trixie

Hi- I work at a community hospital with a 13 bed ICU. Currently, the nurses in ICU document a shift assessment q2h; this is a complete head to toe assessment. Is this similar to charting in other ICU's? Thanks, Trixie

There are still physicians at the hospital where I work ordering milk and molasses enemas. Is anyone else out there still using these?! If so, what is the procedure followed for mixing and administering? Thanks

I was fortunate to have been oriented to the world of nursing by wonderful team players. They considered the work to be everyone's work. They were highly organized nurses who put the patient's needs first. If there was work to be done, it didn't matt...

I would guess most areas of the country are similar to mine. The nurses all know one another or know someone at another facility. They all ask each other unofficially about people frequently. YES - I think mentioning scheduling difficulties (or e...

Dead people used to freak me out. It got easier. Hang in there!

Perhaps working in a dr office. Or in a mental health unit. It is not impossible, but will not be easy for you. The problem with the situation is that most employers want you to have some basic med/surg experience that will be difficult for you ...

" forget med-surg, it is not relevant. Yeah, it's good experience but it's not what you want to do and you can learn the same skills elsewhere" Told you someone would disagree. People that disagree with this statement generally don't have med/surg e...

I was the only RN on the L&D unit (left with a LPN). We had no patients. My former SISTER-IN-LAW came in as an outpatient and of course the doctor wanted her to have a VE. UGH! I discussed it with her, she was okay with it, no problem. But it...

What I see lacking in your experience is Med/Surg from an acute care facility. Many feel (and may post) that it is not needed. However, with a great mentor and med/surg experience - I would bet you would see your skill set improve. It seems you ju...

If you have instructors as I did in college - never refer to them as magazines (even though RN bills itself as RN magazine I believe). Professionals have journals, not magazines. Pluses and minuses with all - but I preferred RN, also.

We often hear what is wrong with Nursing - it is wonderful to read your post about 10 things you love about being a nurse! Great idea!

I would not mention it. You did not misrepresent yourself when you filled out the application. Hopefully this experience will be better than your last!

To answer a question from one reply: I have been a nurse for 18 years. Med/Surg, L&D, Nursing Supervisor, Nursing Informatics Specialist. When I referred to "Fork in the road", what I meant was how nurses (?people?) all tend to start out at pre...

I would ask pharmacy to change the time, would go ahead and give at 1800 as ordered (our system just gives a warning message). I never ask others to document for me.

That's okay if your current manager interprets it as "I'm not leaving yet". WAIT until the specialty of your choice becomes available. Don't settle for less just to escape what you are doing now. It may be worse in the end. Everything happens for...

I started out and did Med-Surg for a year. Then I worked L&D 14 years. I think the time management skills that I learned doing Med-Surg and the basic skills I learned are invaluable. The best way to move into a specialty is to apply when there ...

Our charting does not automatically carry over for shift assessments. In most fields, the nurse CAN hit a button (f5) and it will recall the previously charted information. I am not sure how often this is used, but I would suspect a lot. I can se...

I worked 2nd shift (3p-11P), every other weekend/every other holiday for the first 14 years of my daughters life. At times she would be upset when I had to go to work. I told her to look around. Did she like the home she lived in? Did she like h...

Twinklebelle- You are receiving the "who the hell does she think she is" treatment. Sometimes those of us who are "doers" make the pass the buck people look bad (okay, most of the time). That's the hard part about being a team player and helping oth...

It may or may not be obvious if some is retained. How you can usually tell if there is retained placenta is how the mother's uterus is behaving. If her fundus isn't firm, won't stay firm, and she is bleeding more than "usual", it's a safe bet somet...

Expressing an interest to whomever is implementing in your facility was a great way to start! I got started (like most of my career paths) by accident. I took the initiative to computerize some very outdated documentation in the Nursing Supervisors...

Absolutely! They are a new patient, so at our facility, if they are born alive, they have their own medical record number, visit number, and chart.

Hello! We have implemented Bedside Medication Verification on all of our inpatient units. Pediatrics is not happy. They place the young child's wristband on it's ankle, then they must "dig" to locate it to scan the patient when giving medications. ...

Hello! I was wondering how units are banding their mom's and baby's. We still hand write bands that have matching ID numbers on them for mom and baby (mom gets one and baby gets two - one on wrist and one on ankle). Then they both get a printed on...

I am a nursing supervisor at a community hospital. We all work traditional 8 hr shifts. Daily, our units print a report that lists every pt on their floor, a spot for the census at the top, and room to write on pts. They are encouraged to only ...