Yin Yang

lamazeteacher- that seems pretty ridiculous. Likening a mandatory flu vaccine to mandatory seatbelt laws is laughable at best. A requirement to wear a mask is closer to having to wear a seatbelt. As far as taking the vaccine goes, I'll take my chances with getting the flu itself. I work in a busy ER and had about 10 positive Type A flus in 1 shift. I sure haven't gotten sick yet. I attribute it to 2 things. First, if you even have one symptom as an incoming patient, the PATIENT gets a mask as well as some education on transmission. Second, I wash my hands thoroughly almost constantly. It's bad enough that hospitals are forcing employees to get seasonal flu vaccines...there comes a point when we have to draw a line in the sand. My line is drawn right on top of the H1N1 vaccine. Good luck finding nurses to replace those of us who refuse, if they make it mandatory! Yang

You must be at an HCA facility...lol. Ours just started that too, and it is ridiculous. I work nights, so we have to be extra careful, because if you take your mandatory lunch less than 4 hours after you start working, you lose your shift differential. It's not like they provide someone to cover you. When your lunch buddy goes on break, you then have 8 patients in a busy ER. I keep thinking it will fade with time. Yang

Hey there - I was pretty organized, especially by the end of it. 1st semester is fundamentals - really pretty boring - just get through it. The syllabus is a good place to start if you want to get a jump on stuff. Make a list of drugs from it and look them up. I don't remember if there were many drugs in lecture, but there was in the clinical portion (during skills lab). It was about 5 weeks in it seems before we went to clinicals. Tips include, keep a copy (electronic if possible) of EVERY careplan you do & file it under the diagnosis. That way, when you have that diagnosis again, you can pull it up, make changes that apply, but it's mostly done. By 4th semester, careplans will be EASY and take no time at all. Take Beecham's careplan class the first time it is offered. It really helped. Study regularly throughout. If you do well with study buddies, then find just one or two...more than that and you waste too much time yakking. Also, keep a running excel spreadsheet of your drugs both from lecture, and from clinical. You can sort it by alphabetized drug name, and it makes it quick when doing drug list on clincal patients, and a quick study review before tests. There is lots more, and if you want to, PM me and I can send you a few things to show you what I mean. Will you be at ECC or NLC? Yang

Let me know if there is anything else you need - I saved pretty much everything from every semester. Yang

Actually, I do - I'll try and attach it here. I'm not sure if it's a partial or complete, but if you go to the community tabs on e-campus, & go to the 2nd semester syllabus, the complete should be there. This has all the info though. Hope it helps! Yang 1461_drug_cards_fall_06___sp_07.doc

He doesn't threaten them. We have patients that are truly out of control, detoxing, etc. They do get violent, try to enter other patients room, screaming, and sometimes restraints are not sufficient to control them and still keep them from hurting themselves, even with some chemical intervention to calm them. So yes, he will intubate them and send them to ICU to get them through that period of violence so that they don't get hurt, and none of the staff gets hurt. It also allows the medical staff to care for the other patients that would otherwise be neglected while trying to keep the one patient from hurting themselves. It's not a punishment, but I had one patient that we maxed out on Haldol, benedryl, Ativan, and I don't remember what all else - there was literally nothing else to give him. He was hallucinating, tearing the stretcher apart, and trying to rip stuff off the walls. He was going through DTs. His family was delighted and relieved when we finally intubated him.

Having completed El Centro, I can tell you it is a fact that they are hard on you, and they seem very uncaring about whether the changes they make put you out or not. But, you can do it if you have the right mindset. Where did you take your A & P II class? Yang

Ms Beecham is a really intelligent lady - she is tough though. She will find your weakness and beat it out of you. She can be verbally harsh, but just accept it and don't make the same mistake twice. If you allow yourself to learn from her, you will be an excellent nurse. She is VERY respected by the nurses that work at Parkland as well....she's been there FOREVER. I agree on her careplan class. Her clinical is paperwork HEAVY. If you can learn to do careplans her way, pretty much all the teachers will love them. Take it the first time it is offered and your careplans will go much more quickly! Good luck, Yang

Spill - how is it going for you? Somehow I didn't get the notice when you and jaxia posted in feb & april - but you did get a job! Are there still some from your class that don't have one? I'm VERY grateful that we graduated when we did....I love where I'm at and the ER is awesome! Touch base and let me know how you're doing! Nursing school seems like so long ago already.....but, I'm about to start my Masters next month! Anybody else still watching these boards?? Yang

We have one doc that will go so far as to intubate them if they present a danger to staff or themselves....we try to warn the patient when he's on that they better straighten up...lol

I found Jaxia on the BON!!! She passed. Congratulations!!!! Jaxia, RN!!!

I just finished nursing school, and it was never a big deal. We all were pretty open about it. Everyone wanted reassurance. I haven't ready any stories about negative outcomes of sharing grades. I very often had the highest grade in the class, and nobody was ever not nice to me or anything. In fact, they often asked what I did, how I studied, etc. Maybe I missed all the negative outcome stories, but it's really just the personality of your class. I think once you get beyond first semester, everyone sort of comes together to survive rather than competing. Yang

Maybe it's that the current proficiency exams place the minimum bar too low. Maybe it needs to be raised some so that a higher level of proficiency and COMMUNICATION is required to pass it. Just a thought... Yang

I know - it's crazy to think about, but I'm excited! I do the PBDS tomorrow - we already took the BKAT-ER. Lots of stuff! Yang

We have a Croc's outlet in town (Allen, TX), so I went there. You can also get them online too though. You print out this foot print thing...but I'd still go try a pair on for size because they fit so differently... Yang