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Sounds like you need a different school. That hasn't been my experience. Our class president was a guy and he won 1 of only 2 special achievement awards awarded at the college this year.

How do you usually assess if the gag reflex is present, say if the pt has returned to the floor post-procedure? Do you actually stick a tongue blade to the back of the throat?

Erie, PA. $18.36 starting days. Not too exciting, but my rent here is only $350 for a nice 2 br apt. :can't find shoulder shrug smilie:

I have RNotes-Nurse's Clinical Pocket Guide-by Ehren Myers. I debated between that and the MedSurg, decided on this one, can't remember why. It seems very complete. It is a definitely a little chunky, but the pages are waterproof. I wish the appendix...

I was looking through my Doenges nursing dx book, and there is a NANDA dx of Disturbed Energy Field as evidenced by objective things like waves, spikes, color changes, or holes in the pt energy flow. What the heck?! :icon_roll I wrote it in as a poss...

Got the pin today. It is round and gold. It only cost us $5 so that's good. Personally I think it looks a little unprofessional when someone's id badge has a bunch of pins and stickers on it. I've never worn a pin in my life and don't plan to start n...

http://saddleback.edu/alfa/ One of the most helpful sites I've ever used. If I remember right, in their video they actually sink the NG in the volunteer. Brave lady!

That seems like it would be a bad idea to quit before you start. Could you study and take your NCLEX in the meantime?

The monocyte number you're looking for is the SI unit versus the % that is given. It's high both ways. Normal in my book is 0.02-0.08x10(to the 9th)/L.

Most of my patients have more than one laxative/cathartic in their prn bowel regimen. Dulcolax, mom, fleets, sennokot, mag citrate, miralax and whatever others. What order might you use them in when they haven't been going? Could someone maybe put th...

Thanks very much guys. I'm going to write it down and carry it with me always!

They probably have to fill out an incident report on the fall, and so they need to know what happened/how it could be prevented in the future. Not your fault specifically, just part of hospital policy.

I know they prep you for NCLEX, but other than that is there any point to them? Is the activity of studying and taking exams applicable to nursing on the floor? Do you use test taking strategies on the floor? I just feel frustrated and worried. I ke...

Ok thank you, that helps. I haven't seen any patients so far on med-surg with ABGs, just the basic BMP. Is it more common in critical care?

I thought I had acid/base figured out until this semester. Here is a typical lab I see from a BMP. CO2(TOTAL) 22 LOW Expected Value 23-31 meq/L This is different from PaCO2? 35-45 is not the expected range? And this CO2 actually measures HC0...

At work today I got to try and place 5 caths, which was unusual and pretty cool. I could only get 2 in correctly though. The 1 guy I did had an enlarged prostate, and I was putting in the coude cath tip down, which I'm reading now is exactly opposite...

this sounds like really good advice. what's the best way to figure out if it's a great er or not?

What are the extra courses in a BSN? More medical courses, or more management and business? Looking at my local university, one extra course is on ethics, but I can't tell what the other subjects are.

Witnesses base their beliefs on the Bible, not on what a group of people tell them to believe, and the thing is, the Bible is 2000 years old. It mentions not taking in blood, but knowledge of blood fractions and Cellsaver was pretty sketchy at that p...

I'm doing this right now. It's a little confusing trying to find all the forms on the net. Trying to locate the right fingerprint card for PA. I called the nearest Office of the Aging, and she finally found a couple in a drawer, dated 1982! Then I ch...

Yup, def. talk with financial aid. Seems like you could get a federal Stafford loan without much trouble.

Well, it sounds mercenary, but I'm doing it for job security and good pay. My dept. almost got eliminated last year, and I figured nursing would be a reliable field to get into. And I think it may be pretty exciting depending what area I'm in.

I was suprised to see on my FAFSA I don't qualify for any financial aid. I only make $1 over minimum wage, but the cutoffs are low, I think because I don't have any kids. My EFC was $5000, out of an annual salary of ~$19000. Needless to say, I'm taki...

The best sleepmask I have found. http://www.hibermate.com/ I use it every day. I took off the earpads, it was a little weird to sleep on them. It blocks out the light very well.

Ok, this is a probably a dumb question. On the commute home they mentioned on the news that a shooting victim was in 'fair' condition at the hospital. But I thought HIPAA prevented the release of any patient information. How does that work?