jesa

I think it is just using food or sugar rubbed on the fingers. at our hospital we are taught to scrub fingers really well because of the false high readings. I would guess that he probably did something like that, although it is disconcerting that he had so much insulin and water and that his sugar didn't drop more if he was faking...I would think it would drop pretty low. maybe initially it was up that high and then he used sugar or food on his fingers to create a falsely elevated level?

I would say the least physical would be psych - if you work in a VA you probably have a great psych facility there, most do!

I loved my psych rotation, we did our teaching in the inpatient lock down highest level acuity unit. we decided to do our class on art. I talked about some artists who had been diagnosed with significant mental disorders (schizophrenia and bipolar since that was most of our patients), brought in some books, had each patient draw/color/paint a picture, and then explain to the rest of the group what their picture was about. it was really about utilizing another way to express emotions rather than talking, etc. I think they all enjoyed it and we found some beautiful artists in the group!

could you not use the left hand?

did you try to find a job before you left? the bay area is especially saturated with nurses, there are several schools in the area that graduate nurses 2x a year. there are people in this area that have been looking for 18 months. I graduated from an accelerated program last December, there were 29 of us in my class, all of us had contracts with local hospitals for jobs, and about 1/2 the hospitals canceled the contracts because they didn't have work

have you looked at their website for more information? I think you should at least have done that before attending any college. just fyi - there is NO school that will guarentee employment after graduation, if you are attending a school that does then I would run away from that school. at this point in Northern California, ESPECIALLY in the Bay Area, new grad RNs are not able to get jobs, and LVNs are pretty much phased out. I believe you may be able to get a job at a nursing home, but even those jobs may be hard to come by as new grad RNs take those positions to get a year experience before they move into hospital positions. you stated you are planning on starting in January, but also that you just read they have an interview process, have you been accepted into the program or just applied? I don't know about this program in particular, if this is the program you are getting into I wish you the best of luck!

HAHA! we had a little girl the other day who I was doing a straight cath on, her anatomy was a little different, her labia minora looked almost fused together, I asked the MD if she wanted to take a look, she was like "sure, but I wouldn't know how to cath her even if you wanted me to"...yeah...I know...

agreed, totally different. I work in the ED. 99% of my day is looking at people with stomach aches, headaches, "back pain", and various other NON emergent problems. car accidents and falls. as pp said, things don't run that smoothly. you are just starting out and you might very well go into emergency as specialty, but do try to go in with an open mind, you might be surprised at what you end up loving! I went in 100% certain I would do psych. I loved it, but found my home in the ED!

I hope you start getting enough sleep! when I was working 7p-7a I came home home and took a lunesta if I had to go back that night. I need need need my sleep and, for me, it worked, I got a full 7-8 hours of sleep before going back to work. I'm working 3p-3a now and it's just nice to be able to go to sleep when it's dark out.

kf15 so sorry to hear about your experience in the ED! that is not my experience, either, and I hope that is true for others on here. I am a new grad started in the ED and also love it. every day I learn something. every day I see a disease or procedure that I haven't seen before. and throughout my preceptorship it was drilled into me that if I don't understand what I'm doing, why I'm giving a med, what my differential diagnosis are, where the MD might be going, and the entire thought process behind it all then I had no business in the ED. while in school one of my classmates, who had been a medic, said she would never work in the ED because all you did was stabilize a patient long enough to get them somewhere else, stick an IV/foley in them, and ship them out. I have found this to be the opposite. I have found that in the ED I need to know more about everything than people on other floors do, I use a wider range of medications, I see a wider range of people, and I love love love love it. if I love a patient I'm sad because they'll be gone soon, if I hate a patient I'll be happy for the same reason. I love people coming in and spending some time thinking about where they might go, what might be wrong, what we might do. the only thing I don't like about the ED is the fact that I rarely see how my patients do long term good luck to OP! you will love it! and if you don't there are so many other things to do, you will find your niche!

I got a call around 3pm. odd because last night my wife had a dream I got my acceptance today and I was taking a nap when they called and thought about the other person who had a call around 3 yesterday! I also had my home number on my application, so they just had to go back and find it.

I have been reading this thread over the past weeks because I've been waiting, too, I'm writing under my wife's user name now. just wanted to say not to give up hope! I got a call today for the SF cohort! apparently they had my OLD cell phone number and had been trying to call me but weren't able to. I am SO excited and can't wait to start, but I am also waiting to see if I get into the San Mateo location since it's a bit closer to where I live, but either way I can't believe I'll be starting! good luck to everyone! and don't worry if one of your scores is low, my NET was low, but my GPAs were high and I have about 15 years experience as a respiratory therapist, so it all evens out.

I think you have a good base, and I think that by the time you actually become a nurse you will have a great base! I believe that as people in recovery, we have insight into some things that normies don't. I work in the ED. yesterday I had a patient come in after doing crank for 3 days straight. while most of my co-workers would've cared for him the best they could, they also most likely wouldn't have been able to talk to him in the language WE use. I also went to the computer and printed out a list of NA meetings for him in the area he lived in. I encouraged him to get to a meeting that day and introduce himself to one person. I don't know if he did, but I love my job because I love being able to do that and if one person in 100 takes my suggestion it will be well worth it! I have eight and a half years in recovery, but as I've heard in meetings a million times the person with the most sobriety is the person who woke up earliest that day. we each have just today, and as long as you take it a day at a time you will be fantastic! we've been through so much, we have so much compassion, empathy, and love, I think people in recovery make awesome nurses!! good luck!

I think most nursing school clinicals are similar, we had 2 semesters of med-surg, psych, OB, pediatrics, public health, and our final semester. I don't know if any school that would have a standard ER rotation, you may request that for your final preceptorship.

Donna how did they notify you? congrats!!