bluepenguin

Thanks for all the responses. Liam was born healthy and happy on April 7th! He decided to come on his own rather than have mama be induced, such a sweet little boy . But yeah, no resp problems at all. Did have jaundice from ABO incapability but was under bili lights in my room with me and his daddy, so no NICU stay! He is all good now. Thanks again for the replies

Cholestasis occurs when bile acids build in the mother's body and the main symptom is usually extreme itchy skin without a rash. It can lead to liver and gallbladder issues if not treated. It can cause stillbirth later in pregnancy so delivery is done before 37/38 weeks. It is not associated with any birth defects and this has otherwise been a normal pregnancy. This problem has just started two weeks ago and all my labs for liver function have been normal, but the bile acid salt test takes a long time to come in and they would rather delivwer now than wait for the results and risk something happening to the fetus in utero. So while I know he is safer outside at this point, I am still scared about lung issues and just wondering what experience NICU nd Land D nurses have had with 37 weekers. Thanks.

Ok so I was a NICU nurse, but the NICU I worked in was at a children's hospital so none of the babies were born there and they came to our NICU because they needed surgeries or had problems beyond what the NICU at the other hospital could care for. So the baies were all different weekers from 24 - 40+, you get the idea. But none of them were there just because of lung immaturity. Ok, so I am 37 weeks tomorrow, this is my first baby, I am 25 years old, I am being induced Sunday night because I may have Cholestasis but the tests take a while to come back and it is best to deliver before 38 weeks to reduce risk of stillbirth. So my question is how often do you all see 37 weekers in the NICU for lung issues. WHat type of outcomes do you usually see? what is the normal length of stay? Are they usually just o2 support or vented, ect? I am worried esp becuase he is a boy and I have read white baby boys are the slowest to mature their lungs. I am also scared to death to end up a c-section cause of the induction, but that is a whole seperate issue. My main concern is for the baby.

I hear ya on alot of what you are saying. Except the poop part, I haven't been asked to take care of poop on a shoe or wall, ect. I would say "cleaning staff" or "tell them to wipe off there shoe". Anyway, but the lunch thing....grrr. I get 20 mins and I lock up my office so I can be in peace and be social with the teachers who eat at that time. But the main ofice receptionist is such a freak out type of person. She'll come running down saying someone needs their med and it will be a student who doesn't have a med at school they just want tylenol. I tell her all the time ask what med they mean, if they say inhaler, insulin, ect fine come get me. But "I need a tylenol" thats not up to them to determine for starters and also they can wait 15 mins. And then she came in one day because a 6th grader needed a pad and I said her is my key can you get her one and she was like "well you need to give her pants or something cause its all over her" Well thanks for mentioning that part. I go into the hall and the poor thing is standing there in tears. BLAH! Ok, then there are the teachers who send the same kids down everyday for stupid things just because they don't want that kid in class. So they let the kid say his head hurts or he bumped his hand on the desk or twisted his ankle in football on Tuesday and its now friday. grrrr. The worst part for me though is its an urban school. Lots of troubled middle schoolers (and don't get me wrong, I love my kids alot) but the school lacks a sense of controll and that scares me. But I do it for the kids and I know I have helped and taught alot of them. It can just be really crazy sometimes and I wish people understood more about school nursing in general. Thanks for the venting page....like I said most of time I love it, you just get those days....

Hey, Ok so I don't really have any advice, but more of a story that I hope will keep you encouraged. I am a new nurse as well (graduated in Feb. 06). I applied to pretty much every job out there including school nursing (which was my true top choice, I had done my community clinical with a school nurse and loved the teaching, the getting to know the students, the teachers, the whole enviroment). I figured and was told by most that schools wouldn't hire me because I was new. Well the were right, at first. I started working in peds as a floor nurse. It was ok, and I figured I could do it for a year or two and then try to move on. But just about a month and a half ago I got a call from a new school opening up and they wanted to interview me for school nurse position. I was so excited when I found out that I got the job. They said eventhough I was new they liked my energy and felt that alot of the more experienced nurses they had interviewed just wanted to get out the hospital but still bring home a good paychech, they didn't feel thay really were a good fit. They liked the fact that I had been an emt and a beach lifeguard because I had a lot of experience dealing with some pretty sever emergency situations. There are still nurses who think I'm crazy for taking the job cause, "it will be boring" or "you're too young" or "you don't have have any real life experience". But still there are others who say they think I'll be great and that I have wonderful assessment skills and such. Its just like anything else in life, people have opinions but in the end it comes down to your choice and knowing what is best for you and your patients whatever setting it is you end up in. So I think its worth a shot for you if you think school nursing would suit you. It's almost school time and I'm not sure how many places would be hiring, but try anyway. And look in the winter in spring, because that's when they post them if they know their current nurse is leaving at the end of the year. Its beeter for you and your patients if you are happy and loving your job. So like I said, not much advice, but I hope it encourages you to not get frustrated with the process or with what people say. Good luck!:penguin: P.S. "RN TOOBEE" you need to change that to Miss R.N. or something. Congrats on passing the boards!!

