Lynn4875

Hi, I got off orientation in early January, and I'm still feeling lost when in comes to certain things, and like you, the nurses on my floor seem like the can't be bothered with my problems. For example, last week, RIGHT after I got out of report, I go to check on all my pts, and one of my elderly female pts is gasping for breath. The night shift nurse had told me that the pt had vomited a small amount of bile, and had notified the doctor. When I go in, the pt. is definitely in respiratory distress, and I run and get a Pulse Ox on her, and it was in the 40s and dropping fast, and had apparently aspirated on the contents of her stomach. I paged the doctor, who ran up. The pt's pulseOx dropped to the 30s, then 20s, then 10s, 5...then nothing! This is the first time I'd actually ever been in this type of situation. The doctor said to call the code, and I ran out of the room like a madwoman screaming "call a code, call a code!" There were 3 other nurses there, and one of them was the one who had precepted me. They didn't even bat an eyelash while I was running like a maniac. I grabbed the crash cart, got the pads on her, and helped put the board underneath the pt, and the doctor started doing compressions. The code team arrived a couple minutes later, and once they arrived, I felt in the way so I moved back. Finally a nurse came in, and she told me to start recording, so she handed me the code sheet. I was completely lost as to how to record on the sheet, but I did my best. Thankfully, the pt. survived, was intubated and transferred to the ICU. So anyway, I was told that in a code situation, one of the nurses' roles is to fill out the code sheet, especially if you're a new nurse, because that way you get to see how a code works, and also learn how to document. Hope this helps. :) Lynn

Hi everybody, I know this may sound like an easy question, but I can't figure out the difference between the two. They never really went into it in nursing school. I asked my preceptor, but her reply didn't make much sense to me, so I have no clue! Can anyone fill me in? TIA! Lynn

What I would say would be something like, 'I'm a Seventh-day Adventist, and I keep the Sabbath (Saturday) holy from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. I would be willing to work every Saturday night and Sunday night, as well as holidays in order to have Saturdays off. Is there any way we could work around that." Or something along those lines. I'm an SDA nurse, and I start my new job on October 9th. I know during orientation I will have to follow my preceptor's schedule, but once I'm off I'm going to try to schedule myself off during the Sabbath, but if it doesn't work out sometimes, it doesn't. But hopefully it will work out.

You're right, it does measure clotting time. PTT is used to measure the effects of Heparin, and usually while on Heparin therapy, the desired PTT levels are 1.5-2.5 times the normal PTT values. The normal values may vary from lab to lab, but it's usually around 25 to 35 seconds. So it seems to me that your pt's PTT value of 57 seconds falls within the expected range for a pt. on Heparin therapy. Hope this helps!

I took the NCLEX-RN July 24th, and passed with 75 questions. I'm guessing you had higher level questions, because you state that you had a lot of priority questions. I had a lot of priority questions as well, along with many delegation questions, and med questions. I was also relieved that I didn't get a ridiculous amount of alternate questions like I've heard others say. I got like 3 or 4 of those. It seems like you're in good shape. I too was only sure of only a few questions, but apparently, that's normal. Wish you the best!

I absolutely loved my OB rotation, no contest. Too bad there aren't many open OB positions around here!

Woohoo! Congratulations!

GPA: 3.7 A&P: A A&P2: A micro: A Eng. comp: B Math: A Chemistry: A

I know one of the techniques one of my Pharm teachers said to use when I was in nursing school was to not try and memorize all of the different drugs and side effects. Instead, know which drugs pertain to each class of drugs, and learn the actions/side effects by class, because mostly, the actions and side effects are similar for the drugs under the same class. I also used to remember what drugs where under each category by looking at the suffix. For example, usually the beta blockers end in -lol, so if I see propanolol, I know it's a beta blocker, and then I memorize what are the actions and side effects of beta blockers, etc. Also, make sure you know which class of drugs cause nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, ototoxicity, etc. Hope this helps!

I would think Kaplan is better because it challenges you more. I did both Kaplan and Saunders questions, and even though Kaplan was harder, I liked it that way. When the questions aren't challenging enough, you don't feel as if you're really learning. I took Kaplan's online course, which is very thorough and covers pretty much everything. I like the way it helps you answer NCLEX questions. Then again, I paid too much for that course. My friend just bought the Kaplan question trainer CD which really helped her, a way cheaper alternative. Good luck on NCLEX!

1. How many questions did you take on NCLEX? 75 questions 2. What study materials did you use? Did you take a test review course? Kaplan Complete Online Review Course and NCLEX 3500 cd software. 3. Did your SON offer any testing (ERI, ATI, HESI)? HESI every semester. We had to get over 850 (preferably 900) in order to pass, and had to pass the Exit Hesi before graduation, or wouldn't be able to take NCLEX. 4. How long did you wait for results of the test, or are you still waiting? 48 hours. I'm glad, because I couldn't have taken any longer! 5. What were your thoughts coming out of the test (total disbelief, certainty you had failed, confident you had passed)? Both total disbelief and was sure that I had failed. 6. Was this your first attempt at NCLEX? Yes! I'm so happy that I never have to take that test again!

I'd rather jump out of an airplane (I'm deathly afraid of heights) than take that test again!

I took the test 7/25, I also was almost positive that I failed. The first few questions were all right, but then it got harder and harder. My brain wanted to explode. It took me forever to get to 75 questions (where it shut off). I kept on reading and rereading the scenarios to make sure I hadn't missed anything. When the screen shut off at 75 I just stared at it in shock. I felt like there was no possible way that I could've passed. There were so many prioritization (which I always had trouble with), delegation, and med questions. Luckily it only took 48 hours for me to find out online, or I would've gone crazy with the wait! Lynn

Congrats! I also just found out today that I passed the NCLEX. Woohoo! What a relief. I never want to take that test ever again in my life! :w00t: