momof2RN

First of all, don't get discouraged. Nursing is hard and it takes time to feel comfortable, especially as a student. Things will get better. I know how you feel, I went straight into ICU after graduation, though I had teched there while in school. It's totally different to have the responsibility completely on your shoulders. You can't go find the "real nurse" because that's you. Keep a positive attitude. Good Luck!

In my unit all IABP's are 1:1 although some are stable enough to be paired with another pt.

$3.00/hr -full patient load on all shifts (ICU)

I work in a 16 bed ICU and we have the bath battle all the time. We have no aids in our unit. I work nights and we usually bathe all the vented pts., and usually bathe at least one pt. per nurse. If 7 nurses- we try to give 7 baths. However, this apparently is not enough for day shift. They complain to our unit manager all the time; she finally had a unit meeting and informed us that nights would do all baths, all dressing changes, all IV tubing changes in addition to everything we already do like 24 hr chart checks, am lab draws, am CXR, and regular pt. care. Of course she had a night shift mutiny on her hands after this announcement. Not to mention that at the time we were already short staffed on nights anyway. To compound it even more she told us it was corporate policy. Well one night we called a sister hospital and asked their ICU nurses what their policy was. There isn't one. So, she flat out lied to us. Anyway this didn't last long. We're back to one bath per nurse. If someone has 2 awake, alert patients who refuse baths they usually help someone else do an extra bath.

In our ICU we y-site them together all the time. They are compatible according to every drug book I've looked in.

Hi, I've had two kids since I started working noc's five years ago. After my daughter was born, I tried the sleep when she sleeps thing. It was horrible for both of us. When I got home I would sit and wait for her to fall asleep so I could nap- I think it was the longest stretch she had ever stayed awake (she was 12 wks old). I quickly decided that a tired and miserable mom equals a tired and miserable baby. It wasn't fair to her or me, so I ended up finding someone to watch her on Mondays and Fridays so I could sleep. Luckily, I work weekend option so my husband has the kids Sat. and Sun. Good luck! You'll find out what works for you.

My worst experience was in PACU following c/s delivery of my first baby. I had been there for 10 minutes or so when my epidural started to alarm. The nurse came to check it and said that apparently it had been programmed wrong and he would have to page anesthesia to come over and fix it. A few minutes later the nurse came back and told me that it would be a little while before anyone could get over because they had all gone to lunch. In the meantime I was in excruciating pain due to a nonfunctioning epidural. I tell the nurse this and he assures me that he'll get some morphine to hold me over. He comes back with the morphine and pushes it as fast as he could into a wide open IV. Within about 30 seconds I begin having chest pain and feeling like I couldn't breathe. He then comes back wanting to know what is wrong. I told him I didn't know. About that time the CRNA comes walking in and asks the nurse what happened. He turns around and tells him that he had just given me 10mg of morphine. 10mg fast ivp into a wide open line! No wonder I felt like I was dying. My best esperience was the birth of my second child. It was also a c/s but my care on the post-partum unit was absolutely wonderful.

I would give notice and then get the heck out of Dodge.

I went the ADN route and have never regretted it. After a two year break from school, I went back and completed my BSN totally online. My employer also paid for my BSN, so it was a win-win situation for me. I worked full-time (and had a newborn and toddler) while completing the program and never really had much problem. Luckily, I also have a fabulous husband who supported me every step of the way. Good luck with whatever you decide on.