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Check out the "red pin" postings that are at the beginning of this page, there are excellent links for resources there. Good luck!

I am getting ready to start HH and found this "early learning" very helpful!! Thank you soooooo much, this helps the OASIS seem a little less intimidating. I am so thankful for this thread and web site.

OMG, sooo sorry for all the crappolla!!! If I were you, I'd make a copy of your post to give with your resume. I could literally feel the stress and impossibilness( not a word I'm sure, but describes the situation) that you were facing. Good luck, and may you find a better staffed position. Be careful of being floated, it can really do you in as a nurse especially if you have too many high acuity patients, which is exactly what you had. :redpinkhe

I am also considering HH and now do ICU stepdown/tele. I asked in my interview about chemo, and was told I wouldn't be doing any. How do you like HH? I thought that you could give me a great viewpoint on HH nursing versus PCU/tele nursing, Thanks !

I work on an ICU sister unit/ step down unit. We only do heparin drips d/t a heparin protocol that's in place. We do cardizem drips, but only if it is a set drip that doesn't have to be titrated. Any other drips that require titration, frequent vs, are put in the unit where the ratio is 1:2. We have 5 to 6 patients each, and one CNA, and if we're lucky, a tele tech. I refuse to take any more than 6 patients. We have an acuity system which is supposed to correlate to the nurse's expertise level, which is how they "get away" with giving you 4 "high" and 2 "medium" acuity patients. The situation you describe was awful, and I'm sorry that you were exposed to that kind of mismanagement. I hope your situation improves quickly or I would be inclined to find another position. There are times I want to leave and not let the door hit me in the backside as I leave and our floor is nowhere near the disaster you described. And get this, our hospital just received Magnet status. Be safe, Be happy!!!

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! I drive an hour, or 54 miles, one way to work. I work 12 hour shifts. I sold my big SUV and bought a little gas sipper, so I can get to work on a tank of gas every week and I have a ten gallon tank. I have driven this for almost two years now. The drive sometimes is great, giving me time to gear up for work, or unwind. Then sometimes, I'm really tired, or the weather is bad, and it gets to me. I love the people I work with, which presents it's own problem. Who do you hang out with alot of times? Yeah, coworkers, but I live an hour away. If they have a party or go out, I'd love to go but can't stomach the thoughts of adding another driving day to my week. There are no job openings within a 40 mile radius of my home, so I really don't have a choice at the moment. For the most part, the drive gives me time to catch up on phone calls, hands free of coorifice, or just enjoy the scenery, I live in the country. Your first year in nursing is a reality shock, to say the least, so the fewer new things you have to deal with, the easier the transition from student to nurse will be. Good Luck!!

Veteran nurse here, telemetry unit. I actually used Concept Maps in NS, and they are sooo much better than care plans for learning in the school settings. In school, as much as I hated them, they did help my critical thinking skills and to be able to understand the APIE process. Meeting state and fed requirements are the only real purpose I see in my real world practice. Ours are computer generated R/T admission diagnosis and history. One of the few things I actually remember about NS was when an instructor was trying to help us with prioritizing our patient needs, "What's going to kill them first?". I still use that philosophy, and to date, it has served me well.:redbeathe

NO, mama is NOT getting better, she's going to go to the light. Do you hear that coughing and sputtering every time you shove something in her mouth? It's going in her lungs, that's why she can't breathe, that and the terminal lung cancer with mets! Oh, and yeah, I REALLY think she needs to be a full code because compressing an 89 pound, 90 year old chest is going to be such a success.

This was so beautifully written, thank you. It should be copied and given to family members who go against those express wishes of their loved ones, and there are alot of them.

great question, nnnikki!! i'm new to this site even though i became a user in 06. who had time to "use" while they were in school?lol. my name is tammy and my sweet, love of my life little dog is daisy. she "owns" me, not the other way around, hahaha! hence my name.