bigwavedave

from my experience the big blue veins you can see are always easier. and it does make you feel better when you try unsuccessfully to start an iv and then the one with more iv experience cannot start it either. it's hard to describe exactly what veins feel like. as far as putting it in an artery- if you are feeling for a vein and you feel a pulse- don't put try sticking there. if for some reason you do get it in an artery it would bleed like crazy- more than usual and a brighter red than normal. take out the iv catheter and apply pressure until bleeding stops and then i would normally place a folded up 2 x 2 gauze secured with tape.

my wife is a nicu (neonatal) nurse, of course they do their share of cleaning poo. the upside is that it is contained to a diaper and in much less quantity than an adult patient. it also only takes a couple of wipes to clean it. the smells may not be as bad either. if you don't like smells- do not go to trauma- (blood, vomit, poo, sweat, halitosis, down right nasty funk, you name it- we smell it!) just something to think about.

I am fed up with the lack of professionalism that I am seeing popping up in my unit. I am tired of seeing staff (nursing and otherwise) wearing earbuds from their Ipod while at work. I did bring it up with one of my nurses one night and he was very kind and put it away and I have not seen it since. But I think last night took the cake. Luckily it was not visiting hours (we have a locked down ICU unit- closed to visitors 2 hrs, open 1...) and I found 4 of my female staff gathered around a computer looking at pictures of body builders from a body building competition last weekend one of them attended with her boyfriend. I could not believe it. I will admit when I am not charge I will sometimes visit with my neighbors but this was way over the line. In the end the internet was turned off quickly and everyone got back to their patients, no patients were in danger, but I just could not believe this went on. I am seriously considering going to my manager and telling her of this and other smaller incidences that all go back to a lack of professionalism. Does this kind of stuff go on other places or is it just our night shifters?

When I read the original post re: good stethoscopes, I had to let out a good laugh. I went through nursing school w/ a dual head "Prestige" brand stethoscope... about $20 when I bought it new. There were others in school who had dropped the $75 to $150 for a Littman this or that and I have to admit I was a little jealous, but did not really see the need, until I listened w/one. So after graduation my in-laws bought me a Littman Master Cardiology II and I love it, relatively lightweight, great acoustics, and feels great in my ears. The ironic part of it is that once I started working in my ICU I looked around and most of the nurses have some form of higher end Littman, while the doctors use the $20 job, I have even seen one of them using one of the disposable steths. I guess my father-in-law was right, I got a better stethoscope than the doctors. Anyways, I love my Littman Master Cardiology II. Good luck in school lifeLongstudent.

First of all, congrats and good luck (with the pregnancy and getting into nursing school)! Although I was never pregnant during nursing school, there were quite a few in my class that were at some stage of pregnancy throughout my 2 years in the nursing program. One woman was pregnany 1st semester, EDC was 1 week after our final. Unfortunately for her though she deliverd the morning of our final. She got to take it at a later date. To my knowledge she had no problems with clinicals (i.e. heavy lifting and things of that sort). My wife deliverd our first child about 8 mos. prior to her starting nursing school. He was on the bottle by the time she started, otherwise she probably would have had to pump during breaks at school. The big thing was childcare. I was working fulltime in a bank to put her through school, but luckily for us her mother was able to watch him-he got a lot of one on one attention and she did not ask us to pay her a dime. The hardest part is probably finding time to be with the baby w/out letting your studies suffer. I think that is where the support and love from your family is key. My wife delivered our second child while I was in my 3rd for 4 semester of nursing school. He was actually born at 0815 and I had a clinical at 1400 I was required to be at. That's another story but I mention that because I do know how it feels to have a small baby while in nursing school. Last piece of advice is to take advantage of nap times to either get uninterrupted study time or take a nap yourself. I am a big believer in the power of positive thinking so try not to get stressed out about it right now, take care of yourself and the baby. Best of luck!!

I am set to graduate in 6 months and have already gotten a job/internship position at my first choice! I am so excited to be getting school behind me and joining the world of the gainfully employed! I have a question though...I am going to be starting on the night shift 7a-7p. Do any of you seasoned night shifters have any suggestions or tips on how to transition and survive going from doing all my work/school during the day to working night shift 3 nights a week? I have two kids and a wife who is a nurse on days, so the days she works I am going to have to be able to be dad to my kids. Any ideas or tips are appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

i know that there are some who post here who are in/have been in the wesleyan program here in ft worth so they may be able to shed more light than i can. i do know though that some who have gone/will be going to crna school have been at baylor all saints in downtown ft worth, some have worked at arlington memorial, i know that harris methodist ft worth (downtown) has many different icu's to choose from, baylor in dallas would probably be good. i am sure other people have their choices but those are some that stick out to me.