bbluvnursing

I worked in the PICU for 2 years and have been at a pediatric long term acute care facility for 2 years now.... the best part of my job is seeing children smile, play, and attempt to carry on normally despite their illness. They continually remind me that I really have no reason to complain about ANYTHING! The worst part of my job? I can't decide what upsets me more... families who straight up don't care about their child at all or families who cannot let go and continue to have us (medical/nursing staff) torture their child unnecessarily. There are alot of things about my job that I have to really make a conscious effort to leave at work when my shift is done. I guess that goes for any area of nursing though!

I have recently accepted a position doing case management from home. I am excited for a new opportunity away from the bedside but a little apprehensive at the same time! Any tips, thoughts, or comments would be greatly appreciated!

The RT's generally do most of the weaning per physician order, but some of the veteran RN's seem to have more freedom/confidence in weaning the patient from the vent on my unit.

The Prisma machines have a well known reputation for failing quite frequently. It is a great machine in that it tells you exactly what needs to be done for interventions, but it is not uncommon to go through several pumps during a patient's treatment history.

We use the Baxter syringe pumps which have a Bolus button that can be programmed to bolus whatever amount necessary.

Our RT's do not run the ECMO pump on my unit... just one RN running the pump and the other doing pt. care

I have the "Nursing Diagnosis" manual by Carpenito-Moyet. It pretty much spells it out for you- I absolutely love it! It's pretty simple- let's say your patient is constipated... so you look up Constipation in the table of contents... this book gives you the assessment data your patient should be manifesting in order to consider it constipation... then it gives you your "R/T" options like immobility, effects of medications, etc. The "AEB" is pretty much your assessment data stated all over again. An easy way to remember it is... 1)Decide if this need is ACTUAL or RISK FOR 2)Write Actual/Risk for _____ [insert need here] 3)Think of a way to word the client's R/T without using a MEDICAL diagnosis, such as "Diabetes" or "Congestive Heart Failure." In my program, we are allowed to use a medical diagnosis only in this form: "R/T ineffective circulation secondary to diabetes" The "secondary to" is a great way to make your diagnosis sound really smart :) 4)Decide what assessment data best reflects your need and put that as your AEB. My program requires that we use at least 3 pieces of data. Hope this helps!

I would HIGHLY reccommend buying the HESI NCLEX-RN review. It doesn't have NCLEX questions- it is divided into chapters that you might cover in various nursing classes (i.e. pediatrics, L&D, med-surg, psych, critical care). The chapters basically summarize all of the main topics you will cover and the info that you REALLY need to know... it is the most amazing book I own. It has caused my test grades to improve dramatically!!! Like A's and B's on tests... easily. Also, I would reccommend a "pocket size" drug book for clinicals. I have Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide 2006. It fits into your pocket and has the main points about each drug. Basically... these 2 things have saved me so far in nursing school! Any book that summarizes, gives you the main idea, or puts it into simplified terms will help get the info into your brain alot easier and the material will become much more familiar to you!

I just got an externship in the PICU and start at the end of the month. I am very excited and very nervous! Any advice?

I have worn Merrell's and so far they have been wonderful. Merrells have really good arch support and are extremely comfortable. I would definitely reccommend them!

STUDY STUDY STUDY! Flash cards will become your best friend. I can honestly remember studying my flash cards while DRIVING to school one day! Make time for yourself also... it is very important!

I just finished my 1st year of nursing school and WOW- it feels amazing! I have learned so much in the past year, not only nursing, but also about myself. Here are some nursing school survival tips for you... Studying for nursing tests is much different than studying for normal college classes. The tests usually don't consist of definitions, matching, true/false or fill-in-the-blanks. They are "NCLEX style" and involve a clinical situation and four possible answers- sometimes all 4 can be right in certain aspects, but only one answer is the "best" answer. You will hear this alot in nursing school!!!!!!!!! You will hear your instructors talk about "thinking critically" in clinical situations and in answering test questions. You will most likely get tired of hearing it, but it is definitely the most important thing you will learn in nursing school. Take it to heart! Cherish your clinical time b/c it is the best time to really learn. I love when I have a test question come up and I saw the particular scenario at a clinical and am able to answer it confidently! However.... sometimes what you saw at clinical is WRONG!!!!!!! Anyways, good luck to you! Nursing school is so much fun and I hope the best for you!