LilDKessler

I must say that I am shocked & saddened over the anger & resentment in this post. I am currently 5 weeks pregnant and while I've had 2 miscarriages in the past, I would not have lifted anything I felt uncomfortable with during the 1st, but especially not now. I think that pregnancy is a time in a woman's life where we should take extra good care of ourselves & not overdo anything, including lifting, as everything we do to our bodies has an effect on the growing child within. While there may be no direct relationship between lifting & miscarriage, why in heck would you want her to risk her unborn child? Regardless if she is 5 weeks or 35 weeks, she is still 100% pregnant. There is no such thing as a "little pregnant" & I don't feel there is ever reason to put a pregnancy at risk. It's just called common curtosy & looking out for each other. Now, in defense of her co-workers (& mine as well), I will not lift anything over 25 lbs & will not get a post-surgical pt up for the 1st time by myself, but anything else I fully expect to continue. I'm sure that my co-workers would tell you that I will take on extra workloads that don't require lifting over 25 lbs in order to help make up for my "laziness" as someone put it. JMHO.:angryfire

I've been out 2 years this week & have "DUH" moments daily. I think NS killed some of my brain cells. LOL

In NS I always highlighted notes in my book, then typed them in outline format & read over & over & over the notes I had typed. However, for A&P this did not work for me. Instead, I bought an A&P coloring book & actually colored the pictures. Somehow coloring them helped me remember the different areas & what they were called. I also took handouts the instructor gave us, made a copy then blanked out the names of the items. I made several copies of this blank version & tested myself over & over again on being able to label the parts. Thankfully I have a extremely supportive hubby who was great at quizzing me almost nightly. He would take my class notes & ask me questions from them until I got it right. Good luck & I hope this helps!

To clear a little bit of confusion, I work in a military facility, not a civilian hospital & the incident did not happen in an in-patient region of the hospital, but in an administrative area. I work in an out-patient region of the hospital & this event happened down the hall from us. Our crash carts do not carry epi in any form, but I really don't expect it to carry the pens. Pharmacy was able to inspect my epi pen for expiration & lot number information. I also brought in a copy of the label from the box itself with the Rx info on it so they could see all the info on the script itself. For the poster who wasn't sure how the pens work, there is a rubber stopper covering the needle end of the pen. To give, you hold the rubber piece firmly against the thigh, arm, etc until you hear a click (this is the needle coming down into the tissue) then hold in position for 10 seconds. There is a standard dosage for epi pens & a standard method of administration. Basically, there aren't many ways to mess it up. ) The pharmacist had told the pt to remove the rubber stopped then admin like you would a normal IM injection. If you remove the rubber stopper the needle will not engage, that is why it malfunctioned. Hope this helps clear eveything up & thank you all for your responses.

Sorry in advance for the long post, but you need to know the events preceeding. Two days ago we had a Code Blue in our area & pt needed epi SQ. Myself & a fellow nurse were the first to respond. Our carts don't stock epi (a whole other issue!:angryfire) so the responding team had to go to an PACU area about 500 feet or so from us to get 2 vials to administer. Pt transferred to the ER with no further incidence. It was commented by several nurses that responded for the code that epi should be on inventory for crash carts. Yesterday, we had another Code Blue. Once again, I was the first responder. Pt could not get her epi pens to work. Those around her had tried 2 different pens. Attending ER doc comes up & pt is wheezing loudly by this point & on O2. I advised that epi pen malfunctioned & he ordered someone to head to omnicell for dosage. I told doc that I carry one in my purse & asked if he wanted it. I was told to get it asap. Ran back to desk, got pen, returned & adminstered epi per order. Six minutes after I injected epi, the new Officer for pharmacy comes in with epi vials. She was told pt had already received epi & to return med to omnicell. Officer demanded to know how epi was obtained & I told her it was my personal epi pen. She was furious to say the least & has threatened to write me up for the incident. To make a very long story a little shorter, turns out that the pt was seen in ER by same doc day before for reaction & rx'd epi then. Pharmacy here filled with above mentioned Officer actually instructing pt on using epi pens. Officer gave the pt the wrong instructions for use & that is why the pens malfunctioned!! Had the pt been at home, she would have died. When the doc found out that pharmacy was having a fit, he said in so many words that they could kiss all of our ****. Pt was sitting there & heard the entire discussion which is how we discovered she'd been given wrong instructions. Today, I went down to pharmacy to turn in our order list for tomorrow's surgeries & was asked by a friend in there what happened yesterday with me giving my pen to the pt, he had heard about from the Officer who apparently returned to her unit talking about me.:angryfire I feel like I did the right thing & would do it again today if the need arises. Granted, if it were any other, non-emergent issue, I would never give out personal med, but it is standard dosage with standard self-admin system. I don't feel like I am in the wrong. Should I file a variance on the Officer for giving the pt incorrect instructions that could have cost her life? BTW, pt sent me a fruit basket taking with note that says "Thanks for saving my life." I cried. Thanks & sorry again for the long post.

