mslinzyann

I am located in NC and I take my exam in Kanappolis Friday if anyone has tested there?! I can tell you the answers in the book I have, which is based on averaging the statewide standards. But here are a couple of my questions I hope y'all can help on.. -In NC the list of steps for catheter care doesn't say anything about cleaning perineal area it only says to clean at least four inches of the catheter but my instructor for my one day class taught us to do peri care and catheter. Would I be okay just doing the catheter? If you are being tested on cleaning a catheter, generally that is ALL you do is the catheter. This is, from what I understand, similar to doing a partial bath - in Michigan you ONLY demonstrate the partial bath skill, no peri care. Of course in real life, you would perform the peri care, too. -Is it okay to lay the dentures on a paper towel thats on the counter? It seems like it would be hard to hold the dentures while putting toothpaste on the toothbrush without laying them down. To my knowledge, it is ok to do that before you brush them but not after. -Where does the toilet tissues, handwipes, blood pressure stuff equipment like this go after the skill is finished? Toilet tissues, gloves, disposable stuff should go in the trash. Soiled linen woudl go in a laundry bag, and the blood pressure equipment should be sanitized and put on a "clean" (not sterile, but a place where you put clean linen or the side table?) surface.At the beginning of your state test, you will have the opportunity to ask your tester where the place to put garbage is, dirty linen, ect. -Will I have the chance to ask about locking the wheel chair and bed because I know all settings are different and I want to make sure I know how to use their equipment correctly? Yes, before the test they give you time to go around, look for linens, ect., so during that time you should look at the controls on these items. -After feeding a client is it okay to lay them back down in laying position or is it necessary to keep them up? In the booklet it doesn't say either Lower the bed, but keep the incline up at least a bit. -Lastly any tips for peri care? I am terrified about getting this skill as it is the only one that really intimidates me Generally you would not do peri care for the state test on a person, so it will be on a mannequin. In Michigan, it's female peri care that is the tested skill because you have to be more careful with this. You keep a towel or bath sheet over their lap and a towel over the leg area, and only expose the lady partsl area as much as you have to. Fold your wash cloth in a manner to not dirty the cloth in between wipes, and wipe down the middle, then on the inner labia farthest away from you, then closest, then the outer labia and inner thigh area farthest away from you, then closest, and remember to either get a new cloth or use a non-soiled part of the cloth for each wipe. Then, remove the towel on the legs but be sure to cover them with the gown. Thanks for taking the time to read and offering any help you can!

Midwives, have you ever lost a baby? If so, can you describe that experience for me? Being a midwife is flowing through my veins, but I am concerned about the emotional aspect of losing someones baby. Helps? Thoughts?

Hey people...how did you PAY for your accelerated BSNs?

Hey! I've posted in here for awhile and thought about going into nursing once I get my undergrad degree in psychology. I have problems with regulating blood sugar at times; I have to eat every 3-5 hours (at the most!) or I wil become very shaky, nauseated, and weak. I have two questions based on this- 1. My hands are always a little shaky. Can I do this job? Does anyone else have problems with shaky ends? 2. I have to eat on time, or at least drink some ensure or slim fast, just to keep the sugar up. Will I have time to do this? I don't want to be a pansy, but I can't do my job well without food in my system. And I don't want to get into nursing and be a bad nurse.

Hi! I'm an undergraduate student with a psychology major. I haven't been sure of what I wanted to do and I ended up on this forum because I was interested in nursing. Reading about the NICU in this forum, something about this work has really caught my heart. I'm wondering if there are rehabilitation professionals who work in the NICU, such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech language pathologists at your NICU? Also, what is the extent of their role, how much time do they put into the NICU, ect. I'm not sure if I even want to be in the NICU, but like I said, after reading a great deal in this forum, I can't seem to shake off the notion of working in the NICU!

