sunflrz321

I was in the bathroom at Chicago's Union Station when a woman was found unresponsive in a stall. A quick look under the stall revealed a needle hanging out of her arm and an empty tea light on the TP holder. We got security to pull her out (they t...

My biggest frustration with the "evaluation" process is that management everywhere seems to now be required to divide their staff up into "high performers" and "low performers," and then each group is treated VERY differently. Sometimes staff are di...

Like many of the commenters, when I first read your description, I thought this baby was going through drug withdrawals. I know a few years ago I worked at a hospital that had just started to get babies with opiate withdrawals, so they really didn't...

Many years ago I started out in peds ICU, and I LOVED it and it worked out great. It is, certainly, trial by fire. You have to commit to studying on your off days, and bringing your absolute A-game to every.single.shift. You have to basically bec...

Working at a high end day camp years ago there were lots of great names... Siblings Paris and Jet Siblings Porsche and Ferrari Working at the hospital, a girl named her baby Baebie Here's some food for thought on the subject: ...

I once got a pretty monogrammed name badge holder embroidered with my first initial (along with a very sweet note) that was a great nursing gift. There are a lot of things like this on Etsy for $6-10, though I'm sure you can find them elsewhere as w...

Like others on here, I run a low baseline temp- around 96.4-96.8. By the time my temp hits 99, I usually have chills, body aches, burning sensation behind my eyes (I don't know why, but every time I have a fever I feel that) - but I have all of the ...

University of Wisconsin Green Bay RN to BSN program looked great on paper, but they really don't care about their existing students much at all. They have massive problems securing clinicals for students, and they don't inform students of these prob...

Yes, I want to clarify as well. I wasn't suggesting you should intentionally delay discharges to avoid getting new patients. That would not be ethical. Like Jessie, I was just talking about prioritization- addressing a potentially higher acuity si...

I agree, always at least put eyes on the new patient first, just to CYA. After all, how do you know the patient is stable if you haven't even looked at him or her? The triage vitals and assessment that may have been taken two (or more) hours ago ...

I think what is lost here is that HIPAA exists to protect health information privacy- not any and all information pertaining to the individual. If you pulled up in a van that said ABC home health agency, DEF respiratory supplies, or XYZ DME company,...

I have not heard of ER nurses actually floating in either of the hospitals where I have worked. In both of the hospitals where I have worked, the ER nurses have been known to help out the IV therapy team and serve as their back-up when they have t...

The toxic negative nurses-eat-their-young culture. Basically the way we treat one another (that often stems from the way we have been treated since day 1 as a nurse, or even day 1 in nursing school for some). The way our hospitals will so often blam...

Let's see... -Rectal temps in NICU & neonates (now often avoided because it can cause perforated anus, axillary temps are done unless temp is abnormal or pt has hx of seizures) -daily baths for patients. It is the standard of care at many if not...

I was a mental health counselor before I became a nurse. They still had us narrative charting, to leave room for all of the great quotes in the documentation. There are also some crazy quotes that I have to document from parents now, when we have c...

I've never smelled death persay myself, but I would guess that experiencing the smell with the event would have to happen enough times to make the connection in your mind. I have been fortunate that I haven't had enough experiences to make such a co...

Quite honestly, I don't think I would make the decision to become a nurse if I had the chance to go back and do it all over again. Don't get me wrong. I love my job. I'm a peds nurse, and I get to laugh with the patients and families, and that can ...

Most days I really do love my job and my patients. That said, here are some things I think but won't tell my patients and their families: -Your child acts the way they do because of your parenting. No amount of medication is ever going to change th...

A few years ago I graduated from a large ADN program at my local community college. I would guess that out of everyone who started, about 50-60% of us did graduate as scheduled. We also had LPN students join our class in the 2nd year, and we would ...

One more thing that I'm sure a lot of others do too- I print out the power points in advance (3 slides per page w/ note lines on the sides, single sided) and I take my class notes on these. This way I'm not spending my time in class re-copying the p...

Good question, OP. When I started nursing school, I struggled with this SO much. I'd get an A on one test, and a C- on the next, and could never figure out why this was. As I progressed through nursing school, I got this down to a science, but not ...

Hi there. I am an RN in the Chicago-area, which is one of the most competitive areas for RN jobs in the country. I thought I would offer a few tips & tricks I've learned along the way- I've been through the job search & hire cycle twice he...

That is SO true! Right now we are in late spring and thus moving away from the season of peds respiratory cases, and into the season of irresponsible teenager cases. Recently I was getting report from ER on yet another 14yr old with a near-lethal ET...

Yes, you still do get jaded as a pediatrics nurse. But I have worked in many different areas of peds- peds psych, peds ICU, peds pulmonary, and general peds, and I can tell you that across the board, there is more hope when you work with peds, and t...

To the last poster: First of all, congrats on your outstanding GPA in nursing school. But I'm not sure if it's acceptable to put a GPA on a resume or not. If you have some sort of distinction from your GPA, such as summa cum laude, I would think it...