abq rn

I guess I should update my profile...but then again...aren't we all supposed to be learning all the time?!! Look... I am not saying that any one should be drummed out or benched from the work they love. What I am saying is that if you cant do what the job demands... should you really keep doing it? Is there no room for self assessment in our profession? Just because your pride or ego wants you to stay in the ED does not justify the lack of care your patients might get or the lack of support your team mates might be subjected too. As for condescending... I am posing a question. If you (whomever you are) are going to take every thing personally and get your feelings hurt I cant understand how you could work in the ED to begin with. Lets also face the facts that just because you have been an RN longer than I have does not mean you know more by default. Think for a moment...please

I work in a Pediatric ER and we call it high risk MMIS (my mommy is stupid)

I have given ultimatums to MD’s that go something like… “Either you tube him or I let him go!”. This leaves the choice of treatment course in the hands of the physician. If we can’t control the patient and the situation becomes dangerous for the staff, I would rather let a patient run out the front door than get injured. If it is so important to keep the patient for studies in the opinion of the MD, than they get to choose the course of action. I don’t “want” to tube ANYONE! It is risky and demands far too many nursing resources to go about it willy nilly. Like all things in the ED, if you really need it…. You will get it!...eventually.

I know this will be an unpopular thread but I am getting more and more frustrated by the day. I cannot understand why nurses who never manage to adapt to the ED pace remain in the department. I am sure we all have at least one person in our department that is unable to physically or mentally keep up the demanding pace that ER medicine requires. I do not understand why there is no self awareness that this is not the place for them. One RN I work with has been licensed for 6 years now. I think she has been in the ED for 3 of those years. If she has more than 3 patients and even one of them is really "sick" she has a meltdown! The charge nurses have an unwritten rule to keep ill patients out of her section at all costs. If it looked like there was improvement over time I might not be so irritated. Nothing seems to change in either her behavior or the approach to managing her employment in the ED. Why has no one sat her down and talked to her about moving to a less acute area where she won't be overwhelmed every night? More importantly why can't she see that she does not belong here? I am not trying to tell anyone where they can or can't work so don't misunderstand me. If I came in to work every night and felt like I was in crisis each hour of my 12 I would consider a change after a brief period. Now I understand everyone needs a chance to get their legs under them and some need more time than others. But if you are a person that needs more time to get you're "nursing on" is the ED really the place for you? Some people thrive on the excitement of Emergency nursing and can't get enough of it but that is not enough reason to put a RN in a position that he/she can't handle! More importantly why do these nurses put themselves in this position? Then there is the physical issue. I won't say I am a track star or a marathon runner by any stretch of the imagination. I will say however I can stand in Trauma for 12 hours doing CPR half the time and still walk home after my shift. I work with nurses who can't stand up for more than 1 hour at a time! Some of them are so out of shape they get chest pain in the middle of the shift and have to be census managed before they wind up being coded. Why do they keep coming back?!!!! If you are physically unable to keep up with the pace of ER medicine then it is time to find something else to do! Go work in a clinic or a school, for gods sake help us all and go teach! Why would you beat yourself up every night? I like being on my feet and I feel reasonably good after 3 12's in a row but some of my coworkers can barely stand up at the end of the 3re day. The management makes accommodations for them by putting them in triage or putting them in ER Obs where the acuity is not that high or you don't have to stand up for more than 30 seconds at a stretch. How is this reasonable? The rest of us carry the workload that these nurses should be shouldering instead of having help from a teammate. I have made plans to move to a less demanding nursing field when I can no longer keep up in the ED. With all of the opportunities available for nurses these days, why don't others?

I just graduated from CNM/TVi and my total cost without books was about $1300!

I am 10 months away from graduation and I have gotten “the nod” from the PICU charge nurses that I will be hired right after graduation into the unit. Although I have been working in the Pediatric ED for 5 years I must admit I am a bit nervous. I know I will not be sent to sink or swim by the unit nurses but it is a tremendous responsibility. I hear many of the students in my class talk about working with kids but I don’t think they really have an understanding of what it involves. Please please if you don’t have some understanding of what you are getting in to DON’T go in to the PICU. It’s not the place to figure out what you want to do or a place to play with the kids. The work is exacting and errors are not permitted and the patients are truly sick.

Does anyone know anything about nursing in Saudi Arabia? I have heard stories about grand sums of money (tax free), lots of vacation time and friendly people (patients) to work with. Is there any truth in this? I still have 10 months of school left and then at least one year of PICU experience I would like :monkeydance: to get but I have always been one to plan ahead. I would hate to make a commitment and not have some idea of what to expect. Any information would be very helpful.

The state of New Mexico has recently passed legislation making an assault on a healthcare worker a D Felony. I happened to be one of the first people to use the law to prosecute a patient. I think I was actually number 4 in the state. While trying to restrain an apparent ETOH patient in the ED, he managed to get his fingernails around my wrist and pull. He has left me with four 1.5 / 2" scars on my left wrist. I went in front of the grand jury about 4 weeks ago but I have not heard weather he has been inedited yet. My feelings about prosecuting these people is that if no one does, than the work put in to pass the law was wasted.

This is what I have HEARD.... Not what I have experienced so far. I love my instructors! I like my clinical site and I feel like I am learning a tone of new stuff. I guess I was just worried about what to expect and started believing the "hype".:trout:

Who do I talk to (or who does my wife talk to) about getting 20k from Lovlace?!!!! That would make all of the difference. She got her acceptance letter today to Apollo so it looks like that is where she will be going. Now we just have to figure out how to pay for it!

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/psn/printer.cfm?id=186 Go take a look at this report. It has a bit at the end about ink and IV bags.

I trick I use on "tough sticks" is to use two tourniquets. It seems to work very well. I am also a big fan of 1% LIDO (we have a standing order but no one uses it but me) when placing peripheral IVs. Ejs are also an option if you are in a pinch. They are usually easy to find but take some practice to cannulate well. I live in New Mexico and we have a very high rate of heroin use in this state. The result is a large number of the patient population has "bad veins". Some times it just takes a new set of eyes on the patient. PLEASE DON'T BLAME PATIENTS FOR YOUR LACK OF SKILL!!! The veins are there, you just have not been able to hit them. I don't know how many people I have seen who think it is their fault that a nurse can't get their IV.

My wife is trying to choose between Apollo nursing school in Albuquerque (10K per semester) or Gallup UNM nursing program (5k for 4 semesters). If she goes to Gallup she will have to commute two hours each way. Once out on Monday and once back on Friday afternoon. Is it worth it to Apollo? The program is so new here that they don't have any graduated yet. They are accredited but not as an official "university" Going to Apollo will hamper later BSN pursuit, and UNM Gallup will be a hardship on her. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to manage this? Is it worth the extra 15k it will cost to go to Apollo?

My wife is trying to choose between Apollo nursing school in Albuquerque (10K per semester) or Gallup UNM nursing program (5k for 4 semesters). If she goes to Gallup she will have to commute two hours each way. Once out on Monday and once back on Friday afternoon. Is it worth it to Apollo? The program is so new here that they don't have any graduated yet. They are accredited but not as an official "university" Going to Apollo will hamper later BSN pursuit, and UNM Gallup will be a hardship on her. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to manage this? Is it worth the extra 15k it will cost to go to Apollo?

the number one complaint i get from both current and former nursing students is that the instructors "eat their young":o . instructors are often described as out of touch, unfair and often unstable. if you go over to the student forums and read some of the things that are being written about you as a group you might be shocked. everyone i have met has a horror story about at least one instructor during nursing school:devil: . why is no one addressing this? i understand that there is a shortage of instructors in nursing schools but does this mean we should accept substandard and occasionally psychotic behavior? i know that patient safety is number one, but... how are you teaching people to be nurses if anyone who stands out is singled out and persecuted? i have been told that the best way to get through nursing school is to say nothing and be as invisible as possible. i have been told this over and over again by graduates across the country. anyone who stands out is terrorized by the instructors and is often driven out of the program. what is the point of this? can anyone give me a legitimate reason for this recurrent behavior?