On Thursday my Grandpa called my Dad and said he needed to go to the hospital because he didn't feel well. We decided to have an ambulance come for him so that EMTs could watch over him on the trip to the hospital. Upon arrival a CAT scan found that he had an aortic aneurism. My grandpa was lucid and the aorta hadn't ruptured, so the vascular surgeon felt that his odds were good, even though he was 80 years old. My family and I waited and waited. 3 hours passed but we knew this was an extensive surgery. Finally a nurse came out and called out my Grandpa's name, and we came out into the hallway to talk to her. She explained that shortly after my Dad left the aorta did burst and my Grandfather went into shock. He coded several times and they anticipated him coding again. When my aunt asked the nurse "Will he die?" she was honest with us and said his odds were very poor. Both my aunt and I asked if we could see him one last time, and she said she didn't think so but would try. In about 30 minutes our nurse came back out and explained that the doctor was unable to finish the surgery but that they were transferring Grandpa to the ICU so that we could say goodbye. We were able to hold his hands while he passed, see him one more time, and say all the things we needed to say. We believe (probably against what science would tell us!) that he heard us. My little sister leaned in close to him and said "Bye, we love you, say hi to Grandma for us". It was a sad moment but we were so blessed to be able to have that time with him. There wasn't a dry eye in the ICU. We feel that the surgical nurse pushed for us to be able to see him one last time and that the nurses in the ICU were also advocates for us being able to be with him during his passing. As soon as they got the ok, the one of the ICU nurses ran out to get us and hurried to rush us into the ICU, using her card key to let us in. My family and I are so thankful to the nurses for helping us experience my Grandpa's sudden death the way we needed to. For the rest of our lives we will never forget their kindness and we will be able to remember this moment the way we would want to. Just a story I wanted to share. For all you nurses out there, never underestimate the influence you have on people's lives.

I'm very interested in being a nurse in the neonatal field, but I can't quite figure out how you guys cope with the bizarre hours. Working 12 hour shifts at night seems difficult on anybody, especially someone who is a mother with a family, ect. I'm also interested in being a CNM, but the thing is, those hours are crazy, too!! I also have a mood disorder, although its mild. I feel that the goofy (as in, not going with the "normal" workweek) might throw me off, cause my moods to cycle and ultimatley, make me very unhappy! What is your advice about the schedule in the NICU? I'm really interested in this field at all levels, but I'm just not sure if I can handle the hours.

Thank you for the info. I am interested in providing family support/mental health, maybe in the form of a support group or something, if I ever become a nurse.

I will try to help, but take what I say to do with a grain of salt, as I don't even have a full rubric to go from. Ok, so lets say you want to write a paper on why nurses are so important in a hospital system. There are many things you can say about this topic that are NOT based on examples or personal experiences. You can give statistics about how often nurses catch doctors mistakes, hours of patient care that they provide, describe the job duties of a nurse, and talk about the idea that nurses are necessary at all levels of patient care. However, that is not a very interesting paper. To make it more interesting, you add examples and anecdotes about why nurses are so important. You could start your paper about the NICU by jumping right into the story. "I was confused and scared as I looked down at my XX lb. baby beneath the clear wall of the incubator" Then go on to describe your experience and how the nurses helped you, your family, the doctors, ect. Then you go on to describe how nurses benefit the health care system as a whole, using facts, stats, ect. You can also throw in something like an example of what would happen to a hospital if there were no nurses. This is just an idea of a potential structure for a paper. Sorry if it came too late!! Good luck.

I would really, really like to know who is responsible for mental health/family support in the NICU. I am not a nursing student (although I am considering it), but I am a psychology major with an interest in mental health. I also have a particular interest in the NICU and in neonatal and pediatric medicine. Would a nurse be able to provide family support/counseling in a certain role, or would that be the role of a different type of provider? Thank you! Lindsay

Thank you guys so much for telling me your experiences and stories. I'm definitely going to be shadowing at my local hospital's NICU when I go home this summer so I can see a bit first hand. Overall, it sounds like an amazing field, but a difficult one as well. A lot like many fields of nursing. Its a hard choice...the hours of nursing are not too bad; long shifts but not everyday. And the pay is good, and the work is without a doubt important. But dealing with life and death so often, especially the death of chlidren, is a pretty brutal thing. Not work to be taken lightly or engaged in without being fully committed. In other words, I still need to think about things. But I really do appreciate your input.

