TXstudentRN

I admit it took me a minute to get the first one. I think it's supposed to be "nurses' station" since it's the station of more than one nurse. And I had the same thought process on #2... council. I have been on a rampage this semester to get my peers to stop saying nursing diagnosises. It drives me INSANE... it's diagnosES! It just sounds weird and honestly, somewhat uneducated, IMHO. I stand by the fact that some medical words are hard to say. But simple words being misused (o2 stats) and mispronounced just make you wonder sometimes about one's education/experience. It's sad, but true...

We watched this is one of my intro nursing classes - very interesting, yet disgusting ethically (its about the Tuskegee experiments). It does have a spinal tap scene, and it's not pretty. Sorry I'm not much help on when it occurs, but I distinctly remember that scene as it's pretty agonizing to watch... It's towards the middle of the if I remember correctly. It is drawn out a bit - just stop watching as soon as you see someone laying down on his side! :) easier said than done I know. But I definitely recommend the movie - sad, but very good.

I didn't know about it to catch it in time... I just happened to see this on CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/02/carson.bio/index.html?iref=mpstoryview. Sounds very interesting, hopefully it will show again!

I think I've cried once thus far in nursing school, but never in front of people, and it was in the first few weeks of my first semester when everyone was still getting used to just how much nursing school takes out of you. It was more just a combination of complete utter exhaustion and stress, and then a little thing put me over the edge (in this case, it's so dumb looking back on it now, but it was having to put on sterile gloves for a lab checkoff, and I had a defective pair, therefore broke sterile technique, and didn't pass - and I had to do it all the time outside of nursing school so I knew I could do it, so it was just annoying as all get out, yet enough to put me over the edge). However, I must say the crying can sometimes be therapeutic - it's like I admitted to myself that I was overwhelmed, and after a good cry, I picked myself back up and developed a new perspective (that, and a thicker skin!) I haven't cried with a patient, and don't know that I would - I'm pretty good at waiting until I'm alone or escaping for a few minutes to take some deep breaths and regroup. But I totally would if the situation called for it. It doesn't bother me at all when other people cry when it's because of something truly sad and unfortunate, like some of the patients that have been mentioned here. What makes me mad is when someone else makes someone cry, usually one in an authority position. I don't care how much education you have and how high you are on the pecking order, no one has the right to bring someone else to tears. I think sometimes you control whether you cry, but definitely not always. However, I firmly believe in Eleanor Roosevelt's quote that "no one can make you inferior without your consent." I guess it's hard to generalize whether or not you control crying, because crying is an expression of SO many different emotions. It just totally depends on the situation at hand.

That's annoying about having to take the GED, but for the case of formality, I guess I understand. If it were me, I would tackle that first, then go onto the dosage. If you go to a bookstore or look at one online, you will find numerous study books for the GED that have an overview of the information covered and study questions. I can't personally recommend a certain one since I have never taken it, but generally the Princeton Review, and ones like that, are pretty good. Same for dosage calculations - they seem much more daunting then they really are. It seems that most nursing schools, mine included, use what is called dimensional analysis to do them. There are also books for this - I would definitely recommend getting one. Good luck!

I didn't have a problem with stats - I was dreading it because I struggled with math in high school, just because the concepts can't really be applied to anything to think it through. Statistics on the other hand just made sense to me - not that we actually use it now, but it was applicable to real life situations. And I can't comment on chem - my nursing school decided a few years before I entered that it wasn't a necessary pre-req. I love them for that more than I can explain, and have not had any problems with not having that info, though I had taken AP chem 2 years before in HS so I had a pretty good basic understanding. And then there was A&P. Micro I did fine and enjoyed - though it haunts me to this day, only because I think of all the nasty germs walking around in the hospital and how they multiply like crazy! But yes, A&P was bad. My only C has been in Anatomy, managed a B is phys just because it was more about how things work then just how things are. I actually did great on the lab practicals (though our prof caught on to the excellent idea of taking pictures of charts and using them to study and banned them) just because it was straight memorization. It was the tests - the dreaded "all of the above, some of the above, or none of the above" questions that got me. And I think I also had some mental block against it, because everyone tells you horror stories about it and you feel like you're destined to fail. I often think about what it would be like to retake it now, when you actually know how all of those systems interact in real-world situations. My biggest advice though is to make sure you really learn the stuff, not just memorize it and forget it, because you WILL need to know it! And don't sell back any textbooks! Good luck - it's definitely worth it!

I agree with the point that a decision needs to be made whether there was manipulation going on behind the scenes. HOWEVER, from what I gathered from the news, it seems that even Steve didn't know the extent of his condition. Initially he reported that the weight loss was caused by a hormonal or chemical imbalance (this varied between reports) and that a simple change in diet would fix the problem. Then, a few days later, he released a statement saying that his medical problem is more complex than even HE thought, and therefore that is why he is taking the leave of absence. I can totally understand that, especially with his history of pancreatic ca. That unfortunately happens all the time - something seems minor and all the sudden is very involved. The timeline of the events is what needs to be looked at. Whichever way you want to look at it, I just hope everything will be okay - he's had a rough go of it! I'm thankful he's taking care of himself, as it would be very easy to just concentrate on Apple and ignore his health.

My initial thought too. Was it on a computer system... maybe a typo?

