esokane

hey sweetooth, are you at LGH ER? I'll be waiting for your patients to come up to IMC. I work 7a-7p, my picture is currently on the wall of nursing so if you see me introduce yourself!

Hi NECC nursing students. I graduated in 05 from NECC and have fond memories. It is a rough and stressful 2 years but well worth it. For those of you who will have Gail as a clinical instructor in Nursing 3 and 4, consider yourself fortunate. Yes she is tough and has high expectations but you will learn so much. If your doing a clinical at Lowell General look for me on IMC, I still remeber what it was like to be a student, so if I can help you I will. And by the way those blue scrub tops you now wear I'm responsible for. We had to wear blue and white striped oxfords (with out pockets) tucked in to those unflatering white pants. I went through hoops to get that changed!

On the morning of Sept 11, 2001 I left my home in NH to drive to Boston's Logan Airport to go to work as a United flight attendant. I had been a flight attendant for 15 years and it was a career I was very comfortable and happy with. There was one thing different that morning though, I had made a error in my schedule that month and instead of flying non stop on flt 175 to LA, I was flying to Denver and then on to LA. I was really not that happy about not flying my normal schedule and not being able to flying with my usual co-workers. I only had myself to blame as I had inverted the numbers on my schedule, something I had never done in 15 years. I parked my car in the employee lot and boarded the bus employee's take to the terminal. Just as the bus was pulling out of the parking lot a flight attendant came running out of the parking garage. I ask the driver to wait and this young man boarded the bus. He was also a United flight attendant and he sat next to me. His name was Robert Fangman, and he was a new flight attendant for United. He had only been flying a few months and he was so excited to go to LA. The bus had to stop at a draw bridge and a tanker needed to cross so this added an extra 15 minutes to our normal 10 minute ride. During this time I got a chance to get to know Robert and we talked about his plans for his layover in LA. I mentioned to him how he had replaced me on the flight that day and how I had made a mistake in my schedule. When we got to the airport we were running late, about ten minutes past our check in and we said a quick good bye and I mentioned how I hoped we could fly together some day. I saw my crew and they tried to convince me to bump him off the flight since I had more senority and he was late. I just couldn't do it since I knew how excited he was about going to LA. I told my crew I would see them next week and boarded my aircraft for Denver. My flight was diverted to Detroit that fateful day and when I opened the door of the aircraft the agent informed me how United had lost 2 flights. when I asked her which ones she said "93 from Newark and 175 from Boston". I dropped to my knees and cried. I had lost my crew and by all rights should have been on the flight. I spent 5 days in Detroit doing alot of sole searching and when I put my uniform on to go back home I knew the job I loved would never be the same. As people heard my story they would say "you have something important left to do here". I don't know why I was spared but I know everyday of my life since 9/11 is a bonus, and I live every day to the fullest. I never aspired to be a nurse, in fact I'm the one who had to lay down everytime I had blood drawn. The airlines down sized after 9/11 and offered leaves of absences. I decided to take one and go back to school. I knew I needed a new career and I needed a job were I would appreciate life everyday. This is where the nursing came in. I felt I needed to make a difference to others in some small way. Hence the decision to become a nurse. In May of 2005 I graduated top of my class from Northern Essex Community College with an ADN. On June 1, 2005 my leave expired with United Airlines so I returned to the friendly or not so friendly skies. I had made a promise to myself that Sept 11 would not be my last flight and that a terrorist would not keep me from doing the job that I had once loved. I also promised myself that I would complete 175 for my flying partners and do what Robert Fangman had intended to due in his memory. I also wanted to meet the Fangman family and tell them how I met Robert that day and how excited he was to be going to LA that morning and how meeting him had changed my life and how I hoped I could carry on his memory by touching the lives of others. In August I flew to LA and complete flt 175 doing all the things the crew was to do that day and 2 weeks later I met the Fangman Family. They welcomed me with open arms and we have a special relationship. In January of 2006 I took another leave from the airlines and began working as an RN on a Critical Care Floor. I love what I do! I have received several personalized thank you notes and patients and their families have come back in to see me and thank me for the care they were given. Durig nurses week this year I was given the honor of being chosen to represent my facility on the wall of nursing which represents outsanding nurses at my hospital. Friends always ask me "are you still flying" and my response is "I'm a nurse now" and "I love what I do".

Thanks for the feed back....please keep it coming. Your responses are really helping me evaluate how I can present this to management.

I have sent emails to two company's requesting info. The only problem is the info is all in their favor. I hope by putting the question out to the ones using them I can get the real pro's and con's.....like the plumbing issue, thanks for the heads up!

To clarify my question, I am using a trade name of "bath bag". I'm looking for any info on packaged clothes or wipes use for personal hygiene.

I work in an intermediate care unit and I am trying to gather information on baths bags. We have showers, but they are very seldom used as our pts are monitored and we need an MD order to take them off for showers. We use a wash bucket, soap and skin moisterizer for most of our patients. Approximatley 10% of pts are total care pts, 60% are assists, and 30% are independant. If anyone has any comments, negative or positive on using bath bags especially on the type unit I work on I would appreciate it. I would also appreciate any research data or help in finding some to help me present this to my clinical manager.

I bypassed Med/Surg and went right to a critical care step down. I have been there for 1 year this January and wouldn't change a thing. I had 6 months of precepting....unheard of at most facilities, the norm seems to be 3 months. I was also the only new grad on the floor with a staff that had a minimum of 3 years on the floor. Every one of them took me under their wing and always made time to answer my questions or show me how to do a procedure (especially the med/surg ones I didn't have experience in). I have learned something from every nurse on my floor. I have also taken on projects on my floor to increase my skill level, like being in charge of the teaching materials. This project has helped me learn as well as benefiting my patients. I continue to ask questions on things I am uncertain of and realize I have learned a lot in a year, but there is so much more for me to learn and I appreciate the time and my co-workers have spent with me. In short it can be done, but I beleive the staff, facility and traing programs that are offered have the greatest influence on the success of the new grad. Choose wisely grasshopper!!!

I'm an RN a little over a year and still remember the stress and anxiety I felt after taking the boards. Mine also stopped at 75 questions. I didn't know if I had the right answers, but I tried to make the best choices based on my prep class. Most questions I was able to narrow down to 2 answers. I passed so I guess my prep classes helped! Best of luck to you, and remember NCLEX is ivory tower nursing....not the real world!

A good place to work at Holy Family. Some floors I would recommend other area hospitals (due to staffing issues), but with surgi day care you can't go wrong. HF is not as competitive with their medical benefits as LGH or Merrimac Valley (insurance is double the price). Thats the only down fall that I can think off. Best of Luck

I graduated from NECC and there were 3 students in my graduating class who delivered while in school. They all had to make up clinical before the end of the semester, but they were able to do both. One student was able to switch from day to evenings after she had the baby for day care reasons. There are programs out there that will work with you...so don't be discouraged!

What position and what floor/unit are you interested in?