jannrn

How does a small hospital maintain it's ratio of 1:5 during breaks? I am curious what other small hospitals do and looking for ideas that may be different from what we do. I work night shift so if we have 6 (or more) patients, then there are 2 nurses...

Just yesterday the local paper had the front-page story about this. the hospital here is implementing a new policy that says all admissions to ICU are on a 24 hour isolation and swabbed and tested for MRSA. Anyone else do that?

We recently had a situation where the mom of 3 kids (6,9,12yr) was vacationing in Jamaica when her husband collapsed and died. She did everything, and in that country they did an autopsy (wouldn't let her go home without it being done) and he had al...

Nobody can MAKE you take a night shift job, however at the time you are looking in the area that you want to live and the specialtiy you want to work in, that may be the only shift to get your foot in the door. You may find you like it, or your slee...

I believe it can, especially if it goes on chronically. Have you read the China Study? Interesting book. It talks alot about protein and also how not all protein sources are equal, but not specifically regarding kidney function, mostly related to...

We have been pretty low census too but when we are full it is 14 pt so we are usually 10 pt or under. I just checked to day and this last month the day shift people all had almost 40 hours of call-off time! We hope to pick up soon!

I am in California and the small hospital I work in (we don't have phlebotomy or IV services) we contract with an outside company, one that also supplies medical supplies to homes. They have RN's who are certified and experienced in placing PICC lin...

Just so you know it's not just nurses who sometimes make mistakes, yesterday an MD used silvadene-soaked gause to vag pack a pt I had. Apparently the PACU nurse noticed and he came back and repacked with betadine gause. She didn't have any problems...

I was writing to the original poster, and not passing judgement on those who find separation from thier children easier than others.

Unless you really need the money, or to get out and do something for yourself, your kids are only little for a short time (make a timeline and see) and soon enough you can work out a little early care before school or after care, or work nights and s...

"The China Study is a very, very good book if you can get your hands on it." I recently read this book and couldn't put it down, fascinating info, and hard to dismiss. Research like this is being repeated over and over but it is so hard to change ou...

To answer your specific question: no, you don't need a female nurse with you when you give a female pt personal care.

I always ask my pt if they brought their own jammies to wear and that they don't have to wear ours if they don't want to. Many do wear thier own and I think it is beneficial to be more comfortable and for the nurse to see the pt as more of an indivi...

wow, I have tons of respect for phlebotomy! I consider them the experts in what they do, and quite often they bail me out of a difficult 'stick'! (we don't have them, but one comes in from the lab to pick our specimens up. She's a lifesaver and ...

Just to give you another side of the story, take a read at some of the birth stories on this website, and where some women see labor very differently than most in America. You'll be guaranteed to hear many a horror story, but here you can see it is ...

that family member sounds manipulative and probably wanted to see if you really would cave into his demands! I can picture you saying, "well let me see, it looks like I will be busy at that time, but I could fit that phone call in at 0245, would th...

The small hosp I work at will only offer 8 hr shifts. Most of the night shift, including me really want 12 hour shifts! It is really difficult working 5 nights a week. I am fortunate to be a .7 so it is 3 or 4 nights a week, but would love to incr...

I have had to do similar things. I had to get a job to buy a house so the husband knew it was important or we wouldn't get the house. When I had to orient on day shift, my husband hired a young girl to help him get kids ready and off to school (2 dif...

I also wanted to add to be careful as some people do get 'wired and jittery' from Benadryl instead of drowsy. I found that taking 2 does that to me and one 'may' work, but I have not found it very helpful at all. Melatonin doesn't seem to do much f...

It is wonderful to hear many different suggestions to give you lots of different things to try, from finding the best schedule, and other techniques. I have done night shift for most of my 15-years as a nurse (and some as a cna before that) and have ...

I don't believe this is recommended anymore. "Moist tea bags applied to the nipples are a folk remedy that recent research has shown to have an astringent effect that may promote drying and cracking, and is therefore not advised' http://www.laleche...

I use the pre-filled syringes. I draw up the needed amt of med with the blunt tip (metal, not plastic) type needle and squirt it in the 10 cc syringe with saline in it. sometimes I have to squirt some saline out first to make the med fit. I only d...

Our facility does us epidural tubing with a yellow stripe on it, the IV tubing is all just clear.

where I work it looks like from the hosp web site advertising a med/surg nursing job it starts out at 36.20/hr (does not include $10/hr night differential). this is central coast of california.

We can only give phenergan supp. at my hosp. it works great and lasts longer, but the first line drugs are still zofran and inapsine.