Hi. I am a senior in college about to graduate with a psychology major. I've thought about nursing for several years, and just recently I've thought a great deal about neonatal nursing. I do have some concerns, however. I am a very sensitive person, probably too sensitive, and I feel like when someone is hurting I really do empathize and feel their pain. But, I am moved by what goes on in the NICU and I think it would be wonderful to get to care for babies and educate parents. Really wonderful. But what about the bad stuff? How bad does it get? Would I be going home crying every night? How often do you lose babies? What is the hardest thing about this job? Aren't the hours horrible, too? I also have seen some people reference the idea that parents sort of force medical interventions on their baby when its probably time to say goodbye. I am wondering what the nature of these problems/interventions are. I have worked in a vets office and seen a lot of animals die and get put to sleep, which is very sad. But for most people, that loss does not compare to the loss of a child. That raw emotion and sadness really does scare me. I also heard that in NICU they starve babies to death. Why? I really would appreciate any information you have!! Love :heartbeat Lindsay

Wow. I cried my eyes out! I've been thinking very seriously about being an NICU nurse, but after watching this I don't know if I can do it.

Truthfully, I think that the PAs have a better educational model for existing in the medical world, but I do think that the holistic nature of nurse training is useful. My main reasoning for wanting to be an NP rather than a PA was because my interest is primarily in peds, neonatal, and ob stuff- which are pretty dominated by NPs rather than PAs. And I wanted to be a nurse first in order to get experience in the medical world before becoming a midlevel. I'm a slow learner, but a detailed and thorough learner, so I want to have my time to get it all figured out.

Here is the article that really threw me for a loop. http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/27/nur...partner=alerts

Lately I've been on a particular board dedicated to doctors and student doctors and there has been a lot of talk about/ a lot of fear about DNPs and NPs in general. Many of the doctors and pre-med students on the board have even discussed the idea that doctors should band together to not hire NPs, and hire PAs again. I find this to be dismaying for me personally, as the fields I am interested in are all primarily geared towards NP rather than PA- peds, nurse midwife, neonatal, ect. However, I want to know what the nurses take to this is- are nurses going to be so aggressive that they turn the 'big dogs' of medicine against them? Will NPs attempt to expand their scope of practice beyond what is safe for patients? I feel there is a place in medicine for midlevels, but midlevels aren't doctors, either.

I completely agree. I am not a nurse- so any advice I give should be taken with a grain of salt- but this sounds like it is crossing the line. It doesn't matter how tired and burned out these nurses and CNAs are, it is unacceptable to yell at your patients and to neglect them; in doing so, you are not a nurse by definition. If this is the normal world of nursing *which I do not believe it to be* then, I hope I am never a patient.

