at first.

This sounds like a very scary situation, especially on an oncology floor. What if she hangs the wrong chemo on someone, doesn't premedicate them correctly, or sets the wrong rate?? It's already scary to think of someone like that working on a general med-surg floor, but even more so on a floor where you are handling such dangerous substances like chemo. I agree with everyone else, document everything and go to the higher ups. She doesn't sound safe at all.

I work there!! I used to be full time staff on one of the med-surg floors and now I work per diem and float to all the med surg floors. any specific questions? feel free to PM me too.

As previous posters have said, you have to let yourself have a life. We are lucky that we are able to work full time and have it take up only 3 days of our week, although they are very bust days (or nights for some). While you are at work, all you think about is work, but it should not consume your life when you are not there. I have a friend who works in PR (we live in NYC so you can imagine what that is like for her!!) and her life is work, work, work. Her blackberry is attached to her hand, she gets emails late at night and has events in the evening and weekends. Oh yea, and she makes a lot less than me and works in a very negative environment. I would not trade my job or lifestyle for what she has at all. It does suck working holidays, but where I work we still manage to celebrate whatever holiday it is. Everyone cooks and brings in goodies and we have lunch together so you never really feel alone or like your completely missing it. On my days off I get all my food/clothes shopping done, I can go to the gym when it's not packed and not have to wait for equipment, I can sleep late!!! You will be fine, but it will take some getting used to. It is tough at first to get used to your days off because while you are completely free in the middle of the week, the rest of the world is working and you might be bored if you like to have company. Luckily I have befriended many of my co-workers who live nearby and we often get together on our days off, but I know not everyone likes to mix their social life and work life. You'll figure out what works best for you.