There are some really good threads in the student nursing section. Try looking in there for "charting". I just read some great examples yesterday so I know there are recent ones available. Good luck & keep your chin up, it gets easier with time.

I currently am LPN and have been out for 2 years now. I've just started the process of applying with Excelsior College for the ADN program. It is self-paced so I am guessing about 2 years so that I don't have to miss out on much family life. Plus we are trying to conceive, as I have 2 step-sons & none of my own (yet). I am not interested in going further at this point because I want to stay at bedside & don't want to teach/manage. That is unless I decide to do midwifery. I'd love to be in L&D or Peds, so that part is still in the air.

Check out cafepress.com They have lots of funny designs for the medical field.

I took as many practice tests as I possibly could, studied/reviewed a different body system each week and had my husband quiz me from my class notes that I'd kept since school had started. Our school also provided a free review class that lasted 2 weekends, all day. The teachers were great giving up case studies, silly ways to remember things & test taking pointers. Good luck & God bless. :balloons:

I was in a very similiar situation when I was in school. The problem was with our group is the ones mainly asking for the notes were the ones that would not read the text & wanted to study only off my notes. They wanted to basically get a free ride on the hours it would take me to type them all out. Those people I did not give a copy to, I would just tell them that I did not want to be responsible for them having incorrect information if I had made any errors (which I knew I had double checked everything). Later on in the program when the people that would not study on their own were weeded out, I would allow the 15 or so left make a copy of the notes if they asked. Some of the other girls would make study guides for each unit & pass them out to us all & there were times that I would do that with some of my notes, especially on the units where there was a great volume of info. Hope this helps some.

I remember in school learning about a condition where a "troll" type growth is found in a woman's uterus. After removal of this growth, women need to prevent pregnancy for 1 year due to increased risk of cancer. Yesterday in our day surgery area we came across a case that I believe is the same thing, yet the Dr. called it a dermatome. If I remember correctly it was something like a hydriform mole. Am I way off base & confusing different things, or do I actually remember this correctly. Thanks for letting me pick your brains a little. LilDKessler

I have Meniere's disease with some hearing loss in the right ear. They do make some stethoscopes that are designed for those of us that are hard of hearing. Thankfully I have not had to get one yet, but having a ventilation tube in the right ear does make it more sensitive to sound. Good luck & I will keep you in my prayers.

If you are in the Beaufort / Bluffton area, Technical College of the Low Country has a good 2 year RN program (ADN). It is better to go that route if possible instead of wishing you'd put a little more time in than the LPN & then figuring out a way to go back. I'm working on that now, the ADN, & I graduated with my LPN in October 2005. Wish I had known about the other program when I did mine. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I am a contracted nurse for the Navy, taking care of soldiers and their dependents. I absolutely LOVE what I do. Besides the fact I am helping to take care of our nation's bravest members, I just love to help take care of people. There's a picture of me when I was about 2 years old & I was taking a BP on one of my uncles from my doctor kit. It is not WHAT I do for a living, it is WHO I am inside. There is nothing I love more than being able to make an impact on the lives of others around me. The day I stop caring is the day I quit nursing.

I have a problem. A RN that I work with is getting out of the Navy in 41 days. (We both work at a military hospital) Since I have been here for the last 5 months, all she does is complain, about EVERYTHING! She is just a miserable person who gives poor care, she's very loud, very rude to patients & I'm tired of hearing all her negativity. She sits right next to me at the station & there are only 3 of us in our unit, so I can't avoid her. It's gotten worse as she gets closer to getting out of service. She talks about everyone in our neighboring units behind their backs & also about the other nurse in our unit, who is incredibly sweet! I'm just so tired of hearing constant negativity all day long that it makes me not want to be at a job I love doing. Please help me find a way to professionally tell her to shut up or complain to someone else. I can't take 41 more days of this. :angryfire