christinemj

Within the VA, the "clinics" are called CBOCs. When saying those four letters quickly, it may have sounded like c-base. I think that she might have been referring to the opportunity for you to work in a Veterans Affairs "Community Based Outpatient Clinic" (CBOC).

About 2 years ago, kidney stones sent me to the ER. Dilaudid is a beautiful thing. :) The previous ER visit had been about 15 years ago when I managed to fall down a flight of concrete stairs, break both arms, and seriously lacerate my head. That time, I didn't even want to go, but security for the building that I was in, insisted. I guess it was a good thing... I only thought I had a little "scrape" on my head, and my arms felt a little "bruised." Bystanders can be pretty logical, sometimes. :)

I LOVE our new system. I was counting down the days until it rolled out, and I was probably one of the few that had a HUGE smile on my face on GO LIVE day. We went live in June and piloted the system on several units for a 6 week period first. My unit was a pilot unit. When we went live, we had at least 2 RN superusers on each unit, and we nearly doubled the number of nurses with patient loads on the unit in the first 3 days. By day 3, most of us were bored silly because we only had 2 patients and the computer issues were getting ironed out. The "roll-out period" was supposed to last for 2 weeks, but didn't need to be that long, IMHO. The number of superusers kept getting weaned down, until eventually there was only a handful of "roving" superusers that you could page to the unit if you had troubles. Yes, there are kinks, but it's a whole lot better than pen and paper. I used to DREAD doing a discharge because of the horrific discharge summary that had to be written out longhand - always took me at least 15 minutes. Now, I have a number of "canned" summaries that I can copy/paste and only need to be tweaked with patient specifics - this takes me about 2 minutes max. That in itself is a HUGE improvement. Fortunately, TPTB are willing to make upgrades/updates intermittently to incorporate process improvements. In our recent JCAHO survey, when it was discovered that certain issues were not being addressed properly, it was easy to incorporate these changes into the new charting system which ensured that all nurses housewide were addressing these issues within days of the discovery. Another great PLUS to computer charting! Admittedly, even now, 6 months later, there are certain nurses that still struggle with the system. Of course, they had limited computer literacy to begin with. Practice IS improving their skills and time management, however. We have made one major overhaul to the admission process, which has resolved a lot of the original gripes. Now, the charting portion of a direct admission takes about 15 minutes tops, and a transfer from ED can be accomplished in about 5 minutes, including documentation of assessment. LOVE IT!!!

I am so sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time with your pregnancy. I've BTDT x 4!!! I say that only to give you hope that when it's all over, you actually do become willing to try it again!! (Love those make-me-forget-the-bad-parts pregnancy hormones! :) With pregnancies 1, 2, and 3, I was a part-timer and subsequently a stay-at home mom, so I was able to survive with A LOT of help from hubby and family, while getting my daily fluids through PICC lines, and using mega-doses of IV Zofran. Unfortunately, pregnancy #4 was a surprise and happened days before the start of my 3rd semester of nursing school!!! Sheer willpower and shooting up Zofran during lecture breaks kept me from wanting to curl up in the corner and cry until it was all over. (OK, OK, so I DID do that a few times too! Clinicals, of course, was a whole different story. The Zofran "took the edge off," but the plethora of strange smells could send me running to the bathroom at the drop of a hat. I quickly learned that "smell prevention" was very important. For some strange reason, sniffing alcohol wipes (sometimes!) helped to break the incredible waves of nausea. I think that I equated isopropyl alcohol with "clean," which helped. The other thing that sometimes helped was chewing on mints... all day long. I went through MANY tins of Icebreakers mints. Some days they worked, and other days they made me gag.... but the few moments of relief were worth it. That was a common theme in all of my pregnancies... what worked to calm the nausea today, might be the CAUSE of it tomorrow. I wish you good luck in finding those things that can give you some long moments of relief. PLEASE PM me if you want to chat... I really do know how hard it is and am always willing to lend an ear to a fellow HG sufferer!

I ditto the EXCELLENT!!! verdict. I also use it daily and colleagues are always asking me to look things up about unusual diagnoses, side effects, IV drug compatibilities, etc. They also know that they can always count on me to countersign drip rates because I have handy-dandy drip rate calculator to do a triple-check! As a new nurse, I am SOOOO happy that I made this little "investment!"

