Rach101

im 22 but look young for my age so i get asked ALL the time how old i am? if im old enough to be a nurse? etc. at least once everyday im asked about my age. most people are pretty polite about it though...you can almost see people trying to figure out a way to ask without sounding rude. that being said i find patients and their families quickly trust me and its more about competence and confidence than how young you appear. one of my nursing tutors said that young nurses are often more mature than their friends of the same age who are non-nurses because of the working environment and situations that you will deal with on a daily basis. i believe this is true to an extent. which area are you working in? i remember when i worked in adults and many of the older adults would try to 'set me up' with their sons who were a good 30 years older than me so they cant have been to worried about my age. i now work in paeds and find my age means i can relate to the teenagers easily. in anycase to answer your question...im sure your patients wont be frightened :)

hi! i also work on a paeds medical floor with a mixture of general and infectious disease. Common respiratory- bronchiolitis, pneumonia, asthma, pertussis, apnoeas Infectious- gastroenteritis, chicken pox, Tb, tropical diseases eg. typhoid., HIV, MRSA, ESBL, VRE Skin- eczema, cellulitis, staph scalded skin Also, seizures, abuse (non accidental injuries), anorexia nervosa, head injuries, ingestion/ severe intoxication, failure to thrive/ feeding issues. Also kids with syndromes that dont fit under any specific specialty, babies that get kicked out of NICU when they get too 'big' but still have ongoing problems. And children from other specialties who need isolation rooms- eg. cardiac kids with resp infections, oncology kids with febrile neutropenia, surgical kids with 'superbugs' etc. And im sure i've forgotten to include lots of our most common conditions! Generally MOST patients are less than 1 year of age but it is variable. Basically it is a great place to get general experience as a new grad!!! Kids from all over the hospital will come through general paeds and its a nice mix of generally well children with an acute illness and chronic kids that come and go who you get to know really well! All the best!!!!!!

we use a single mask for a shift. would be interested to see any further info on best practice for this.

there was a child on my ward just yesterday- 7yr old with mystery illness spiking temps over 40 degrees celcius and having febrile seizures. The nurse looking after her applied cooling measures- damp washcloths and a fan. Parents were emphatic about not wanting a fan in the room. Parents then proceded to give kid a freezing cold bath. I was like hmmm not sure thats a good idea and explained to nurse looking after her about shivering causing increase in core body temp. what do you know kid starts shivering and the temperature keeps rising.

Hi. Yes she will be working for Auckland District Health Board (ADHB). ADHB is made up of Auckland City Hospital, Starship Childrens Hospital, Greenlane Clinical Centre. The DHB means all services in the Auckland Region are covered by one board of directors. New Zealand is made up of many DHB's. For example there are three DHB's within the Auckland region. As for Auckland, im not sure how much you already know. Auckland City Hospital is the major hospital in the Auckland region for most of the specialities. (Burns and plastic surgery go to Middlemore Hospital). The hospital is new (i think it was rebuilt approx 5 years ago) and therefore a nice place to work. It has views overlooking AUckland City and the Hauraki Gulf made up of many islands. Very pretty! I think the biggest negative about working at Auckland City Hospital is the parking but saying that there are many flats nearby and buses (sometimes frustrating) are caught by lots of people. I think if you live in Auckland it is essential that you have a car. I would suggest living really close to the hospital in Grafton (literally across the road from the hospital-lots of flats around there but are more expensive) or in Parnell (just down the road, pretty much in central city, lots of apartments and flats). Or another nice area to live is in Ponsonby/ Grey Lynn. I live on the North Shore of AUckland and travel time is 20mins drive in off peak traffic (which you get when working shift work). So to start a 7am shift i leave at 6.20am. Many people who work at AUckland and who want to live on the North Shore choose to live in Northcote as it is very quick to get on the motorway (about 10mins to the hospital) Where you decide to live in AUckland will depend on the lifestyle that you want. I love the beaches so i love living on the shore. If you are more of a bush person you might choose to live West of the main City. Then saying that AUckland is a pretty small place so everywhere is within an hours drive of everywhere else. Its a great city to live in- lots of exploring to do. You will never get bored if you like exploring bush/ocean/walks. There are lots of websites to find places to rent. Check out www.trademe.co.nz (its like NZ version of your ebay.also has a flatmates and houses for rent section) http://www.nzflatmates.co.nz/ http://www.flatfinder.co.nz/ Those are just a few. If you google there are many more sites for these purposes. If you have any more questions let me know! Im sure there are many more Aucklanders out there who can help answer too!

