bld24

I think it was 36 points. I had the following: GPA 9/10 Orientation 5/5 Advisement 3/3 AP1 5/5 AP2 3/5 Micro 5/5 Algebra 3/3 Nutrition 1/1 Essay 2/2 90's on Net Math and 80's on comprehension with no health care experience. I was in school with people who had no health care experience and some hadn't taken Micro prior to entrance and didn't have Algebra, so realistically they could not have had any more than 32 points. Just an FYI -the majority of people do not have Algebra (you should with your AA), most only have CNA experience (a handful had prior Bachelors or Masters that were not health care related), and you'll have an AA so thats 2 extra points there. I got in January of 2007 first try. I didn't have a back up plan but should have. If I had a do-over I'd probably apply for both LPN and RN at BCC and use Keiser as a backup (I'd take BCC first, Keiser second and LPN third). The tuition aspect of Keiser is a wash if you get into their program because you'll start working earlier-which equals more money to pay off the larger tuition bill. Also, if you're going to have your AA in the fall, don't negate UCF acclerated program. Lots of good can come out of that. Same amount of time as BCC (5 semesters) and you'll come out with a BSN. As, I'm now starting to apply for their ADN-MSN, I'm kicking myself for not considering this plan. The truth of the matter is I have friends and know people who graduated from all 3 programs (BCC,Keiser,UCF) along with a few supervisors at local hospitals. I've heard all of the comparisons about who has the more difficult program and who makes better nurses. The answer is, all of them. If you work hard, take charge and responsibility for your own education and clinical experiences you will do well in any program and succeed as a new nurse. I would really make LPN your last choice if your goal is advanced nursing degree, it's a hard way to get there and adds an extra semester onto your schooling. Good luck!

Try chewing a brand new stick of peppermint gum. I've always had an iron stomach, but I've found my achilles heel in the smell department. It's called the biliary drainage bag. I can smell it right now and I left the floor almost 3 hours ago. I'd take 2 pts with C-diff, 2 with GI bleeds and unlimited gangrene never to have to smell this again!

Night-shifter, nonalcoholic and occasional skier here. I have a very occasional beer or two in the am after I get off work. If I'm on vacation, I will sometimes have a drink in the morning. When I ski (unfortunately on rare occasions now), I almost always have 1 drink before I hit the slopes. It makes me a little less tense on that first run. I've never been impaired and skied but I have stopped mid-afternoon to go have fun and drinks in the lodge with friends. For me these situations are kind of a decadent indulgence-I'm usually working and uber-responsible and occasionally it's kind of fun to let loose a little. If someone only saw me on these few occasions where I get to relax, they might construe that I've got a problem. Frankly the only problem I have is so little time to actually let loose a little!:wink2: The sum total of my alcohol consumption may be one 12 pack of beer spread out over 2 or more months. I would think that before you confront someone, you should have some solid evidence of a problem (i.e. drinking and driving, putting people in danger (themselves included), etc. If you feel pretty confident there is a problem and you know this person well and present it in the right light all should be well. But try not to judge harshly. You made the statement that it seems totally excessive to have "any" alcohol before noon. The way I see it is, what's the difference if you have 1 beer at 10am or 1 beer at 7pm. Barring (no pun intended ) any other problems it's really a preference.

