Trauma_Team_1

wow TONS of input here thanks again guys for all the information i never ever expected my thread to generate this much of a dialog. The info has been very helpful. Feel free to continue with this if you would like to :)

A recent epidemic is occurring within our school system regarding students failing the clinical potion of nursing school (around the 2nd and 3rd years). When it was looked into it was found that the instructors were devoting a majority of clinical time to work on care plans but were neglecting to let the students learn how to take care of p.t.'s. I cant tell you HOW MANY times i have had RN's take my care plans away as i was working on them and told me " these care plans are not the real world and you will learn absolutely nothing if you dont know how to do procedures on a p.t." I am in my 3rd year and i have seen first hand how many of the students dont even know how to insert a cath or start an IV. These care plans do seem to be a complete waste of time where i am at as they are not even graded but you must work on 3 of them the night before you start a 12 hr shift and then do MORE work on them as you are on your shift.(pick three p.t.s out Tuesday go to work Wednesday) Personally i have seen what skills i have acquired fade as i get maybe 2 hrs of direct p.t. care out from a 12hr shift. Anyways thats my rant I wish schools would focus more on direct p.t. care and less on paperwork as my precious few hr's i have in clinicals are being squandered by these care plans.

I been hearing this debate off and on for a long time about how if Obama gets universal healthcare to go ( if he gets elected of course)though in the US that nursing pay will be cut dramatically. I would think this has to do with the fact that we would all be working for the government and that there will no longer be competition. There are many people in my nursing class that said they will leave nursing if thats the case. I also talked to several doctors that said the same thing about medicine in general. Im just curious if anyone has some good info about this. Thanks

thank you your responses helped alot.

Hi everyone I just have a quick question. How do you adjust the drip and flow rate for a gravity feed I.V. ( no pump)? Thank you.

My gosh sounds like you need a "normal" shift or you need to live closer to work....you going back to work via life flight becuse of the shift or living to far away is NEVER worth it.:wakeneo:

As a guy I would never want my wife to be like that... I dont know many guys who would now unless they are just self-centered a*******

Should phleb's carry MP ins?

That you for all the replies the advice has been great ( I have updated that main part of the question btw)

Im not a nurse (yet), but I work as a phlebotomist, and I only have about 3 weeks TOTAL experience working in a hospital. Im 24/m and I look 16 ( in the face and in the body 6'0'’ 150 lbs) and it seems that I am having trouble having P.T’s treating me like an adult and not someone who is out of H.S. I really do believe its because I look so young so its not really all their fault for that I guess. Anyways today I had a STAT C.B. for a P.T. that was about to be discharge, but he started spiking a fever so the STAT was ordered. The guy was prob 6'5'’ 300lb football player looking guy and just seeing him scared me to death lol. As I was drawing him he told me " if you miss my vein im going to sue you little boy" ( he did this in a cruel way not a playful way) I immediately stopped the procedure ( and I did miss his vein, but he didnt know that) and told him "if you threaten me like that again I will stop this procedure all together, and this will cause you to stay longer because I will not draw you, and will alert your nurse about this incidents" I said this as politely as I could ( but I was visibly shaken I am not a confrontational person at all by nature) he then SCREAMED "F*** Y** you skinny rail mother ****** ill sue you’re a** off b****" I said nothing just took my gear and left told the nurse that I refuse to draw this guy ( it was a STAT so I was ticked off that I had to make the doctor wait, but im not drawing someone like that) It basically ruined my day , but is that the best way for me to handle that? Any advise from nurses who have experience with difficult P.T.’s would help me a lot. Thanks. ******************************************UPDATE 8/16/06****************************************** First I want to thank all of you that have responded to my question the advise is valuable. Today 8/16/06 I was called for another STAT draw on a pt who was a drug user. ( I did not know that until AFTER what im about to say happened) The pt was down in CDU laying in one of the beds in a bay. He seemed to be totally aware that i was there to draw blood on him. So as i go to tie the tunicate on him I was about 6 inches from his arm when he SWINGS at me with his free arm..not once but 2x. He missed both times but i had to pull some rocky moves to dodge both swings ( thank god im flexible lol) He then tried to run out of CDU until half of the nursing stuff jumped on him. I almost feel like im more a cop then a healthcare worker at this point. I was really kind of teed that no one informed me this guy was a massive drug user and could be dangerous until AFTER this happened ( BUT its my fult as well as i should NEVER let my guard down). But this is only my 1st month working in a hospital environment so i really am ignorant to the dangers i guess. Anyway I thought this would be an interesting follow up to my first part of the post. I think I need to join the police academy before i go into any more rooms lol.

I had a female PT grab my butt once as i was bending over to adjust the bed rails....she then asked if i was free after she was DC lol

IM 24 150lbs 6'0'' and i eat whatever i want because it's all is burned off by the time my shift is done :beercuphe

hello everyone this is my first post on here :w00t: little background on me. im 24/m,and i will be attending nursing school here in arizona after 2 years of grinding through all my pre-reqs.( its a nice feeling being done now after all that time) i have a lot of work ahead of me still obviously, but im excited. ok on to my question. i have 6 months of nothing to do until school starts so i thought i would take a job at the hospital here in town. i have a national certified phlebotomist licences so i took a position as a phlebotomist ( i wanted to see the lab part of the work so when im an rn i will have a greater appreciation, and understanding of what goes on in the lab. also i want to be great at iv's so what a good way to learn by seeing veins for 8 hr's a day). i always knew there was this thing between the lab, and those who work on the floor ( rn's,cna's,pct,md) almost like a mini war or competition. i have never worked in a hospital until recently, and i have to say i really was surprised at the lack of respect that the people on the floor give to the lab personnel ( phlebs mainly). there is this sense that the rn's think we are uneducated ,and have no business up there with "them" ( how dare we go draw blood up on the floor right). whats really funny is that i had an rn who was about my age decide she would call me "lab boy" in front of a patient as i was drawing his blood. i was very embarrassed by this and thought this was a total lack of professionalism on her part. as i was leaving the room i told the nurse that if i have any questions while im in nursing school ill make sure to ask her. needless to say her attitude changed instantly as soon as i said "nursing school". and from then on she has been really nice to me, but i wonder just how crappy i would have been treated if i never said anything about me going into nursing (so now i just tell every new nurse is see up there that i am). anyways, i was just wondering if this is a common thing for nurses to treat phlebs or anyone else whos not up there on the floor sorta like uneducated idiots. i personally worked hard to become a phlebotomist you need to go to college to do that here. all i know is when im a nurse i will never do that to any lab personal or anyone else for that matter whos there to help me with my job as i have been on that end of it myself. i just hope this is not a common thing.