OldPhatMC

How many times on other threads have we talked about students quitting nursing school because of the first semester poop requirements? Frankly, if you don't have a grasp of the humanity involved in managing poop, then maybe you shouldn't be writing ...

What your paying for is for someone to put the medications together and test them for risk to pregnant women. You're paying for someone else to take the fall in case of a birth defect. If a doc were to just say "take B-6 and Unisom" for an off-label ...

In hospice nursing we make evidence-based recommendations all the time. Many attending physicians are not well versed in hospice care and they actually ask for recommendations. If they don't like it, they will explain way. Some physicians will become...

Head shots require placing the round in an area about 1/3 that of the chest "kill zone". They're hard in a controlled environment like a combat pistol shooting course, and nearly impossible with a handgun in real combat. And the very real risk of bys...

Former cop here. There is no way a single person with a weapon could have countered the shooting in San Bernadino, or even in many of the shooting that have occurred over the last year. Having a gun is the least important part of being a protector. S...

Something that wasn't mentioned is that it's not just the family that needs your compassion. It's your team members as well. Your preceptor was probably in a place where he/she would liked to have processed the experience with you. Part of that may h...

The Department of Justice was working on the issue of home health nurses being shorted pay for working off-clock. As has been pointed out by others, it is illegal to for an employer to insist on this, and you should be compensated for the hours worke...

I agree that you should have the skills. IV skills save lives. Been there. Even better, having the advanced skills that go with midlines, PICCS, all the many med ports and dialysis shunts would make a big difference on your floor and your career. I'm...

Great questions: 1. What I LIKE to wear is business casual. Draws less attention, more comfortable, doesn't scream NURSE. What I DO wear is scrubs. Both have their advantages. 2. Worst part of the job: the paperwork is bad, but I really hate lots of ...

needshaldol has said a lot that, as a hospice RN of several years experience, I think needs to be clarified for the readers: The medicare billing: Medicare gets billed at a standard rate. They pay at a much smaller standard rate. Currently a patient ...

I used to identify myself as a nurse, but since I wasn't a member of the Emergency Department cool kids club I got treated with very variable levels of respect in the ED. So now I conceal it if at all possible when I go with someone. My doc and podia...

I've had this experience with patients. NPH insulin is variable in its effect from person to person, as well as variable in its effect on a person based on their activity levels. I'd normally give straight NPH insulin based on the patient's history a...

Students, being non-essential to patient care shouldn't be forced to come in. When this happened to me in nursing school, any day where the campus closed also was a day they canceled clinicals. We did have one day where the drive (for me) was just fi...

When it comes to being a health care worker, I've always favored death -- my own -- as the only real reason to call out. My only exception to that was the time I was down in the cardiac unit -- it was only pneumonia, but they wouldn't let me out for ...

Oh she's an INTERN. She doesn't have permission to either speak to nurses or raise her eyes from the floor unless her R3 is present! Seriously, the comments about involving them in care and open communications are very valid. I get this a lot. Someti...

Aren't they adorable when they're young? First of all, the doc-in-the-box type clinics are usually placed in the higher volume pharmacies. I think its unlikely to impossible to manage both the pharmacist role for a 10K script a week pharmacy, AND try...

We prefer to use the Ativan Blow Gun (tm-Not!) on the charge nurse. The rest of the staff seems to do well on the Seroquel salt lick.

I entered nursing school with ACLS and PALS as it is required for EMT Intermediates in my jurisdiction. And that's my key point. It's more a matter of willingness to master the material than a level of experience as a nurse. The ACLS course materials...

I'm not surprised but I am saddened to hear this. I think that ultimately it's going to be hard for JTCC to service online students over a wide area and they will give first preference to students in their service area. Students in the other service ...

The answer is correct. What you have is a ratio comparison of: (1/200)/150 = X/1 for the right side you invert and multiply to divide the (1/200) by 150 -- (1/200)*(150/1) = 150/200 giving you: 150/200=X/1 (150*1) =200*X 150/200 =X then reduce it and...

Nothing at all wrong with living in purity, but perhaps honesty, personal integrity, or maybe commitment to the patient and our professional ethics would be more important to the professional practice of nursing. And by the way, nursing is now offici...

Well, I became a nurse at 50 and it hasn't killed me ... yet. You're not too old.. in fact, you're in an age bracket where people will not consider you worn out and incapable. Bluntly, there is age discrimination, especially from the 27 year old nur...

First of all, define "Northern Virginia". If you're talking Arlington/Alexandria, I can tell you that I'm getting a lot of solicitations for RNs for charge in LTCs. As you get to the suburbs, such as Fredericksburg and Warrenton, the demand drops off...

I think we're getting into thread creep here, but my short answer is that BIO 141/142/205 is a better choice than NAS 161/162. As well taught as NAS161/162 can be -- I strongly recommend taking the class at NVCC Woodbridge -- I believe that spreading...

As I recall the CNP hadn't actually been eligible for NLNAC accreditation, so you might want to check that point out with whomever told you that. The program has to have a certain number of graduates in order to be accredited. Regardless of the flaws...