I currently work in a NICU but it is about an hour and 15 min drive through loads of city traffic so I have been looking for a job closer to home. I have always been interested in HH and decided to apply. The agency I apllied to is very interested in hiring me, they basically said once, my clearances come in that I can get orientation started. I was just wondering if any of you could tell me a bit about what your day is like as a peds HH nurse and what type of shifts you work, how many pt's a shift, ect. I would be working 8hr shifts m-f and they made it sound like I would only have 1-2 pts a day, and that it would be the same pt's so you get to know them and the families real well. Is that what it is like for you too?

I work at CHOP and they have a really great program for new grads. If you are on an ICU floor it is 12 weeks orientation, on a general floor it is anywhere from 6-12 weeks. They are very nice and really take care of their employees. I have friends working for HUP and for Christiana. I would say avoid Christiana if you can, they are the "big" hospital in DE and so they think that everyone wants to work there and basically are pretty bad about getting back to people, esp new grads about jobs, interviews, ect. Plus from what I hear they don' pay enough or give good raises. Everyone I know working at HUP seems to like it, but they are all in a ritical care internship position that gives them lots of classes and training. Hope that helps. Good luck!

CHOP is $24.50 for new grads. Less than alot of the other Philly hospitals, but great place to work if you want peds.

ok, so everyone in my program has got 75 questions and pased, except one person who got all 265 and passed. I have been doing Kaplan and Saunders quizzes for a while now. I get between 70-80% on saunders, but only like 60% on Kaplan. I get 50% or higher on the application and analysis parts of Kaplan and some people have told me I should be fine. I feel like I am going to fail though, cause everyone on these boards have said scores should be higher. I was a really good student and our profs tested like NCLEX, or so they said. What do you all think??? I am so scared, I have been crying on and off all day.:bluecry1: Also, I heard that in PA if you fail your temp license will not be listed because you won't have one anymore and so you can tell if you failed alomost right away because it will be offline. Anyone know if that is true??

I'm starting my first nursing job on March 13th (this monday) in the NICU. It is an internship at a level III surgical /EHMO NICU. I am super excited and also scared. I had my senior preceptorship in a NICU and I feel like a learned alot, but there is still so much to learn. The NICU I was at in school didn't have ECMO so I am not sure what to expect with that. Also, I feel like IV's are my worst thing because we weren't allowed to do much with them as students in the NICU. I don't just mean starting them, because we never did that and I know I'll have a class on that at work, but I mean just giving meds and fluids and stuff through the IV. I am confident in alot of my other skills, but IV's and ECMO scare me a bit. Any advice for how to deal with my first days?

Hi everyone, I'm Anna. I just finished an accelerated BSN program in Feb. I start work in the NICU on March 13th. I am taking my boards in early April and right now I am just studying my butt off. I am really excited to start work, but I am a bit scared too. It is an internship, so that makes me feel a bit better cause I won't be thrown in too fast.

Hi. I just finished an accelerated BSN degree program. It was 18 mos. I almost wnet to another one that was only 12 mos, but it was a bit far away. But when I was researching where to go I found that many colleges and universities around the country have accelerated BSN programs. Most of the programs I saw were around 12mos, 18 mos, or 24 mos. I would highly recommend it if you already have your BS. As far as accelerated AD RN programs, I didn't see any that I remember, but the BSN accelerated program was great and I have heard good things about many of the programs.

I have a question for you all. Who is higher ranked a nurse or an emt. I was an emt in h.s. and always thought that nurses, doctors, ect were higher than us. Now I am a nurse and yesterday a little boy had a seizure in the grocery store. His mother was screaming and people were just freaking out. I went over and made sure the area was clear so he would not injure himself anymore (he had a pretty big fall out of the cart onto his head on his way down). I was starting to check ABC'S and he stoped seizing. He was having a lot of trouble breathing because he had thrown up and it was in his mouth. I told two people who were now saying they had first aid experience that we needed to log rol him so I could clear his airway. The this kid who said he was an emt started yelling that we can't move him because of his head injury and wanted to start rescue breathing. I told him that the child was breathing, but at risk for aspiration and that rescue breathing would cause more damage. So we log rolled him and got the vomit out, he was then able to breathe better and started to come to. When the ambulance got there the emt kid told them "that woman is anurse but she wouldn't listen to me he needed mouth to mouth" The other emt agreed with me on what I did, but then said "but next time be a bit more respectful to an emt because e are higher up than you outside of the hospital" I am sorry but I think that is bull. Yes emt's can provide BLS but we have a lot more training and knowledge than them. What do you all think?