Nakia

That's funny cause I had a pt. in the same situation and he also had a K rider and insulin drip. I asked one of the more experienced nurses and he said no. Talked to the pharmacist and she said she had no info and not to do it. Apparently if there's no info it hasn't been studied thoroughly so if you do piggyback them, then it's your liscense you have to think about. I didn't chance it, but I could start another line. You have to just really advocate for your pt. and get the central line placed. You wont do your pts. any good if you don't have a lisense to practice with.

How about 1L NS IV push!!! Who is gonna stand there and push a L of NS???

I apllied to just about every hospital in the area. Sunrise, Desert Springs, St. Rose, Spring Mountain, Valley View. I did do my research and got the scoop on where I should and shouldn't work. Their pay is about the same with the same benefits plus their all private hospitals. Yea UMC gets talked about and dragged through the mud, but I LOVE UMC. It's a teaching hospital so you learn a lot, the people who work here are great and the benefits are excellent. As a new grad it was hard because you have to wait till their website offers new grad positions. It will actually say New Graduate. I know for the ER they only had 3 open positions and a lot of people interviewing so. Just apply and see what happens.

I work at UMC and they start New Grads off at 23 something. If you work nights then it's 25 something, but UMC doesn't pay all the taxes because we are a county hospital. So we actually take home more than other new grad working the same hours. I love UMC. First it is a teaching hospital so everyone is willing to help you learn. UMC also offers New Grad programs in almost every area. Depending on the specialty its 3-6 months and they will send you to special classes. You get paired with a mentor and they train you and evaluate you. Plus they pay 19.75% of your base pay into retirement, in addition you can put your own money into a 451K if you want more retirement money. It's really a great place to work.

I work at UMC and the starting rate is 23. Employees at UMC actually make more because the only taxes we have to pay is FICA and medicaid. I can work the same amt of hours as an emplyee at St. Rose and actually make more money because we don't have all the taxes.

No USN hasn't graduated the first class yet, but I know people in the program and they love it. USN is a pass/fail nursing school. If you take a test and score below a 90% you get two chances to remediate. That's where the teacher takes everyone who failed aside, give them extra lesson and you study more and retake a revised test. That mean anything you don't understand the first time you get a chance to study to make sure you understand the material. When you graduate, everyone will graduate with a 4.0. So it's not competitive and all the students get together to help each other. It's set up so you have your classroom time and learn your skills, and after you have learned about an area and gone over a skill for an are, you have clinicals. Then you go on to the next area with the textbook info and skills, then you do your clinical. So 4-8 weeks of in class learning and 3 weeks of clinical. I think the first class will have no problem at all passing the NCLEX. They all take an ATI test which if you pass then there is a 99% chance you'll pass the NCLEX. I took the ATI and passed and I passed the NCLEX.

USN is expensive because it is a private institution. Dee is right they haven't graduated a class yet so they have no statistics to report. USN was only a pharmacy school, and they decided to expand and add a nursing program. The Dean, Dr. Mable Smith started the program from scratch and the first class started in April or May of last year so it is a new program. The way they set up the program is great if you are trying to get into grad school or just want a good GPA. You have your classroom training and your tests, but all tests have to be passed with a 90%. If you don't pass you get 2 chances for remediation in which they basically tutor you on the material and you take the test again. That way everyone who graduates from USN has a 4.0. It's basically pass fail but they don't leave you out to dry. Feel free to ask Dr. Smith all the questions you want, she may seem intimidating at first but she is very nice. She is a lawyer, professor, nurse, and is in the airforce reserve. She has written a lot of articles for nursing journals and has published her own textbook on nursing law.