kirsnikity

I do not try to explain FHR tracings to families and patients, unless I have a situation where repetitive lates or variables are becoming a problem, or a prolonged decel happens. If they press me, I gently explain it takes a lot of practice and training to interpret monitor strips and can't be learned in a five minute session from me. Their response to this will depend a lot on how well trust has been established. If I'm the admitting nurse (or at the beginning of my shift if I'm not), I take time to explain that baby's heart rates will occasionally fluctuate in labor, and I might come in to ask her to reposition or place some oxygen. I tell them that 99% of the time this is our normal practice and does not mean an emergency is happening. This seems to reduce a lot of fear/anxiety if I do have to do those things.

I'll be there with you. I'm so excited to be done with this program! I'm finished with all my general courses so I'll be taking this class alone. Texas government was pretty easy, just pay attention to the class notes and you'll be fine.

I very strongly recommend NOT taking research with a heavy class, like History or Vulnerable Populations. If you can, this class should be taken alone. It really is a nightmare...and I had a great group who worked well together.

I agree, this class is incredibly painful and time consuming. You don't have to put much thought into the work, but the tedium is awful. Can't wait for this class to be over. However, after having completed Research I'm thankful for a tedious class.

I'm taking this class too along with health assessment. There are very few threads about this course, which I'm taking as a good sign that it's not too bad

December 8th cannot come fast enough! Four people in my group have checked in, but two are still out there. Hopefully we're all in good groups. The OOH clarified things a little, but I don't understand why they have to be so cryptic in the assignment descriptions. Ughh. I wish you luck!

No worries about MLA. I did everything in APA format (used perrla for my papers) and it wasn't a problem.

I just finished this course. There's a lot of writing but the grading seemed lenient. Lots of reading, discussion board posts, three essays, and two timed essay exams. Nearly all the reading material is available online, but I ended up checking everything out from the library because I don't like reading long passages on the internet. If you want to get a head start, begin reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man now. Good luck. This class was pretty boring but not too difficult.

In addition to all the nursing classes, I've had to take four general courses through UTA (Tx Gov, Stats, Tech Writing, Brit Lit). I took one course (American Gov) at a local community college and used my RNC to satisfy an elective. I'm going to take a second certification exam soon which should satisfy my second elective. Even with the five additional courses I've had to take, I'm still spending at least $5K less than my co-workers who've chosen to go to Grand Canyon.

I'm taking it next month too. Not looking forward to it based on previous horror stories. It's only five weeks though, and nobody's died yet...

We use betadine prep on lady partsl deliveries. I've always been under the impression that CHG is irritating to mucosa and shouldn't be used on delicate areas unless it's absolutely necessary. I know there are many facilities where no prep is used at all.

Is there any chance you can take a laptop and use wi-fi? There are tons of wi-fi spots in practically every neighborhood in Europe (not that you want to have to do schoolwork,but just in case you haven't completely finished health assessment?)

My understanding is that you cannot use courses to satisfy the elective, which is probably why TNCC will not work. Same with ACLS. I had no problems getting them to accept my RNC. You need to have a certification, not a course completion. Hope this helps.

I'm just finishing stats this week through UTA. I've found the class very doable. The professor has a series of online video lectures for every chapter that have been invaluable.

Hang in there folks. Part B (weeks 6-10) is way better IMHO. I just wrapped up the course today and I'm glad to be done with it!

Yes we have them as well. We enter the order set when the patient is admitted (we already have a paper from the OB's office "ordering" the c-section). We can check and uncheck components as needed (e.g. antibiotics, retype, etc). I'm shocked that your surgeries are being delayed because the nurses won't enter orders That would not go over as an excuse at my facility. Nurses enter the majority of orders into our computer system (cerner). Our scheduled sections arrive 2 hours before their surgery so there's no reason why everything shouldn't have been ordered and completed.

Yes, the local anesthetic is injected with a TB syringe. If performed well, the local injection is far less painful than the actual IV start. I speak from my own personal experience as a patient, and also feedback I've received from patients I've used local on. We've received many positive comments on patient surveys. It takes practice to hone the skill, but it's worth it IMO.

No male nurses in my labor & delivery department, same with postpartum. NICU has two male RNs. Interestingly, over 50% of OBs at my facility are male.

There's nothing special to me about postpartum, except maybe that it's less intense and (generally) lower acuity than other floors. At my hospital I end up having to float to maternity several times a year. I hate it! Boring, tedious, and like Klone mentioned I feel like a waitress. Having said all that, many nurses love these things about postpartum, which is why there's such low turnover. It's also an ideal place for those who love to teach. I guess it's one of those places nurses go to die...

I am too. I'm also taking technical writing at UTA and an online US Govt class through my community college.

I work in labor & delivery and it's where I always wanted to be. I love that I get to assist in bringing new life in the world. It never fails to amaze me. I get to be a part of a very special time in a woman's life. Women don't forget their birth experience.

Foley is placed after spinal is in, unless mom is getting general anesthesia. It takes less than two minutes to insert and you can't prep the patient immediately after the spinal anyhow. It's insensitive on the OB's part to insist on inserting the foley first.

It's been a few days now, but have you heard anything? If not, I would get on the phone with your enrollment specialist and find out what's going on. I have heard of people who didn't get officially admitted until the week before classes started

Several years ago our surveys were showing that many patients claimed the worst part of their labor and delivery experience was the IV start (I'd say we were doing pretty well if that was the biggest complaint!). So we started using 1% lidocaine for our IV starts. The patients really appreciate this and now it's second nature for me to use local for IV starts.

I've never heard of this before. Are you seeing C/C in writing? Sometimes you will see C/C/0, C/C/+1 etc and it means completely dilated/completely effaced/zero station (etc). I have never heard this terminology used in conversation though.