When I was 14 I became incredibly ill one evening, probably around 8PM, with throbbing pain in my lower back. I had experienced backpain all day and hadn't thought much of it, but as it got dusky I started to realize something serious was going on. I got my Mom to take me to the ER when I told her "WE NEED TO GO NOW!!" When I got to the ER I was incredibly shocked at how busy it was. I think it was a Wednesday night. I checked in with the receptionist and sat down, and I was shaking with pain but trying not to moan and make a scene. This pain was unbelieveable. I'm not a baby about pain, either- I have tattoos and piercings, I don't flinch when I have blood drawn or get a shot. But this was like someone stabbing in the back with a knife; sharp, unrelenting pain. It was probably 30-40 minutes before I was admitted to my cubicle in the ER by a nurse named Tina. I still remember her face, how blond and tan and pretty she was. She had on a pink scrub top with tan pants. I knew instantly she was kind and I knew she was exhausted. She was even sweating a little. Tina took my vitals and asked me what I was in for that night. When I explained my symptoms- back pain that began this morning and had gotten worse all day- she immediatley suggested I might have a kidney stone or infection to my mother. She wrote some things on her chart and then left. She came back shortly and gave me a urine test- but because I had been on my period recently, she had to use a catheter. I remember how embarrassed I was but also how comforting she was to me, how she kept telling me it was ok, we would get this figured out and get me some meds for pain. I remember her joking that 'if a catheter and some pee is all you're going to throw at me, I'm having a good day!" But that was not all I threw at her. As soon as she was done collecting the sample and I began to sit up I felt a hot streak of vomit shoot out of my mouth. I could not control it. Stinky, rotten, undigested eggs from breakfast (my first and last meal that day) flew all over her pink scrub top. I was MORTIFIED, crying, and in the worst pain I could ever imagine. My mother apologized and asked when I could get some medicine, and my nurse excused herself to check with the doctor. She came back in a clean scrub top and told us the doctor was in an emergency procedure and may not be available for awhile. She apologized profusely, but my this time it had almost been an hour, and I was literally crying and screaming with pain. My mother was stressed and displeased, and I felt bad for my pretty young nurse when my mom sort of snipped at her- "Its been almost two hours since we've been here! She needs medicine!" The nurse explained to my mother that the urine test was positive for blood and infection, but that she couldn't administer medicine without the doctor's approval. At least another hour passed and I continued to cry and vomit. I am sure that Nurse Tina must have had many, many patients that night but she continued to come by, quite frequently- at least every 20 minutes- to see how I was. I knew she cared, and my Mom and I knew that when the doctor was available she would be right there to get him. When the doctor came he looked at my labs and looked me over quickly. I am sure he was a busy man himself that night. He ordered me tylenol 3 and my Mom said simply 'that will not work. She is in too much pain. I know you are a doctor, but..." At that point Tina stepped in. "Dr. ____, Lindsay has been in pain for about three hours and she is very worked up." was all she said. The doctor nodded his head and commented on how long I had been in pain, he was sorry, they were swamped. I got an IV of morphine and was finally able to relax and sleep and get relief from my pain. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with a severe kidney infection. When I was lonely or scared, thirsty or in pain, I called a NURSE. It was the nurses that helped me wrap my arm in a garbage bag when I desperatley wanted a shower, and it was a nurse that helped me to the bathroom to vomit and didn't even bat an eye, even though it was disgusting. It was a nurse who found me some toast when I just couldn't eat the hospital eggs in the morning, and when I was sick in the ER and my mom was stressed and felt helpless, we found comfort in Tina, the nurse that was so compassionate. None of them ever complained or had a bad attitude even one time with me- I recieved excellent care. I still haven't forgotten this. Nurses do the Lord's work. So to all of you who sometimes think that you work without thanks, know what even though your patients may not tell you, you may make such a difference that a patient remembers your name 7 years after they met you.

Hey everyone, I have thought a lot about being a nurse and either working in L&D or maybe PICU or NICU...but with the eventual goal of becoming an NP. Many people on this forum seem to hate their jobs as nurses. Oneo f my friends from high school is a ADN grad who has been a med/surg nurse for a year and she hates her job, hates her patients, and hates everyone she works with. I've seen someone who was once a happy young lady become very negative, stressed, and sad. I don't want to end up trapped in that fate. Have any of you found better success/enjoyment in being an NP than they did as an RN?

