kmcourt66

Latest Activity

1. Tech Certification....what's everybody else doing

   kmcourt66 replied to Kelly_the_Great's topic in Urology

   I work in Mass. All of out tech's just took the exam (16 of them) and all but 2 passed. They said it was all patient care oriented. No calculations and such. The book they were studying out of was terrible. They said all the information they stud...

2. Buttonholing

   kmcourt66 replied to GeauxNursing's topic in Urology

   we have many successful buttonholed patients in our unit. we always have the same RN or tech establish the button hole usual takes about 3 - 6 cannulations/treatments then once established anyone can cannulate. i encourage my patients to learn abou...

3. Drawing P.T./INR on Catheter patients

   kmcourt66 replied to sueinga's topic in Urology

   In our dialysis unit we aspirate 5cc from both ports of catheter, draw any other lab we need then hook up arterial catheter let the blood run round and before hooking up venous port draw PT/INR from arterial lumen from blood line then hook them up an...

4. How big (or small) is your unit?

   kmcourt66 replied to cranky's topic in Urology

   Our unit has 24 hemodialysis chairs. We run 6 days per wk. with 4-5 RN's and 4 Techs per shift. We run 4 shifts of pt's per day. We start at 6am and close at 11pm. Busy, busy!

5. What do you *LOVE* about nursing?

   kmcourt66 replied to jollyjenny's topic in General Nursing

   I love being a nurse!! I love the challenge. I love to help my patients and families cope with their loved ones illness. I love to tell everyone I am a nurse! I love to learn something new every single day! I love my patients! If given the choice...d...

6. new dialysis nurse and lovin it!

   kmcourt66 replied to kmcourt66's topic in Urology

   Thanks DeLana...I will definately keep you in mind over the next weeks if I come across issues that I am sure will arise as time goes on. There is so much to renal/hemo dialysis. My unit has never hired a new RN grad. They want you to have 4 yrs...

7. new dialysis nurse and lovin it!

   kmcourt66 posted a topic in Urology

   Hi everyone...I am a new RN and I just finished my first week of orientation/ training with many more to come as a dialysis nurse. The unit I am working on is awesome. We are part of a hospital and we have about 125 chronic hemodialysis patients, an...

8. Nervous about Clinicals

   kmcourt66 replied to iluvcats's topic in General Students

   Being nervous is very normal. I just graduated from nursing school and recently passed my boards and right down to the last clinical I still would get some nervousness...b/c you never knew what the day would bring or what your new patient would bri...

9. Who got hired quickly after grad?

   kmcourt66 replied to kjmathews's topic in Massachusetts

   Hi...I applied for my new job about a month before I took my boards and was hired and my job was saved for me. I didnt realize that you could apply for a job before I graduated! Lucky I found that info out. Others in my graduating class did the same....

10. Need INFO

    kmcourt66 replied to MissKookai's topic in General Nursing

    Hi...I just passed my boards last week. I bought NCLEX box of flash cards and carried the box wherever I went so I could go through question after question. These are great b/c it has 3 - 4 questions on one side and the answer adn rational on the ot...

11. Let's introduce ourselves...

    kmcourt66 replied to pedi-RN's topic in New Nurse

    Hey everyone I just passed my boards last week!!!! I will be starting my new RN carreer next week as a dialysis nurse. I am so excited. I am new to this web site and after browsing around am glad i joined. There is so much support and words of ...

12. New Nurse

    kmcourt66 replied to Joesgirl's topic in General Nursing

    Hi there...Getting out into your nursing career will be the hardest part...but hang in there and go in with both eyes open! Once you have a job lined up I suggest re-reading over some of your basic nursing skills and definately utilize your training...