Orca ADN, ASN, RN

Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC

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All Content by Orca

  1. Orca

    Passing KOP's

    This procedure sounds very ill-advised to me. Inmates not on restricted units could pick up their KOPs. We have specific days and times at which we dispense KOPs (usually Saturday and Sunday, early...
  2. Orca

    stupid question alert...

    We were allowed to take PN boards after the third semester of RN school. I took the test mainly for the experience of taking the licensing exam, but in the end it allowed me to start orientation at my...
  3. Orca

    Met with supervisor today....

    You don't reassign someone to a position of lesser responsibility if you are happy with their work. To call it a "learning opportunity" is a gross misrepresentation of their intentions, IMO. More...
  4. Orca

    Dont you hate it when.....

    When I need to discuss something like that with a subordinate, I just call them in and discuss it immediately. Most of the time what they would imagine when fretting about it over a day or more is far...
  5. Orca

    Psych Certification -a bit disappointing

    Exactly why I didn't renew my ANCC certification. I've found that employers really don't care about it, apart from the fact that they can brag that they have certified nurses on staff. They certainly...
  6. Orca

    Common Correctional Nursing Interview Questions

    We always ask applicants how they believe that their nursing practice might change as a result of working in a prison environment. We are looking for things such as maintaining professional distance,...
  7. Orca

    What's in a name?

    Remember when a hospital was just a hospital? I was thinking about this when driving around town today and I passed several hospitals. The current trend is to call everything "(XYZ) Hospital Medical...
  8. Orca

    Failure to Respond to Jury Summons

    In one jurisdiction where I once lived, when I appeared for jury duty they informed us that had we not answered the summons a deputy sheriff would have come to our homes to arrest us. That is why I...
  9. Orca

    H1N1 in prison setting

    Just wondering if any of you have experienced outbreaks of H1N1 in your facility, how widespread it became and what measures you took when it happened. We do not have an outbreak at present, but I...
  10. Orca

    H1N1 in prison setting

    We got enough vaccine for medical division employees and our pregnant inmates, but no one else. All of the eligible inmates opted for the vaccine, some employees declined (I took it). Otherwise we're...
  11. Orca

    H1N1 in prison setting

    We have had one confirmed case, sent out due to high temp and respiratory distress. Spent about a week in the hospital. Like most of you, we have no means to test for H1N1 here - the hospital...
  12. Orca

    Macho Men in the ED

    When I was working on a hospital adult mental health unit, our companion geropsych unit had a very agitated patient who was walking rapidly around the circular hallway and frightening residents. The...
  13. That, too - how could I forget that
  14. LOL= Laughing out loud. It's a message board/chat term, not a nursing
  15. I worked in LTC briefly, when I relocated. I was the only RN on a 120-bed unit, and they also had me passing meds to 40 patients because they were short of LPNs. I handled all the doctor and family...
  16. Orca

    LPN working as HHA

    Employers realize economic reality. If they ask you about the HHA job, just tell them that you did what you had to do to support your family. No one would question
  17. Orca

    Knowing when to medicate/give a prn

    Right off the bat, I would have medicated these patients. The fact that they were wandering around the unit and being noisy during the night would have been enough. Also, just because you didn't see...
  18. Orca

    Leaving work at work.

    One of my jobs in corrections was as outpatient psychiatric nurse at a male correctional facility. One day each week the psychiatrist and I rounded on the intake unit, where he would do his initial...
  19. Orca

    Too Uptight?

    I am responsible for what I give. No matter how much I may trust another person, I pour my
  20. I worked full-time the entire time I went to school out of financial necessity. Thanks to a flexible employer who helped with my work hours (even though they knew I would be leaving when I finished) I...
  21. Orca

    Difficult Time/Stupid Mistakes

    Nobody comes into the profession knowing everything, or being good at everything. No matter how hard you try there will be things that you miss. No matter how competent you are you will have bad days,...
  22. Orca

    How long before you were a charge nurse?

    I was hired into a charge position fresh out of school. It was a new hospital mental health unit (they couldn't even show me my unit during the interview, because it was still a hard hat area). I...
  23. Orca

    I'm a Nurse Manager!

    Just remember - the patients will be the least of your problems! Congrats on the new
  24. Correct about the intake facility. It is a place where inmates come into the state prison system from county jails and other correctional systems. We do the initial screenings and identify medical...
  25. Orca

    Life just sucks sometimes.

    In these days of fast food and instant entertainment, everyone looks for a quick fix for pretty much everything. Whatever is wrong with you, take a pill and everything will be fine. Manufacturers of...