The idea that nurses are replaceable is a truth, and so are all professionals, as TheCommuter said. I think that what he is saying is that nurses are more replaceable, however, because they have less education than a doctor/psychologist. Still, I think that there may be many nurses, but they are not all good nurses, or experienced nurses, or compassionate nurses...and so it seems that people are replaceable, but only to an extent. I will not be rethinking my decision to be with him, but I am disappointed in what he has expressed to me- his opinions about the nursing profession. I believe that when he begins work as a CNA he will learn much more about the profession, however, and it will change his attitude. I truly think he believes that for me, I deserve something more than nursing because I won't be satisfied. I might not be satisfied as a floor nurse, but I do think an NP or university prof would be a fufilling job. After more conversation I found out that he was actually trying to belittle my nursing aspirations because he wants a partner to do this med school thing with. He is afraid of doing it and since I am generally supportive, well organized, there to help him out when he needs it...I think he just wants a med school companion. He was supportive about me being a psychologist, too, but I think once again that was because he is biased about me 1/ staying in school as long as he does and 2/getting a doctoral level degree. *sigh* I dunno what to do. I really want to be a doctor, but I am afraid of the coursework. And that is the plain smelly truth. :trout:

My boyfriend feels that nursing is just a JOB and not a career. I have considered both clinical psychology and medical school- and also, nursing. I love the idea of being able to deliver babies or work in PICU, so I would probably pursue pediatrics or OB/GYN in medical school. I also have a passion for mental health, but I want to be able to do medical management, which a psychologist cannot do. If I did become a nurse, I would definitely plan on becoming an NP, maybe a DNP, and I would love to get my PhD and be able to do medical/nursing research. The other day my bf told me that although nurses make a difference, its not really making a difference or leaving an impact on the world because "anyone could take your place" :angryfire This really pissed me off. I've always believed it takes a special kind of person to take care of people the way that nurses do. He wants to be a doctor and I think mainly that he wants me to go to medical school with him. But he also seems to think that anything less than a doctorate is an inadequate education and a waste of my life. :trout: I love (the idea of) nursing for its flexibility and huge array of career options. I am incredibly nervous about the first year of nursing when I'm all green and don't know what the hell I am doing. I'm a sensitive person, and an anxious one, and part of me does worry that nursing will chew me up and spit me out. I've always wanted to pursue doctoral level education and to teach and write, and I don't know if I can pursue those goals in nursing. BUT there are tremendous opportunities in nursing. So I'm feeling stuck.

I haven't checked this thread in a long time, but I've recieved some great replies here! I felt a sort of...intrinsic problem with not having kids and helping other women bring children into the world. I don't know if I mentioned this in my original post or not, but I have bipolar disorder and I will need to be on medication to treat it indefinitely. I thought this meant I could never have children, but since my psychiatrist had explained to me that there are options for becoming pregnant that we can discuss when the time comes. So, I feel good about that. Still, the point that various medical practitioners haven't experienced what they are treating makes a lot of sense, suprised I've never thought of it. And there are a lot of male OB/GYNs, too. Thanks for the very supportive post. :)

Thank you for the replies! I am intensely interested in working with neonates, but I have another question: Is there a great deal of opportunity to speak with/educate the family about their babie's care, or is all of that left to the neonatologist? I would like to have a chance to speak with the parents of the patients about their children's care. ( i think..:))

What is the process for being hired into an NICU as a RN? I am very interested in this field, but I am wondering what experience a nurse generally has before being hired into a neonatal unit. It seems like you'd have to have major experience with babies to move into this position.

I am a senior with a degree in Psychology. I can't decide which path is right for me. Nursing- I am insanely passionate about babies, women's health, ect. Everytime I look at babies, I go crazy with my desire to work with them. I just can't help it. The biggest problem I have is that I am AWFUL at math and memorization, so I feel like nursing will be a major uphill battle for me. On the other hand, my degree is in psychology. I am good at speaking and writing and conceptual knowledge, but as I mentioned, not at memorizing. I think I would be good at working with people and doing therapy and I am also interested in assessment and treatment of behavioral problems in children. But gosh, everytime I think about working with newborns/neonates and helping them get better and go home with their families, it just makes me feel so excited. Bottom line: I think being a nurse is more exciting to me and would make me happy, but that its going to be difficult for me to do the schooling, to the point of not being sure if I can get in. However, I would be good at being a psychologist and the schooling would be easier for me. What would you do?