Hey. I have a friend who will be starting as a new grad in ICU this year at Auckland. She has worked there for 2.5 months as a student and loved it. Staff very friendly and helpful!

i cared for a child who was in hospital with symptoms of seizures and becoming increasingly unsteady on their feet- child learnt how to walk and then was having difficulty standing, started falling more and hitting their head on objects. They were about 15months. Were diagnosed with maple syrup urine disease! Interestingly, we found the family had 3 children die previously shortly after birth. Never found out what from- the family was transferred shortly after the diagnosis and their english was very limited.

WOW its all over! definately time to celebrate and relax over the summer!! i agree that the questions, particularly mental health were very straight forward. im wondering how much my study actually helped...i think i would have known most of it just from what i remembered (feel a bit like i wasted a week of sunny weather with my head in a text book!) enjoy the summer guys. all the best with starting jobs etc!

eek. yeah i should be spending more time studying rather than on the internet! anything is distracting me right now. i have got sick of nclex questions i have now started reviewing straight pathophys/anatomy. i figure if i know what normal is i can logically figure out abnormal. ie. kidney releases EPO stimulate RBC production therefore kidney disease could cause anaemia. wow lisamaree i have new grad at starship too!!!!! in general paeds ward. where will you be. will prob meet you at the orientation days. small world huh.

After my first ever night shift i went to sign a legal document and spelt my name wrong!!

im not sure about the safety and drug calc. i ASSUME that they will only be contained in one of the two exams. i think that is my biggest worry...what if you accidently get a question that you have to get right wrong. it would be so sad to fail because of one question!! All the best!

Hey. I am also sitting state on Nov 20. Dont stress too much- talking to people who sat it last year it seems fairly straight forward. I know several people who only studied for 3 days and still passed. Have you got a review book? I have a NCLEX review book which is really helpful for giving overviews of what you need to know. Definately helps to identify areas that you need to study more!!

who is your recruiter?? there are definately LOTS of jobs available at starship.

We work all shifts during our training. Including 1-9pm and 3-11pm. If we work on a ward doing 12 hour shifts we do those too including 7pm-7am night shifts. Lucky for me i enjoy doing them .

i am a student and recently did a placement in NICU. They had a male new grad working there who said he was really enjoying it. All the nurses on the unit thought it was great and spoke very highly of having a guy on the staff. They said it bought a different dynamic to the ward. My preceptor's husband who is a nurse also worked in NICU for 5 or so years. She said he really enjoyed the experience and had very few issues (just the odd joking comment from parents).

Hey. I spent ages choosing my nursing dictionary. I wanted one that was small enough to easily take to the hospital but one large enough to include good explanations, diagrams, tables of norms etc. I ended up choosing the Oxford Dictionary of Nursing. Explanations are easy to understand and not too long, diagrams are great. Its been good but i (and lots of other people in my class who all got different dictionaries) found we didnt end up using a nursing dictionary as much as we thought we would (often google and text books are used more!). Havent had any probs with using a non Australian/NZ one. Always handy to have one (especially at the beginning of training) but dont worry too much one which one!

Hi there. Im sure someone out there may be able to give you better info than me (im still nursing student, but im currently doing my final rotation for 10 weeks in paeds) but ive lived in Auckland since forever so i may be able to offer some insight... There are two hospitals in Auckland that offer paeds, Starship Childrens Hospital and Kids First Hospital. Both are teaching hospitals. Kids First is relatively new but only consists of a couple of wards, it is located on the same site as Middlemore Hospital (adults). Its in a very low socioeconomic area and lots of the families that you deal with have preventable medical problems that come as the result of poor housing etc. There is huge ethnic diversity in both the staff (i heard the other day that theres 150+ different languages spoken by the staff at Middlemore) and the patients. People who have worked there were very positive about it, staff friendly and very supportive. Starship Childrens Hospital is located on the same site as Auckland City Hospital and is more central to town, bus routes etc. It is the main paediatric hospital in AUckland. The hospital is relatively old (15+years) and in my opinion not designed particularly well (very small rooms etc). However you get beautiful views of the city and harbour from all of the wards. It is located in a higher socioeconomic area but because of its specialities there is still a wide range of socioeconomic status in the patients (patients come from all over NZ for specialised treatment including cardiology, PICU and oncology). Staff are generally very friendly and there are good support systems in place but short staffing has lead to a slightly stressful environment on some wards. Personally i would prefer to work here than at Kids First when i graduate due to the specialities it offers and its location. As far as living in Auckland, it is a very spread out city and a car is a must (though parking is a headache at Starship- people working 12 hour shifts find it easier tho). I live on the North Shore and it takes about 20mins to drive to AUckland City Hospital. Where were you thinking of living?? I could give you some more info on those areas from a locals perspective. Auckland is a beautiful place to live with so much to do only a short drive away from the city centre (if you like exploring!). There are heaps of nice beaches, bush walks, sand dunes and islands to visit. Let me known if you have any more specific questions...i'd be happy to answer them!