At my hospital anything over 32 hours is full-time. I work 36 hours per week on average. FWIW - Yes, I do find 36 hours to be exhausting. Then again, I have small children, so I am "on" 24/7 whether I am at work or not! :)

I took NCLEX yesterday. It was a very interesting test, to say the least!!! :chuckle :chuckle I don't know how to interpret it... but, you know those alternate format questions???? I got, not 1, not 2, not 3, of those, as I have heard from so many previous NCLEX-takers. No... I got FOURTEEN of those suckers!!!!!! All 14 were those "check all that apply" type. That is just CRAZY!!!! At one point, I got 3 IN A ROW!!! Several times, I got 2 in a row. When the test started and I got one in the beginning, like Q5 or so, I thought, "Whew, there's my (1)!!" Nope... I wasn't to be so lucky. I got another one on Q8(?)... and they just kept coming!!! You know things are bad when you are HAPPY to see a "which patient should the home health nurse see first" question!!!!!!!! Christine, GN in limbo! P.S.: Computer shut off at 75......nearly 20% of my test was alternate format!!!

I received my ATT on 01/04/05. I scheduled my NCLEX for 01/13/05 (first available.. have to drive 2 hours.) I start on the Cardiac Unit on 01/16/05.

I personally wish people would STOP dropping off/delivering the "goodies!" My hips and thighs agree!!! :imbar :chuckle (I've been "good"....but there WAS that box of incredibly smooth Belgian chocolates..... :imbar ) Seriously, at my place of work, the various physician groups have been kind enough to send a "goodie gift" for each shift. (Now, if they would just spread out the cheer over a couple months...LOL)

I took the Chemistry CLEP in Jan 2002, 11 years after the last time I had stepped into a college Chemistry lab. (My college credits were "too old" to transfer by the standards of my ADN program.) I called my alma mater and asked the bookstore what chemistry text they were using for Chem 115 (the beginning chem. course for science majors)....bought the text from somewhere on the internet (read: cheap!!) and reviewed in for about 2 weeks before the CLEP test. I passed it easily because I had a good general knowledge of chemistry and only needed to review. I don't think I could have passed it if I went into it blind....without previous classroom education. Chemistry isn't exactly the easiest subject to learn on your own. Before taking this CLEP, you should be able to work through the hardest 5-10 problems in each chapter review of a basic college chem. text. Good Luck!!!

ME!!!! Had my final today. Graduation is December 18. Can't wait!!! :balloons:

Compliance??? with flu shots???? Exactly who is determining if the PATIENT wants a flu shot????

Is a lactation consultant involved??? Some women have a difficult time with pumping, but have adequate amounts when the baby nurses. I agree with the pediatrician...especially if baby was fed yesterday by bottle. Spending the next day or two working on exclusive nursing would be beneficial for both mom and baby. BTW, doesn't the formula feed need to be ordered?? The ped. order trumps the nurse's suggestion, so why are they continuing to bottle fed formula?? The baby won't "get it" about breastfeeding if he isn't given the chance to nurse and a bottle is used every time. Good luck!!! Maybe shift change will produce better results. (SAD!!) Here's the definitive source on treatment of hyperbilirubinemia http://www.aap.org/policy/hyperb.htm

I have a friend that is currently pregnant with #12. 1 set of twins in there. She is currently 35. I had a great-aunt that had 16 children. Needless to say, the attendance at her funeral was HUGE!!!

I'm in 4th semester and my son will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. I honestly have to say that this is the most difficult thing that I have ever done. Since you are due in the summer, it may not be as bad, but I had a heck of a time "scheduling" childbirth around clinicals, tests, and assignments. (Baby came 10 days early on a "test day"!) And then.... there is an INFANT to take care of. Yes, I was completely oblivious to the fact that infants are HARD WORK. I guess I had forgotten how "demanding" my other 3 children had been during infancy. I think I was in denial. For now, I plan to actually get some SLEEP in about...oh, 2 months... when I graduate!! I do have a VERY helpful husband, but sometimes the baby just NEEDS MOM!!! I can't WAIT for that sharp pain between my shoulder blades to go away! (From holding baby thorughout most nights..... he doesn't sleep very well yet.) Like I said, if you're due in summer and do NOT plan to take summer classes, you might be OK. Rally the support of family and friends now.. you'll need it!! I wish you the very best of luck!!