gatherswool

Aaaaaaand here we see the fundamental difference between family and pedi people. Family people know that most babies are totally fine and do best with a little too little intervention rather than too much. Pedi people have actually cared for that one...

Actually, those are NAPNAP's stats for 2009-2010, so pretty recent. Bear in mind that the median salary for a pediatrician is just $148,000. Pediatric pay is notoriously less than other areas -- hence higher pay for seeing adults in the VA. I live i...

Am I bad nurse for thinking that if you've gotta be (genuinely) sick, orientation is the time to do it? Could you just find someone willing to take you on as a temporary preceptor and work an extra shift this week? That way you don't extend your orie...

That sounds awful! Yes, probably most women are technically able to breastfeed -- but very large percentages (depending on your populations) will need a LOT of help in order to do it. You can't get *80%* in most communities without lots and lots of h...

Here's some great info on what different states license NPs to do: http://www.acnpweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3465 Each individual state determines who can prescribe, and who can prescribe what substances. Usually only MDs, DOs, DMDs, and DVM...

My own PCP's health center uses this system, something I really appreciate after once struggling mightily to get back time-sensitive test results from a different health center. The MyChart info is much more limited than what you would find in the ac...

There's another way to do the penny problem...... and to cut the cake, you just need to think three dimensionally. I love these kinds of questions! Though I'd almost certainly have a seizure if asked to do the train one; I have severe Post Calculus S...

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is the gold standard for getting this kind of data on kids from grades 6-12. In fact, if you would rather save time and not do your own survey, you could use their data for your state to talk with the school. You can f...

Complaining (especially complaining about your assignment) is actually a communication mechanism employed by adult floor nurses. The combo of clicks, whistles and groans that sounds like "I can't believe [charge] gave me 2 boarder patients AND [John]...

Beautifully written. I hope you do more of these! This is one of the reasons why I love nursing -- it's amazing how much patients give us.

I hope so; I hear they're better judges than a lot of family members...like Oscar. If Oscar says DNI, then fer goshsakes, DNI. As for the depilation conversation....Living in a smallish city, I find that if you're under 30 and female, removing female...

Crunch numbers carefully unless you're SURE you'd rather be an NP than an RN. Hospital-based RNs in Boston can make a LOT more than NPs, and an accelerated BSN not only costs less, it gets you back out there and making money sooner. After 3-5 years a...

For Boston: If there's an area you're especially passionate about, try emailing the nurse manager for that unit first, then, if all goes well, contacting HR. But do be aware that most hospitals in Boston require a BSN. If you're not 100% sold on the ...

Hmm....I'm a PNP, so my NANDA knowledge isn't too fresh, but I do work in a well nursery. A term baby with a difficult delivery and subsequent TTN will usually have the following issues: amnio-filled lungs immediate inability to feed due to tachypnea...

I'm recently returned from Jimani, a border town in the DR, where I worked at a private clinic-turned-hospital run by a Baptist group treating refugees from PAP. Most came by bus or were (egads) medevaced out to our pitifully tiny and resource-limite...

Hi, all-- I'm a PNP at a middle school School Based Health Center, where I see patients and also work with a teacher to teach "Health" classes. It's an urban, East Coast school, so the content of the lessons is not particularly controversial with the...

schoolnurse1001--thank you; it's helpful to hear your experience! bergren--that's a lot of questions! Forgive me if you were just being Socratic; I'll answer them here in case: There are anywhere from 20-25 kids in each class. The class follows the ...

I'm a big fan of the Lemon Luna bars, but I pretty much live on good old graham crackers and peanut butter, especially on 3-11p. Some nights they taste extra good because the hospital paid for them, and some nights they taste extra good because I tel...

Ah....I love the smell of C. diff in the morning! Just wondering, but how do you know that you can't handle poop scooping? If you've done it a lot and know you can't, then I'm sure you're right. But I remember thinking, when I applied to my ETP Maste...

The scrub exchange where I work also offers blue OR scrub dresses. H*O*T. They even expose a tiny bit of knee, and, for those who have one, hint at a waist. Even better: the regular scrubs are color coded according to size. So, if, say, you're usual...

I guess I'm a new, sort of old student. In my first life I was an English major and grad student (saved myself from the PhD by the skin of my teeth), but found the siren song of healthcare irresistable. Now I'm an ETP student in Boston, happily tradi...

LOL. The doc probably *did* just start his ED rotation. I didn't realize just how much the residents learn from the nurses until I started working at a teaching hospital. "You want me to give him 10 and 10" and "You want me to push some propofol to s...

I'm another current IHPer, and I'll second what Mules03 said about the intensity. I didn't find any of the work terribly hard, but there is a lot of it, and you're going to have to think in a lot of different ways at the same time--e.g., be able to w...

At my school we had paid human models for the pelvic exams and weird little silicone models for the BE (those left us all feeling a little, well, inadequate). I'm really uncomfortable with schools using students as models. This just seems like really...