aj1973

It depends what kind of nursing you're looking at doing. If you want to work in an acute ward situation, then you're going to have to do some nights, at least when you're just starting out. From my experience, there aren't many places that have enoug...

Wow - I never thought this would be such a big issue. I don't know that I have ever worked on a ward where you can't have water bottles, or your morning cup of coffee in the nurses station. Where I work now (ICU) we all have our drinks in our rooms, ...

AH I see, thanks for that. Being an aussie, it never ceases to amaze me how different the terminology is between us and the USA - I think I'd be stuffed if I ever decided to move to the USA to work!! :)

Yep, in my unit CCRN's can pull chest tubes, its one of the competencies we have to complete as part of the CCRN course. RN's can pull chest tubes if supervised by a CCRN. :)

hmm, i have a question - what do you guys mean by 'draw an artline'? do you mean drawing blood from an arterial line? just thought i'd ask, as i haven't heard that term before. seriously, some of you need to come work 'down under' for a while. i'm am...

In my ICU (which is med/surg/neuro/trauma/anything else!!) in Australia CCRN's set up, troubleshoot and maintain CVVHDF, but if an existing dialysis patient comes in, the dialysis unit nurses will bring down their CRRT and do the therapy. Only CCRN'...

hi there grant! i've lived & worked in adelaide all my life, i'd be happy to give u any tips u need to get settled here. feel free to email me with any questions! cheers, mandy:beer:

Hi there We are fortunate in the ICU I work in - we've recently had a MAJOR redevelopment, and visitors and the monitoring of them was a big focus. We now have visiting from 0830 - 2030, 2 visitors at a time. We have volunteers present through visi...

The PICU I work in has a choice of 8 or 12 hour shifts. I gave the 12 hour shifts a try for a few months last year, but gave them up for a couple of reasons: 1. I was SO exhausted on my days off, that extra 4 hours makes a huge difference, leaving ho...

In the PICU I work in we're allowed to use saline, but only when assisted by a senior RN, no juniors are allowed to use it on their own, and it's generally only used when all other options have failed. I think it's useful though, what else can you d...

my favourite at the moment is:code brown - a warnng to other staff that we are dealing with a large smelly revolting bed full of poo!!:roll mandy

Yup... There definately is exercise in nursing, particularly ward nursing. I transfered from Orthopaedics to PICU in April and have put on almost 4kg - and I SWEAR it is because I'm now sitting on my butt for the most of the day looking at monitors,...

Hey there, Personally I think that having a med/surg background is a brilliant foundation for working in an ICU. I've worked in adult ICU, then on the wards, mainly in orthopaedics, for a few years and have recently transferred to PICU. I think wor...

I know what you're dealing with, I've just moved on after 4 years wroking in orthopaedics in Adelide, the last year of that as a CN. the accuity of the patients you describe was pretty standardm, lots of joint replacements, and just about always a r...

Very simple really, when I finished hig school, you neede 56/100 to get into nursing and something like 99.2/100 to get into medicine - needless to say, I got 58/100 in year 12, so there really wasn't much choice in the matter. There's also the litt...

I fyou like a pair of lace ups - then go for a pair of Doc martens - not cheap i know, but my last pair did me for 3 1/2 years workign full time. Otherwise another good choice is a pair of slip on colorados - damn comfy and look good with pants, sho...

My workplace has been trialling 12 hour shifts for the past 3 months and I have had enough - I'm going back to the old 8 hour shifts from next week. I've found the 12 hour shifts incredibly drainingand they just seem to go on for ever. 12 ours is a...

my dad absolutely swears that he went to school with a boy named donald duck - i kid you not:roll recently i've looked after a girl named clancy (??clancy of the overflow was a male right?? one for my fellow aussies) and an angel jewel, also a litt...

hmmm, interesting one, well I think 14 is old enough for a belly button ring. i agree with what most people have posted, its not permanent, so theres no big deal if she changes her mind down the track. On the other hand, 14 is WAY too young for a ta...

Hehe, this thread is cracking me up...and it's all so true. I've met all of these patients and then some in 4 years of ortho nursing. I love the young guys who are5 min back on the ward from surgery and want to go for a smoke. Lots of nurses argu...

eeek - please tell me you are joking!!! i have never heard of a hospital that doesn't have visiting hours, and everywhere i've worked it's the opposite way around - icu has open visiting hours for family members, but everywhere else is basically afte...

hi there fellow picu nurses my names mandy, and i work in picu at the women's and childrens hospital in adelaide, south australia. its the only specialist picu in the state and we also handle retrivals from the northern territory and country victor...

Hmmm, let me see here. Favourites would have to be your newly diagnosed DKA kids, heaps to do for them, multitraumas, sepsis, with all the drips and drains and so forth, the more machines the better I say! Basically all your acutely ill ICU patients...

Hey all, I'm one of the 2.94% from 'down under', adelaide, south australia to be exact, not too many aussies here are there?

Gee guys, I'm really starting to appreciate nursing here in Australia from reading these posts. The most recent wards I've worked on, we HAVE to take a lunch break, we aren't paid for it and we don't get overtime if we choose not to take it. We wor...