Two years ago I could have written your post. Clinicals made me feel incompetent and stupid and I'm far from that. Clinicals were the bane of my existence. I dreaded going to almost every single one. Every day I would say to myself, "just get through this day" They never really got any better. I just learned everything I could while I was on the floor and book wise I tried hard to master all of the theory. And as hard as it was I took advantage of every learning opportunity on the floor. It was hard, there were nurses who were so busy that it seemed like you were just a huge burden to them-I understand now why it's like that-they are swamped and it's hard to teach like that. I stuck a smile on my face and tried my best to be prepared. What I know now is that the 25 meds are generally never all given and if you have a question there are at least 5 drug books in the med room, so you can look it up. The 20 diagnoses -usually a patients history, but you have to find the root cause of why your patient has come to the hospital this time. An appendectomy 20 years ago most likely doesn't have any bearing on a patient with acute onset of abdominal pain. You're clinical instructor may have you researching all history, but the goal is to start to put the pieces together. The critical thinking part of nursing. Another problem I had with clinicals, is that no one ever explained to me very simple terms of nursing. I spent more time in the beginning trying to figure out things like the MAR-what is it? How is it used? No one ever sat us down and said here is how a nursing shift goes and here is what you need to do. They focused so much more on the 25 meds and the 20 diagnoses and probably rightly so, the other stuff falls into line and will vary depending on where you work. I don't know if nursing school gets easier, but I can tell you my clinicals never did. Up until my very last one, I never really had a confident feeling-I always felt incompetent and questioned my decision to be a nurse. I still have an occasional moment like that, but it's way different now. I've been on my own as an RN for about 2 months now, on a Med Surg unit, and I can tell you it's nothing like nursing school clinicals. That sick dreaded feeling of walking down the hall at 0630 wanting to run right back out the door goes away. For me it really was just "gutting it out" and feigning some amount of confidence. I personally think you're probably doing great-I wanted to quit after my first week at the nursing home. Another thing that got me through clincials was having a good buddy. A lot of people in nursing school pretend that everything is just great and they love every single second on the floor. While I'm sure that's possible, it's really unlikely-Share your misery with someone-do some venting. So many people try to pretend that it's all good. When I had just had enough, and decided to share the fact that I was struggling with my clinical group, I think people were shocked because they thought I had it all together. It allowed people to open up and say "hey I'm struggling too". Misery does love company and it's ok to share that you're feeling like this with your group. I wish you the best of luck and in 2 years I'd like to see you posting to someone who just started nursing school, because they will write the same post. Clinicals were difficult for me and most of the time unpleasant, but in the end I have a great job and I'm really proud to be a nurse.

Thanks to everyone that wrote with advice. I sucked it up and went back in and somehow they had assigned me this patient again. I deferred and switched the assignment, but it all worked out. The family sought me out and actually apologized about the situation. I did learn a big lesson. Charting and documenting seems to take so much time away from patient care, but it's so important to do this part correct and cross all the t's. I take real pride in my patient care and this situation temporarily sunk my confidence, but I'm gonna learn how to deal with situations like this and move on. The good news is that I felt supported by my coworkers and management and that's probably a good thing to know early on. Again thanks for the support here, I needed it and really appreciate it!

I'm a new nurse, of less than a few months,scrambling along and having the common time management issues with taking 6 patients, trying to do things by the book, asking lots of questions and thinking things are going pretty good-I'm a little slow, but I think I'm doing well by my patients. I just got knocked back into reality. At change of shift I had a hypoglycemic episode to deal with on a patient who had just lost her IV site when another patient calls complaining that his pain meds (prn by the way) were an hour late. He had been calling for them every 3 hours, but by this point (his first call) it was around 3-1/2 hours-the orders are q-3-4 prn. I pull them, give them, and let them know the day shift nurse will be taking over-they say thanks. 15 minutes later he and his family (who have been staying in the room 24-7), come to the desk while I'm finishing my charting and say "I think you gave the wrong medication because I don't have any pain relief. I tell him that he's been up walking and to give it a little time. Another 5 minutes go by and he calls for someone to come to the room because he says he wasn't given his medication. I take the oncoming nurse and my supervisor comes along and we go to the room. He says he was tired, but he's sure I only gave him saline, I explain that I mark everything I pull (with a sharpie) and I do the same thing every time-give the med, then flush the line. He swears I only used one flush and gave him saline. I know this is not true. We all advised him to wait a little while, then I documented everything. And it looks like from now on we'll have to take 2 people into the room for backup. Heck the CNA on my shift asked that I be in the room with her for any care and this was before this all happened. Now I'm really freaked out and the thought occured to me that patients can actually lie or be wrong about something and it can drop squarely on my shoulders to have to defend. It's the first time I actually thought that I may not be cut out for this job. The only thing that kept me from getting so down on myself was the fact that another patients family had just asked if I could please take care of their family member again tonight because they thought I gave him some great care. I'm sitting here unable to sleep knowing I have to go back tonight wondering what they could possibly be saying about me and can this situation cause me any trouble? All I have is my word and my charting and the pyxis that said I pulled the medication. I've cared for this patient for 2 nights now without incident. One thing that bothered me a little was the fact that the family wrote down a lot of things like medications and times and names,etc. and asked a lot of questions and would watch very carefully when I gave any medication to the point of being almost in my face. Howevery, they were very nice up until this episode and seemed very appreciative. Anyway this is part vent, part freaking out and part question about how to deal with this and is this common?

