rashan1053

Meditech is pretty easy to use and scanning meds works well as long as the scanners are working. Good Luck in your position.

acuity depends...we get patients from the icu with trachs, peg tubes, etc... Most patients have had ortho surgery and get get up on their own. It is hard when you have nine patients all needing pain meds. I feel like I am passing narcotics all night and doing post pain med documentation all the time!!! Confused patients trying to get out of bed, pull out their trachs, pull out their iv's. Wow.......feels good to get this off my chest. It is a trauma step down unit along with ortho/neuro Thanks for just listening

I know nursing is a difficult profession...I have been living it for the past year now! I moved hear about 6 months ago and was told in my interview that at nights it was usually a 8:1 ratio occasionally going up to 9:1. But i usually start at 8:1 and go to 9:1. I love my co-workers, but having that type of load on a ortho/neuro/truama stepdown unit is overwhelming. Is this ratio normal for all of the hospitals in the Vegas area!!! Do any of the other hospitals have a lower ratio at night!!! Or is this the norm in nursing and I should stop my crying and just suck it up!!!

As another RN I completely agree with you on getting the CNA experience. I did not work as a CNA and really wished I would have. Now, I am not like the nurses you describe. If I am in the room I will do the care. However, I felt very clumsy and awkard for a few months because I didn't work as a CNA.

ok things are finally coming together. I was offered a position at Sunrise Hospital on their ortho/neuro unit. This works well, since I have been in ortho/neuro in Wisconsin. I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We even have a place to live. Now we just need to wait for August to come for the big move.

I am not sure what the policy really is at cardinal stritch, but when working on my RN I also needed to take the CNA class. It is a standard for all nursing programs in Wisconsin. However, to get into my program, I did not have to take the certification test, just the class. I would double check to see if you need to take the test. If you plan on working while in school, I would recommend taking the test and getting the CNA experience. It will help you in the long run. Then time frame for the class sounds about right. Sorry I can't offer any information about the schools. I did my schooling in the Green Bay are. Good luck to you

I have applied to every hospital in las vegas and henderson. Thank you for the advice.

We are planning on moving to an apartment. We have started working with a company that helps find housing for people relocating. So far, I am waiting for information from cielo apartments so I can fill out an application. I graduated in December and have been working on an ortho/neuro floor since January. I had an interview at Sunrise over the phone for a position on their neuro floor. I called yesterday and left a message with the nurse manager, but have not heard anything back yet. Thank you for taking the time to reply and for the advice. I am trying to relax and keep thinking that it will work out. This is where we want to live and are determined to get there.

Wow, I can't believe that in about a month I will be in Las Vegas. My husband and I decided several years ago that we would move when I finished nursing school. So, in December I finished nursing school and we started saving for our big move. I thought I would have a job lined up by now due to the extreme nursing shortage. I have had a phone interview with sunrise hospital and it sounds promising. My other big concern right now is finding a place to live without having a job lined up for either me or my husband. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

I have been a RN for 6months now and have belonged to this site for awhile. I have read so many posts about "know it all" new grads. I still feel like I could be in orientation because there is so much to learn. School can't possibly teach you all the different skills you need to be a nurse. This particular person truly upsets me. Many new grads are truly scared-to-death about starting their first job and how they will get along with their preceptor. When good---I mean excellent preceptors (like this one) come along they need to be respected. They offer so many years of experience and wisdon that new grads need to take advantage of. I hope to someday be one of those nurses new grads can count on. Until then I am going to take all the advice and knowledge I can from my more experienced colleagues.

Wow--He is uneducated himself. Nursing nor Nursing school is not getting easier. It is getting more difficult as the hospitals get busier with an aging population. The patients on a medical floor have a higher accuity now, than in the past. He may want to shadow an RN one day to truely see how easy nursing is not!!!!!

I know you asked for experienced nurses to reply, but here is some advice from a new nurse. Your instructors are trying to prepare you to take the NCLEX exam. The questions my seem obsure, but you need to do your best to try and not read into questions. Pain meds were given and you would anticipate that pain would improve. I agree with the other responses that more information would be better and that before you call a doctor you would assess cmts and neuro status, but that was not an option! I actually had this happen to me two months ago. Cast just placed that day, pain meds given. 30 minutes later pain immensly worse, skin cool, unable to wiggle toes. I consulted the charge nurse and called the md. Cast was beveled. I know that test questions get frustrating, but try to do your best in answering the question with what you have.

I have been applying to positions in all the hospitals in Las Vegas and am starting to worrying that I will not have a job lined up for my move in August. I am a new nurse. I just graduated in December and have been working at a hospital in Wisconsin since January. I have my temporary license for Nevada and am waiting for all the paperwork to go through on my permanent one. Anyone have any suggestions?

As you can see from most of the replies, both NS and 1st year nursing are stressful, but in different ways. The stress if different, but I wouldn't take back my career choice for anything!!! Some nights may be bad, but when patients are happy to see you back the next night, you know you did good. Best of luck to you!!!

Wow!!!! Glad I read this thread. I am a new nurse (graduated in dec), and had 8 pts last night. One patient actively dying, another with new chest pain, uncontrolled pain issues, and three ortho patients that needed assistance everytime to get up!!! Usually I have to tape report to days, but had to give verbal this time. The day nurses were great though and completely understanding. Once in a while I hear some of the day nurses say why can't they do that on nights, but for the most part they realize we have less staff and more patients on nights. I agree that as a whole nurses need to band together and have each others back. Most of us get into this career to help people and the last thing we want to do is slack off. P.S. Never sat down last night!!!!! Hurt all over!!!!