Scrubz

I bought myself a Littman Master Cardiology stethoscope and it was worth the money. Auscultate an apical pulse with a cheap stethoscope and then compare with a Master Cardiology and you'll notice an extreme difference. I'd like to have one of those electronic ones, but I figure it wouldn't be worth the money compared to what I'd use it for. And you might as well spend the extra money to get a MS over a Cardiology III. So in my opinion the Littman Master Cardiology is one of the better stethoscopes a nursing student, or an RN for that matter, can purchase.

I recommend the Palm TX. It's reasonably priced compared to everything else out there. They usually go from $250-300, and I got mine for $250. They don't have all the little extra things that a high end pocket PC would have, but you have to ask yourself what you need and why you're buying a PDA. The Palm TX has everything I need in a PDA: places to write myself notes, you can upload documents, schedule, store programs, ect.. I bought the Nursing Constellation package from Skyscape and I highly recommend it. It comes with the Davis Drug Guide, RN Notes, Lab Values and Referecne, and a bunch of medical calculators. Also, invest in Taber's Medical Dictionary, and if you have extra money, get the IV drug therapy guide. All of this cost me about $370 total, so be sure to add in how much you intend to spend on programs. Nursing Constellation and Taber's are going to add about $120 to whatever PDA you get. My Palm TX and those programs were well worth the money. They come in handy so much!!

School is tough yeah, but it's the only way you're going to become an RN. Just think, every RN out there has went through some form of school to get to where they are. And you do learn a lot of the fundamentals in school and being your knowledge base. But like some people have been saying: you do learn a lot in school, but you learn everything you need to know once you start working in the real world. Just keep at it. Good luck!

I've got a Littman Master Cardiology stethoscope and it works great. It's a little on the expensive side, but it's worth it. If you can dish out the money I'd go for one of those electronic stethoscopes.

The hospital I work at right now uses the same things. I don't think they're all that great though becasue you really can't give someone a good bath with one of those. Maybe if you used these every other day, and on the off days gave someone a real soap and water bath, that'd be okay. I find these things best used just to spot clean someone off. Like if they wet the bed, use one of these to wipe them off, but not to give a complete bath. That's just my opinion. They'll never have anything as good as a real shower though.

I strongly suggest buying a PDA so you can get a good medical dictionary and a good drug guide on it. It's been priceless in my clinical sessions. If I'm getting ready to pass a drug and don't know what it is, all I have to do is pull out my PDA and I can have it looked up in less than 10 seconds. I got a Palm TX, which ran me about $250, plus another $120 for all the programs I put on it, but you can find cheaper PDAs. But due to how fast you can look things up on the spot, and not having to lug around cumbersome books or having to run back to the nurses station to look in a book, you'll find that a PDA is worth the money. I intend to use these things my entire career.

I make $10/hour, but since I work nights I get a 13% pay diff., so that makes it $11.30. Since I live in a small town I think it's pretty good pay.

Agreed.. What you don't like touching other people? I would not reccomend nursing at all. Everyone doesn't like at least one or two aspects of nursing, but what you don't like is an essential feature that all nurses have to put up with. So I'd back out before you got in deep and then ditched. Save yourself some time and effort.

Agreed.. Mater Cardiology if you want to dish out the bucks for it. Far better than any base model stethoscope though. Worth the money. Consider it an investment. And if you really want to dish out the doe, get one of the new electronic ones. I hear they're really awesome.

I think everyone approaches school with a certain mindset of what it's going to be like, only to learn that reality is much different. Wheter this is good or bad for the student depends on the student. Plus, every school is different so everyone's perspectives are different. My advice, don't stress out about it, you'll find out soon enough what nursing school is like, and then go from there. Everyone always stresses about how to best prepare for getting ready, but the best thing to do is nothing and don't stress, because more than likely you'll get enough stress in school. Savor your off time..

I had an OB class last semester that I thought about skipping the last clinical just because we never did anything. The last day we were there we seriously sat around for 6 hours and did absolutly nothing. I'm not being sarcastic. So if it's that kind of situation, go for it. I ended up not skipping though. But if you're lucky enough to be doing something worth while, don't skip.

Thanks

Thanks

Is Propofol used on vented patients? Since the half-life of Propofol is so short wouldn't it be more justified using a longer activing sedative? I assume that Propofol isn't used for long-term vented pts right? Maybe just initially? I'm still in school so I have no experience with any of this other than what I hear or see, so thanks for any responses. I was just curious.

Is Propofol used on vented patients? Since the half-life of Propofol is so short wouldn't it be more justified using a longer activing sedative? I assume that Propofol isn't used for long-term vented pts right? Maybe just initially? I'm still in school so I have no experience with any of this other than what I hear or see, so thanks for any responses. I was just curious.