wildmountainchild

I work in an ER. I just love, love, love it. The fast pace, the constant change, the opportunity to really practice some cool skills, you will be a master at starting IV's within two weeks. The first year was hell. I went into the ED as a new grad, b...

Hi All, I'm writing here because this is the kind of thing I don't want people who actually "know" me to know. On Saturday night I went out to a local pub and had a few drinks and shot a couple games of pool. I had more to drink than I could handle.....

I work in an ER. If I can, I try to wait until I know shift change is over before I transfer a pt. But I can't always do that. Sometimes I have the DR or the charge breathing down my neck to get the pt out of there so we can get another one into the ...

I work 3 12's a week. Sometime 4. I really love it. I don't feel tired unless we get really slow and there isn't anything to do. Then the hours just drag by. Luckily that doesn't happen much in the ED. I wonder about the med error studies. Were the n...

The was working rescue in a national park. A guy fell about 500 feet to the ground. I've never seen anything like it. His face was lying on a rock with the skull completely removed. It looked like one of those rubber halloween masks. The poor guys sp...

I have another perspective...I don't mind, and never have minded, talking about money. I guess this comes in opposition to my upbringing where money was NEVER discussed, to the detriment of my brother and I who didn't know the first thing about finan...

Oh, and garaunteed ratios. 5 pts to one nurse on the floor. 4:1 in the ER. Only 2:1 max in ICU or if critical care in ER. I WON'T work as a nurse in another state. To go from caring for 4 pts, which at times seems crazy, to caring for 8, or 13! Yikes...

San Francisco. The cost of living here is pretty high, but I actually live outside of the city and catch the train in. I think the Bay Area (as in San Francisco Bay) has the highest paid nurses in the country....and I'm working at the best paying hos...

Money, money, money. If a hospital wants to retain high qulity staff then they have to pay for them. I recently got a job as a new grad. I will get paid $55 an hour. My friend who has been working a similar job in another ED for the past 10 years is ...

I appreciate your forthright presentation of your feelings. Some people consider me to be.....very honest. For lack of a better description. However, I care very deeply about my patients and have realized at this stage of the game that playing well w...

Gosh...let me see if I can remember. The heart isn't pumping effectively, blood backs up from the left atrium into the lungs. Pressure increses in the pulmonary venous system....bladdy blah...fluid in the lungs. That's about all I'm willing to give y...

I must have applied to 30 or 40 different positions before I was hired into a new grad program. The market here if fairly saturated as well. It's not that nurses aren't needed, it's just that you can't run a hospital w/ all new grads. I'd given mysel...

I've got a littmans book and the saunders comprehensive review. Make me an offer that covers shipping and they're yours! They are both recent...2007 anyway. I took the NCLEX this February and passed in 75 questions. I don't have the CD's that come w/...

I got my preceptor a pocket knife like the one I have and that she had admired. She loved it and she wears it all the time (we've stayed great friends). She even got me a gift when I was done w/ my preceptorship...a sweatshirt form the ED where I'd p...

The AANP renectly had an article in thier publication stating that NP's should be certified in thier area of practice. However, in reality that is rarely the case BUT for liability reasons I think it's a good idea. How much time do you have? The DNP ...

I don't mean to sound rude.....but look it up! Google it or hit your Davis' Drug Guide. I don't know if it's safe or not, but good on you for checking.......now go check :wink2:.

Hi Ya'll, On Tuesday I have an interview for a new grad position in an ED in San Francisco. Any advice? I'm obviously dressing professionally, coming early, etc. but are there some things I should or shouldn't say or do? I really want this job. I did...

I know that without a doubt I would stay and help. It's my moral and legal duty. My husband knows that I would stay, and I know that as a law enforcement officer he would also continue working as well. I'm not christian...in fact I'm an atheist. I do...

I would definitely join a union. You can thank labor unions for your 40 hr work wk (as opposed to 140 hrs!). And also thank them for having a weekend, before labor unions people worked EVERY day of the week for up to 16 hours a day. No vacation, no s...

I have a PDA and use the Davis Drug guide on it. But I also have Pepid RN which I sync/update once a week, so if anything changes w/ drugs it's updated then. The PDA is VERY portable. I have all kinds of info at my fingertips, the computer age is tru...

My plan, if everything works out, is to a get a new grad position in an ED right out of nursing school. I live in the Bay Area and these types of positions are very competitive. I had a five month preceptorship at a busy Oakland, CA ED. I loved it. I...

I would have been an ER MD. Now I'm in school to be an ER NP. Also I want to build an entirely off-the-grid-self-sufficient commune to ride out the coming apocalypse. I'd be chief medical officer of course. I'm looking for the ideal location to purch...

Severe depression causes psychomotor retardation that can mimic being under the influence of depressants. Likewise personal stress or trauma. Also, I'm VERY sensitive to caffiene. I know of a girl who is even more sensitive than me. She had an energy...

When I was still an EMT and went to work for an EMS company I was upfront and honest. I told them I was on vicodin, provided the prescription (via the bottle) and when I was tested they knew I would come up positive. No big deal. I was still hired. N...

New grad programs in the bay area are very competitive, but not impossible. It depends on where you want to work/what area of nursing. The problem is that all nursing schools graduate at the same time...creating a huge influx of newly graduated inexp...