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!!

I love our volunteers, too, but I don't think they are premed students. they make beds, restock, transport, pass trays, and help out in any other way they can

thanks donna. i'll sleep more restful tonight

i'm number 8 for the case management. is anyone else on the waitlist and have you heard anything. i emailed Anne Seed to see if i should repeat the NET as well after receiving that info. . i hope she is ok with that question. during my interview it was mentioned taking the net more than once can be a negatively affect your application. i lwas looking for some input. do i guys think that was a reasonable question?? what kind of questions have you guys emailed??

donna have you heard anything

I am in Northern Cali but I think things are similar up here. I was lucky, I graduated in December and got a job at the hospital I precepted at in the department I love but I was in a program where local hospitals paid our tuition in exchange for a 2 or 3 year commitment. out of the 29 in my class who went through this program several of the hospitals canceled the contract and chose to forgive the money they invested because they didn't have jobs. so it's pretty brutal up here. those who don't have a job have been hunting and it is really really sad. that being said, my husband is in the process of applying to nursing school. if you can get a year experience you can get a job anywhere.

what kind of mistakes have you found?

sorry you guys....i'm expecting the bad news today as well. what does worry me though is that i applied really late. i think interviews were already done. hope my stuff isn't in the mailmans locker...good luck all see you soon in RN school!!

no, it was Che, she was great and spent a ton of time going over my transcripts, seeing what I needed and going over my grades and GPA and talking a LOT about the program and how it works, what it entails, etc

who was in the interview? I am curious because the counselor I talked to spent about an hour with me going over the program and what it was about, going over my grades and classes, and everything else. since I went in basically at the deadline I'm wondering if that might have been kind of an "interview"

I am just starting out, but during my preceptorship in my last semester I had a great experience in the ED, a woman came in a couple weeks after giving birth who had an abscess on her labia. she was in HUGE amounts of pain, couldn't walk because it was so swollen. the PA asked if I wanted to come in and help him drain it so we went in and he took a 10cc syringe and sucked about 5cc of pus and blood out of it all the while saying "it does have a particular odor. can you smell it? can you SMELL it?" I'm like "...yeah...I can smell it..." then he lances it and squeezes more pus out and puts a drain in it. poor girl! after we left the room the PA was all excited. he kept talking about how he hasn't had an abcess drainage as satisfying as that in a long while. another pt came in from a SNF. he was in his 90s, double amputee, several abdominal surgeries, completely incoherent. the guy came in with Cdiff. we couldn't get an IV in so ended up putting one in his jugular (why don't people have DNR on these pts?) but the worst part was when I went to change him I saw his catheter. it had been in so long that it had split through the head of his member, which was competely dissected under the catheter and just hanging on by a small piece of skin on the top. even the shaft of the member had a permenant groove where the catheter had been lying. luckily he didn't survive the night.