Ophelia78

I am feeling out future career options and am wondering what the typical workweek is like for a nursing instructor. How much clinical and classroom time do you have? How much time do you spend in meetings or paperwork? Does anyone work in their spec...

Folks, as an infertility patient, I can tell you that a doc going through with an IUI after seeing 14 follicles on ultrasound is NOT typical. Quite irresponsible, in fact. Most will cancel a cycle if they feel there are too many eggs. Most refuse to...

The Eskimo population of Alaska has an extraordinarily high protein diet and in my experience did not have any higher incidence of kidney disease. This is true, one of my professors when I was studying for my anthropology degree had done much of her ...

I used to be in charge of a group home for psych patients. One of the ladies called my boss to complain about me, saying I stole something from her. She said it was there before I got to the house, and missing when I left. She had called the client's...

Another thread sparked my curiosity about this- what is it about your niche (critical care, OB, home health, etc.) that makes you feel it is a good fit for you? Any wrong turns along the way when trying to find your niche? I can imagine this might be...

I go to bed pretty early before a shift- 9-930. I've invested in a good pair of shoes (Z-coils for me, but everyone has their own preference) and I wear compression stockings. I don't skip breakfast. I have a cup or two of Earl Grey during the day. S...

My goodness, the last place you worked sounds like a hellhole! Good thing you left that sinking ship...as far as references, I've been through my own job-hopping recently. My current employer was happy to accept a copy of previous performance evaluat...

Is a 10 year-old's pelvis able to birth a 7 lb infant? I find that so shocking!When i was 10, I thought you could tell the number of times a person had had sex by the number of children they had- and there was no way I was ever going to do it...it so...

I would not like 1000 med passes, and I work in ICU. For me, I get report at 0700-0730, organize and plan for 5-10 minutes, then do and chart assessments, as well as make calls for abnormal labs or concerns. That can usually be done by 0830. We chart...

The happiest department is the one that has you looking forward to the day's adventure, and gives you pride for a day's work well done at night. I always thought L & D was "happy" compared to ICU, but it left me miserable. I'm 10 times happier wo...

I just had a patient this week who was on the vent, CMV with a rate of 20. This gentleman was a quad as well. The night shift nurse had been floated to the ICU from the floor. All night she documented hourly RR as 16, 18, 15 etc. Um, no. Just to give...

Got the degree in Anthropology and...well...not much you can do with that. Worked with developmentally disabled adults in group homes for three years while working with the elderly as 2nd job. Then psych caseworker for two years while in nursing scho...

We have a 2 week hospital orientation. Then 10-18 weeks on the floor with a preceptor. I had a year experience in another smaller ICU already- I'm getting 10. We have 3 days of ICU class, 3 days of critical care class, BLS, PALS, ACLS, ECG if needed,...

You are correct, Propofol is a sedative/hypnotic only- it does not provide pain relief. Patients who are sedated should be closely monitored for nonverbal signs of pain, since they will most likely be unable to communicate that they are having it. It...

You are correct, Propofol is a sedative/hypnotic only- it does not provide pain relief. Patients who are sedated should be closely monitored for nonverbal signs of pain, since they will most likely be unable to communicate that they are having it. It...

flyer58, It just occurred to me as well that you may want to explain to the assisting personnel your discomfort before the procedure. That way, they may be more self-aware and apt to put you at your ease. When I had an HSG it was the 1st time I worke...

I can totally understand how you feel. In dealing with my infertility, I had a hard time getting over my extreme distaste about being examined by a male. I've always seen female GYNs because the thought of a strange man touching me was just unbearabl...

We flush all central lines with 5 mL NS. The exception to this are PICCs, where we are required to use a 10mL syringe and 10 mL NS (the larger gauge syringe puts less pressure on the catheter). We do not use heparin for flushes, due to fears of HITT...

:yeahthat: I just started back in ICU after 9 months away from it and a brief time and L & D. One of the many reasons I left L & D? A preceptor that systematically broke down my confidence in myself. She was bossy and a bully. I was told "tha...

What shoes are best for you will depend on your foot. I have a high arch, plantar fasciitis, and I overpronate (my feet roll in when I walk). I wore Danskos the last few years but still had significant heel pain and my knees were starting to bother m...

I would never have believed it if I wasn't there. We'd certainly have ladies with precipitous labors, but you'd always hear them screaming down the hall. She was rather obese and young (18-19). She looked a little shell-shocked. As did her friend.

My mother injured her back lifting an obese patient years ago. She can no longer lift more than 8 pounds since the injury. She's worked in case management ever since. Many hospital case management jobs seem to require several years of recent acute ca...

We change out everything Q 24 hours.

We don't have scripting as bad as that, but we do have a team that rounds on patients and asks them what the one or two things we could do that would show excellent care. Their answers are kept on the chart. Most of the time it's small, like "keep my...

When I worked L & D we had a young patient having her first baby who, last time she was checked, was just 4-5 cm dilated. Her OB had the habit of calling his patients himself in their rooms so he can see how they were handling things. He liked to...