This is interesting to see the differences... and I can only suppose you wouldn't WANT to know some of the stuff in there! Here's the one that always makes me think, and I see both ways all the time. If you are using needleless tubing, where you don't even need the plastic blunt tip (the luer lock matches up), for IV pushes, do you put the plastic syringe in the sharps when you're done? Same idea - do you put empty syringes from central line flushes in the sharps? Just curious - there's truly no needle, but I've seen many nurses very opinionated on one way or another. So... which do you do? Sharps or trash?

I totally agree with the statlock, they are GREAT (but as a warning, very expensive - at least $20 each I've heard, which is why many hospitals don't carry them) - here's a link: http://www.statlock.com. From personal experience, there is NO comparison regarding them versus sutures. I have found there to be some discrepancy on how often to change them though - some say weekly, others say don't mess with it unless you need to. I highly recommend using the skin prep and using adhesive remover to get them off - they STICK! Which makes them great. I like the idea of kerlix or coband after covering the entire site and lines with tegaderm - look into opsite if she has sensitive skin. And then longsleeves over that, preferably the ones with elastic at the wrists, and hopefully she'll be set! Though even if she does get into, as someone else said, hopefully you'll be able to catch it before she gets under the tegaderm. Good luck!

I'm no help here, but just remember: you can always pull the "but I people's lives in my hands" card... works like a charm! All kidding aside, both are incredibly difficult, it's just a different magnitude when you're in charge of keeping someone alive. Not that law can't also drastically affect one's life, but you know what I mean... Good luck - hope you win! :)

Please don't worry that much - these are definitely the extremes. The great majority of nurses are fantastic. But as to how to respond, this really depends on the situation - there have been varying responses. My absolute favorite was my friend who after the first thing her nurse said to her was "I hate students" she laughed - she truly thought she was joking! It was kind of awkward when the student realized she wasn't, but she just kind of had the mindset of "well you're stuck with me!" and went with it. The nurse grew on the student (and vice versa) as the day went on. Other times you just have to accept it - it's one thing to go find another nurse if you can, but most of the time you will have picked at least one patient the night before, making it so you have to find a way to work with the nurse because it's wayyy too much work to switch patients. The best thing then is to discretely talk to your instructor - s/he can often find a way to make it work, or the charge nurse can intervene some how. It's a tough situation no matter what, which makes me even more thankful when I DO have great nurses to work with. I definitely agree about the lack of clinical instructors - many schools are at the maximum of 1:10. I also know some nurses are frustrated because they have students ALL THE TIME - I can understand how it would be nice to just have one day sans students, but the schools are so desperate for clinical sites that that's a rarity. I'm glad to see that this is being acknowledged - it's kind of like when patients complain about having to see residents/med students. It makes me want to tell them to not go to a teaching hospital if they don't want to deal with it, but it all comes back to the fact that everyone has to learn somehow!

We have recently had a problem with this, and unfortunately we have discovered the root cause often comes down to having a floor that is mainly staffed with travelers. Twice in the last two weeks people in my clinical group have been treated awfully, with point blank comments as soon as the student introduces herself such as "I don't like students - find someone else" (and the student had already pre-planned the night before for two of her patients) and "I hate students, so all you can do is follow me, you aren't giving any meds or doing anything... why don't you go make that bed," especially when we can give all meds/do procedures - only thing is we need either a nurse or CI in the room with us when we give IVP or set up an IVPB. Thankfully the students didn't take it personally, but for the record, these nurses are reported, as they should understand that when taking an assignment in a teaching hospital, nursing students are part of the job. I've been lucky and have had great nurses that want to teach - I've actually discovered that new(er) nurses are often more accepting, as they were in my place not too long ago. Not to say nurses with more experience haven't also been great, but it was an interesting observation. I do however understand that I slow them down and are completely okay with not doing things when they just have to be done quickly. I don't know if it has something to do with students' personalities, like do some come off more needy than others, or what, but it is definitely a problem. I hate to see people come into clinical all excited because they have an interesting patient and can't wait to help them, then are shot down before they even listen to report because the nurse wants nothing to do with them. On the flip side, having a nurse that trusts me and goes out of her way to help me absolutely makes my day and I soak up all I possibly can, and also let them know how much it means to me. I totally understand having bad days and sometimes just wanting to get things done your way, but it's hard for us not to think "well how did they get where they are if no one wanted to let them get experience?!". Thanks for posting this - it hits home for sure! I would love follow and learn from you any day!

Have you already looked at http://www.guideline.gov? That's the National Guidelines Clearinghouse that has a database of more guidelines than you can imagine! I just did a search for "medication errors" and came up with a bunch: http://www.guideline.gov/search/searchresults.aspx?Type=3&txtSearch=medication+errors&num=20. Might be what you're looking for! Good luck!

I am as Gen Y/Millenial/whatever you want to call my generation as they come, and I can tell you that I am frustrated by my generation! I have always found myself getting along better with those older than me, and that has just been compounded since I started nursing school. It infuriates me to see how some of my classmates treat their "elderly" - and not just nurses, but also clinical instructors and professors. I hate that I get lumped into them - their sense of entitlement and holier than thou attitudes make me cringe when I'm wearing the same color scrubs at clinical in fear that I will be seen as "one of them." I don't blame you guys for being frustrated at all - I'm frustrated and like I said, I'm one of them! And I guess the scariest thing for me is this - what happens now that my generation is having kids? If we turned out this screwed up as a whole, what is going to happen when we're put in the role of raising kids? Frightens me to no end! I often find myself thinking that I don't fit in, and frankly I don't really want to a lot of the times. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this, I know it frustrates our professors and CIs just as much - just know that we aren't ALL like this!