happybunny1970

Wow. Totally NOT my experience -- I've worked for Fresenius for about 2 years -- Acute, not Outpatient -- and LOVE the company. I have a great team of nurses and techs, very VERY little turnover. A great schedule of 7 on, 7 off that feels like a v...

I work in a hospital with a 16-bed unit which is divided into 3 bays -- each bay has 2 RNs and one tech, plus we have an additional float tech and an extra nurse who is assigned to ICU (ICU is 1:1 at bedside). I love this setup -- there are always p...

For the most part I agree with Natkat, but each unit is different, and each company is different. For instance, I work 7 days on/7 days off (actually Thur/Fri/Sat, Sun off unless on call, Mon/Tue/Wed). We carry call at night (one night every 3 week...

Wow, that is a far cry from my Acute unit... We are contracted by the hospital (I work for Fresenius), but they expanded our physical unit some years back... we have a 16 station unit (including one isolation room) and our water runs through the hosp...

Dialysis is known as one of those "Love it or Hate it" specialties. But you took the job, so what drew you in? What did you expect to find compared to what you found? It's also important to remember that in this specialty it frequently takes 6 mont...

I haven't worked for DaVita, but they have sort of a bad name here in Texas after the whole Lufkin incident... I have amazing benefits with Fresenius, and find it hard to imagine that another company can do better... Your staffing ratios are going to...

I work in Acute, and we have always given Epo SQ -- the doseage is less, and the absorption and results are supposed to be superior to IV. We always give the patients a choice: Upper arm or abdomen, their choice. I have had patients vehemently claim...

The problem with the pay here in East Texas is that we have TJC, UT Tyler, and Kilgore College all churning out new nurses twice a year -- the employers don't care whether you get fed up and leave, because they'll just swoop in on the next graduating...

Hello, all... I graduated from TJC in 2002, before anyone was really using PDAs... my friend and I bought ourselves Palms as graduation presents back when they were still just black and white! I'm glad to see more people using them... I'm the only n...

Wow. I work Acute, so I don't know what they do in outpatient... Have you talked to anyone in an outpatient clinic about what they do when a patient consistently comes in late? Seems like his should be handled in the same way. Being that there's ...

The only people aside from HD staff allowed to access the ports in our hospital are ICU nurses. The heparin lock issue is very important -- if that line clots because someone doesn't know what they're doing, we can't dialyze them. The Nephrologists...

I had a patient once who had standing orders for 10mg Dilaudid TID... The doc was trying to get her to take it IM, thinking it would hang with her longer, but she almost always managed to get it IV... with 50mg Phenergan to top it off! And she would...

I see many patients in renal failure, leading to multi-system failure, both in and out of ICU (if they're not already there, they're heading there...). Our Nephrology docs do a FABULOUS job of explaining the patient's status to family, but ultimatel...

Once you earn your license, the only thing you have to do to keep it active is renew on time and complete the required CEUs -- it has nothing to do with actually working as a nurse. HOWEVER, I don't see any reputable company hiring a new grad for onl...

I think when adults go back to school for advanced degrees it's more about personal pride than anything else. But maybe that's me. I also want to obtain MSN so that in 20 years or so I can teach (paycut and all!). I'd be doing it for ME and no one...

Dang, I delivered in the wrong hospital! My daughter was delivered in a military hospital... we got a "baby seabag" -- a tiny duffel made by volunteers. I still have the bag (it IS cute), but don't remember what was in it. Only donation-type stuff......

Too funny! and so true! There are several 'frequent flyers' who are known to be very noncompliant as outpatients who do this. Like they think we and the docs can't tell by looking at their weights and labs. That's generally the only reason they ar...

We used to use 5,000 units/cc but something happened with our supply right about the time of that 'tainted heparin' fiasco (all of our supply comes through the Pyxis from the hospital pharmacy). Now we use 1,000 units/cc and load 0.2 cc more than th...

Not necessarily true. I work in an acute setting, and we have a 16-bed unit staffed with a minimum 5 RNs and 6 techs 7a-7p Mon-Sat. We do one-on-one bedsides in the ICUs (there are 4), but other than that we bring the patients to our unit. We sepa...

Thank You, Captain Obvious! I can't believe the number of fellow nurses I run into each and every day who so clearly HATE the positions they are in... and yet there is so much opportunity! I say, if you become bored or jaded... move on! There are ...

I didn't know anything about EKG when I was hired for the job... There was an opening and I applied, and the manager knew I was in Nursing school (early in the program, so she knew I'd be there for awhile), so maybe that helped. Before that I had w...

I agree... just working on a unit as Ward Clerk/Unit Secretary can teach you so much. Also, as a student, I worked as an EKG tech -- simple, on-the-job training, it got me into every unit in the hospital so I could get a little taste of everything. ...

One important thing to consider before you move anywhere: It looks like you don't currently hold an LVN or RN license, which means you need to ensure there are programs for this wherever you choose to go... Tyler has Tyler Junior College, which offe...

I wouldn't say "hated it"..... I originally decided to enter nursing because of L&D -- I think many women do because that is the main reason why many women in their 20s and 30s go to see a doctor: to have babies -- and so this is their first rea...

Yes, I agree. I work in Acute Hemo, and we neither access patients below 80 systolic nor return them below that... very rare to return one below 90. However, there are a handful of patients who are absolutely asymptomatic with systolics in the 70s....