check out http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2557.htm they can be left in for 72- 96 hours but risk of infection increases.

Hi. I am in my final year of nursing school and we learnt about IO access and how to insert them last week. You are right in that sternum IO access is usually only used in adults, it was designed to be used by the army because it is much easier than going into femur or other bone (a ring of small needles holds the device in place while the main needle shoots through into the marrow). I was surprised at how easy it was to insert, even manually! Didnt require too much strength to push it through the bone and the needle was quite blunt. Apparently is you dont have a proper one it is possible to do it with a large gauged needle in an emergency situation. Basically any meds can be passed into it, followed by a flush and enter circulation really quickly. IO access can be left in for a few days, there is a risk for infection though and...ITS EXPENSIVE! Each needle is around NZ$300!

Hey. At my nursing school we dont do a L&D placement as such. We have a large (over 60pages) assignment to complete where we find a woman in the community (through friends/family) who is happy for us to follow her through her pregnancy, birth and postpartum period in the role of a support person. Its not ideal and i still wish i had done a 'real' placement but it did give me some insight into the experience. Perhaps you would be able to find a friend or family member who is pregnant who would be happy to have you present at midwiffery appointments and the birth. Most people in my class had no trouble finding a pregnant woman who was happy to share the experience with them. I enjoyed building a relationship with my mother, we got on really well and she shared with me alot of the psychological side of pregnancy and birth (her fears, expectations, excitement, frustrations) that i may not have experienced if i had been on a L&D rotation. Overall experience was very positive, i visited the baby the other day (now 2months old) and am still keeping in touch with the family.

Thanks pie_face. It has been great getting your perspective on this. You are right, i am worried about 'missing out' but i guess every hospital has its good and its frustrations, i realise i will never find 'the perfect hospital' (if one existed they would be so well staffed no one would ever get a job there anyway!). Im definately leaning towards SCH, it does look like a beautiful hospital in a beautiful location! Thanks for all your thoughts, much appreciated

Thanks for your reply :) Currently im living in New Zealand- looking at moving to Sydney next year. I have visited both hospitals but since i dont really know much about the areas they are in i thought i would post on here in the hope of some more info. Thanks for your info about the residences. I hear the patient ratio at CHW is 1:3. Do you happen to know what it is at SCH? Do the people you know working at SCH enjoy their work environment? Im interested in rotating through a medical ward, surgical ward at possibly emergency but im pretty relaxed in regard to specific wards- more looking for a friendly, supportive, well staffed working environment. Ideally i would probably rather live in Coogee/Randwick than out at Westmead so that will probably influence my decision somewhat, i primarily just wanted to check that i wouldnt be missing out on working at a great hospital by not going to Westmead (greater funding due to low decile).

Also, average birth weight is 2.5-3.4kg. For white mature female baby: 3.4kg White mature male: 3.5kg. Newborns from other races weigh approx 0.5lb less. Average length: Female: 53cm, males 54cm. This infor also from Pillitteri, 2007.

Hi there. I am in my final year of nursing school. Looking at working in paediatrics possibly in Sydney next year. Does anyone have an opinion on what hospital is 'better' to work at between Childrens Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Childrens Hospital. Specifically, is it realistic to travel to Westmead from the city everyday? is it safe to travel to Westmead and walk to the train station? opinions on staffing levels and supportiveness of staff at both hospitals? Thanks heaps in advance, Rach.