HommerRN

wow reading all of these posts makes me think that I have it pretty good. I work in Minnesota and the hospital that I work at has a 4:1 ratio on days and evenings and a 6:1 ratio on nights. It would be crazy to think of taking up to 7 patients during the day. It's busy enought with 4 as it is.

when I have had students on our floor they could all pass meds...however I needed to get them out of the pyxis for them and supervise any IV push meds. I am also responsible for the patient and need to do my own assessment. Most of the students had all of the meds looked up a head of time and had a spread sheet with all the info that they needed. It does take extra time to have students but that is how they learn. The nursing instructors should be checking in on the students frequently and we could always reach an instructor via phone no matter where he/she is in the hospital. they usually have up to 10 students per instructor and have been scattered on different units which is the reason why the staff RN's end up supervising the students right or wrong. Deb

I don't know too many people who leave the nclex feeling like they passed the exam. check your results and have a fun cruise...I bet you passed. and if you didn't have fun and come back and regroup for a 2nd try. Deb

I am an oncology RN. I work day/evening which means I work some days (7am to 3:30pm) then when I work evenings I work 3:00 to 11:30pm. where I work you can not get straight days until you are eligible for shift of choice which is usually after 20 years. we are a union facility so it might be different for non-union. The work can be sad, but very rewardings....the patients and families make it all worth while. we are required to work every other weekend or if you work 12 hour weekends you can work every third weekend. if you don't want to work weekends you might be better off going the clinic route or a day surgery center because they don't usually work weekends or holidays. I hope that helps. Deb

I go in the top of the vein after injecting a wheal of lidocaine which is what we use, but I agree with other posters who say that once you get the flash to lower the angle of the cath. and thread it in. I find going in on top of the vein is much easier than trying to "fish" for it in the side of the vein hope that helps. but with anything...keep at it and you'll get better at it.

we get a calendar so we can keep track of the hours we are suppose to work???

I have worked at United Hospital in St. Paul for two years and love it!