jedimasterr

I graduated from WS and while it's clear some things have changed for the better, some have clearly stayed the same. I've posted things before, so I won't say too much here. The things about WS that chafed me to no end while there seem to be pretty m...

When in nursing school, it took me only one day of psych clinical to reach nearly the same conclusion that such intense individualism can create a difficult if not impossible barrier to reentry into a society where individuals do not play by the rule...

When I took the test, I remember thinking that a lot of the nurses I worked with probably knew the answers to a lot of questions. The key is knowing how to answer the questions. The study guides are good, but I felt like my two day prep course was hu...

First suggestion is to not personalize the outcome. CCRN is a test of how well you studied and how good you are taking tests; it's not a measure of how good a nurse you are. Even without the added difficulty of obtusely worded questions, it's a hard ...

Congrats! It's a great feeling to walk out of that test site with the passing paper in hand!

I admit that IV thing was a rant, but it does speak to a bigger issue of considering the next step and thinking about a continuum of care. Maybe just instill the idea to think, "What would I want on this pt if I had to stay with and manage him for th...

I started in ICU right out of school and I am glad that I did. All the questions people above asked are important and for me, I had continuity of a single preceptor for the whole time and I went to a unit that was embracing of new grads. All I would ...

I just passed it today by the skin of my teeth. Four more wrong questions and I would not have passed. I have exactly two years experience as a nurse, all of it in a MICU. This is for what it's worth. I bought Woodruff's package back in April of 07...

I didn't read every post here, but one thing that makes me grind my teeth about the ER is when they start and IV and attach the primary tubing line directly to the catheter hub and then plaster it down with five pounds of tape because it is in the AC...

I bought the second edition of Marino's book for five bucks several times from used book stores. If you are just starting out, I think the second edition is more than adequate.

I had Dewolff for community quite awhile ago. In that class, the quizzes were very heavily based on the powerpoints from class but she was one of the few teachers who actually presented information in class that jived with what the book taught. She's...

I posted on some other West Sub threads awhile back. Two years out now from graduation and my attitude has not changed much. Compared to other places, West Sub has, I feel, a very reasonable pre req list. Well, that is of course except for the comput...

Puppies, It seems that in practice, rather than in theory, a lot of EICU's are run very differently. On paper, this idea does seem to make a tremendous amount of sense in some situations. If you work in a hospital with no resident coverage where you ...

After a couple of months now, I have to say I am not real fond of the EICU. On the one time I did call for consultation with a Doc, I was given an un asked for critique of nursing care, an order for a CBC that I could have gotten without him and a su...

I try to be direct with them and politely ask them to set the phone aside for just a minute while I finish my assessment. Aside from listening to lung sounds, there isn't much I need to do assessment wise that requires them to stop talking. It seems ...

Hey Shy, I couldn't tell from your post if you are a new grad or a nurse heading to ICU with some experience from another floor. If you are the new grad, my first piece of advice would be to relax and just try to accept that you are not going to beco...

I started a full time BSN program at age 38 and was through NCLEX and was working as a new grad in an ICU by the time I was 40. Straight up, there was absolutely nothing pleasant about nursing school. Academically, it was not the most challenging th...

I'm not sure how many people still read this particular thread, but I would like to put a feeler out to see if anyone currently working in California would be willing to chat a bit via PM. In short, I am a ICU RN with one a half years of experience a...

Nursing is a second career for me after I was basically pushed out of a good paying gig working on a commodity exchange floor because of automation. At the time, many of us felt that our hard earned expertise at what we did would eventually win out. ...

Hope I don't drift too far off topic here. I am very satisfied with choosing nursing as a second career, but this issue of compensation is one the relatively few things I find very frustrating about the field. After working in environments where init...

I am an ICU nurse with 1 and 1/4 years of experience who went right into the ICU after school. So far, my experience has been very positive and I attribute a lot of this to the open arms my unit has toward new grads who have a good attitude. I feel t...

Like most folks here have said, our ratio is one nurse to two ICU patients. Open hearts are one to one for a certain length of time. On the step down telly unit, the ratio is one nurse to four patients but they do have some help on that floor from th...

Like most folks here have said, our ratio is one nurse to two ICU patients. Open hearts are one to one for a certain length of time. On the step down telly unit, the ratio is one nurse to four patients but they do have some help on that floor from th...

After nursing school, I went straight to the ICU in the hospital my school is attached to and after just completing my first year I have given this question considerable thought. I think people keep asking this question because there are so many vari...

Hey all, I am a recent grad and have just finished up my orientation in an ICU here in the Chicago area. Down the road I hope to move out West somewhere, and Oregon is high on the list of possibilities. If anyone is interested in taking a whack at th...