Thanks for the answers-we don't have those vials-wish we did.

The dose is .96ml. I guess my concern is that the 3cc syringe that we use to waste the 1ml has so few markings that it seems a little imprecise when you waste 1ml. (Unlike the TB syringe where you could get as close a measurement as .01), so if you're off on wasting just a little it can throw the dosage off--i.e. if you only used 1.90 or 2.10 of the saline then the .96ml you draw up could be too high or too low of a concentration. I hope I'm making some sense.

How do you prepare it? They way I was taught by my preceptor was to dilute in 2cc's of saline (per package instructions). My dose is .96 so I've been wasting 1ml of a 3ml saline flush, then injecting the solumedrol with 2ml of saline, then drawing up .96 in a tb syringe and transferring it back to a NS syringe. Can someone give me your step by step procedure-from the time you pull it out of the pyxis to administering it? Are the 3cc syringes-- with 1 ml wasted accurate enough for dilution to get the proper concentration? I've had numerous people tell me this is the way to do it, but something doesn't feel right about it. I just want to verify. Thanks

I thought in CO poisoning that the skin usually never presents as cyanotic, but cherry-red or pink and flushed?

Hi, I'm a brand new GN getting ready to start on med-surg in about 10 days. I'd like to brush up on skills and pathos, labs, etc that I will need for my job. Since i only have 10 days and I have to study for NCLEX, I was hoping to create a top 10 list of skills and info I can review before I hit the floor. If you were precepting a GN what would you like them to bring to the floor besides a good attitude? Any help/hints/tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

My clinical group is always on the floor in time for report, but I seem to run into the same problem many times. I'll have 3-4 patients with 3-4 different nurses assigned. I have to find 4 different nurses who I have never seen before and try to get report on just 1 patient. So while nurse #1 is getting report on my patient #2, nurse #3 is getting it on patient #4 and I can't be in two places at once. When I get assignments like this it stinks. I understand why we might get an assignment like this i.e. we need to brush up on a particular disease process, but it makes it so difficult. Fortunately I'm getting ready to do a preceptorship and we should have just 1 assigned nurse and her patients only-I'm going to be loving life!

Don't be worried, the majority of the students I see are doing the right thing, just like the majority of the nurses we work with aren't mean and nasty to students. We always hear the worst stories. Sometimes it only takes one person to taint the entire group. I'm older and work with a lot of younger students and they are very much on their game and take this very seriously. The bad ones will weed themselves out for the most part-then again, maybe they could end up being the bad nurses that are mean to students. On a personal level, I gave up my cell phone. I got so tired of everyone getting mad at me if I didn't answer it. How in the world did we all get along before we had cell phones? I'm tired of people assuming that I'm ignoring them if I didn't answer the cell (well of course I'm ignoring you-- but back in the day, you'd never know that). I'd love to go back to the days pre-answering machine. If someone wasn't home, you'd just call them later, no hurt feelings you just assumed they were out or eating dinner. I don't find it necessary to be available 24 hours a day to anyone. So, no more cell phone for me! I get the strangest looks from people when they ask for my cell number and I tell them I don't have one.

I'm having a problem stating a proper Nursing Diagnosis. This is the only part of the care plan I'm having issues with. For some reason my brain is just not getting this. For instance I have a client this week that has a dehisced wound on her abdomen that is infected. The wound was caused by surgical removal of a portacath secondary to infection. So I've got the first part of a Ndx: Impaired skin integrity r/t--- then I go blank on what to write. Now I know her skin is impaired due to a surgical procedure that was done due to an infection. Can someone help me with the proper way to write this Ndx? Thanks

I took AP I & II and Micro last summer and got A's, but it's a lot of work. Personally, I'd match up the micro and chemistry in Summer A and the english and history in Summer B. But's thats just me, it's hard for me to go from concrete science to writing papers for english and history. These are fast paced courses. You only get around 6 weeks per course, and they leave nothing out. You have to be dedicated to studying all week after classes and on the weekends. There is a test or two every week. Check out the ratemyprofessor.com. A good instructor is key to doing these summer courses. I'd also start reading your books now and try to get the syllabus ahead of time. Find the current spring schedule at your school and hang out by the class and ask a current student if you can copy their current syllabus.