socalpca

I was a beach lifeguard for 14 years until I suffered a pretty bad knee injury that severely limited my ability to do my job. I'm about to finish my first year as a RN on a medical-oncology unit and I'm very happy I made the career switch. Not only d...

There are nurses on my medical-oncology floor who use clipboards and some who don't. As a new nurse(7 months), I have tried a lot of different things. Here's what I've come up with that has worked so far: -Get to work early. My shift is 1900-0730 and...

I wish I had something positive to say about where you are, but it will get worse before it gets better. The great thing is that it will get better. I've been practicing for 7 months now, and it took me 6 months to get used to being on my own and not...

Wow!! Reading this string really made me feel lucky. I only have a max of 5 patients on our floor. As a new nurse (7 months), I have a hard enough time getting out on time with the 5 patients I deal with. I could not possibly fathom taking care of 7 ...

True, but most of the unreaonable patients I care for don't know that.

The thing about nursing, or the medical field in general, is that there is no much at stake. You need to be good at what you do and you need to learn your job quickly. Some patients don't have time to wait for you to make the same mistakes over &...

Speak for yourself, lorster. Don't attempt to pull all this "we" crap. If you feel pathetic, then that's fine. I certainly don't feel that way. The MDs in my hospital would be taken out behind the woodshed for yelling at a nurse in the nurse's statio...

Patient: blah, blah, blah, some unreasonable request. Me: We will be happy to help you, but right now you have already had all the pain medication I can give you right now. If you will return to your room, we will be able to talk further when I get t...

We use Stat-Locks for PIVs as well as PICCs. While I love them for PIVs and am satisfied with how they secure PICCs, I would feel more comfortable with PICCs being sutured, especially during dressing changes. However, I don't want to rely on sutures ...

i was a pca for 4 months after failing the nclex. during that time, i learned that rn's as a rule treat the techs like dirt, but don't know it!!!! like you, the rn's on my floor are quite a bit younger than i am (i'm 33). now that i'm a rn, my time a...

Don't bother trying to learn individual drugs-- there are too many. Instead, try learning the different classes of drugs. If you learn what the SSRI's do, how they do it and what the side effects are, then you have 5-10 drugs nailed right there. Also...

I don't think Mike is over-stressed or burned out based on what he's posted. I think the only generalization he made was comparing how his OR works to the rest of the healthcare field. My unit certainly is not like that. Any healthcare professional--...

I don't know what it's like to work in the OR, but I would not take it well or calmly if someone were to yell at me in front of all. I'm not trying to attack you or the way you do your job, I'm just telling you how I am.

There is a difference between being rude to a person and yelling at them. If you yelled at a co-worker on the job in the hospital, that may be grounds for disciplinary action levied against you. I'm not saying you deserve it, I'm just telling you lik...

I hate to sound cold & heartless, but there are times when you have to take care of #1. Unless you or your friend have documented evidence of unfair or unprofessional practices on the part of the instructor, there is little to be gained for you a...

It's been my experience, albeit a brief 7 months, that almost every nurse in every specialty thinks that they have it as tough or tougher than the other nurses in other areas of the hospital. On my unit, there is quite a bit of bad-mouthing of the ER...

I don't think the healthcare industry has the monopoly on mean & arrogant people. Drive on our roads, go to a store, surf the internet...there are mean & arrogant people all over the place. I'd be interested to read what prompted you to write...

For me it's not about being a nurse, it's about being a man. As a man, I would not work at a place that forced me to wear feminine-looking clothing. It wouldn't matter what the job was.

I was hired by my hospital after I graduated from nursing school but before I took the NCLEX for the first time. I was hired under an Interim Permit(IP) and allowed to practice as a RN under this IP with the supervision of a preceptor with a valid RN...

At my hospital, doctors come in, see patients, write orders and leave. The only time I see doctors interacting with nurses is when they are complaining or asking why something did or did not happen. There is a bit of subordination that goes on betwee...

My ADN program gave us a PDA loaded with Pepid RN, SN on it. It was great, and I still use the program to this day on every shift. My co-workers are always asking me for drug references on it and it's WAAAY faster than looking it up in Mosby's or som...

I'll say an 8. I've only been a nurse for a short while, but I really like the job and I can see that I'm beginning to use critical thinking more often instead of just being "task-oriented."

Couple of questions: What does "drop ass" mean? What does "over-bedded" mean? Thanks.

I have the same questions as all the previous posters about meds and how low the BP actually got. Was the low BP taken by machine? If so did you confirm that reading with a manual reading? Did you take it on the other arm as well? Was the pt on IV fl...

I'm 33 years old, male, married 7 years and have a 1-yr old daughter. i cried the final day of my day shift orientation. My preceptor was being unprofessional and inappropriate and it was just too much for me at that time. I didn't think I would cry ...