cjcalimer

I've recently passed my boards (yay!), gotten my liscense, and started the process of applications and interviews. One question that came up that I felt like I had a lame answer for was about the differences between NPs and PAs. The practice I was in...

We discovered our last semester that our instructors has been snagging test questions from various review books on our tests all along. Makes me wish I had bought them sooner. I just took and passed my boards, and honestly I was unimpressed with thei...

Exactly this!! Also consider how much (if at all) you might want to work during the program and how flexible your work schedule is. I worked full time while working on my MSN part time because my hospital paid a good chunk of my tuition this way (don...

You need to contact your BON and consult with your lawyer about the legal implications of testing without disclosing this information.

My hospital tried to pilot something similar. We don't have a unified computer system or honestly even working faxes on every unit. So the solution was that the burden was put on the floor staff. We were given one hour from when the bed was assigned ...

Yes! One of my former preceptors was given the option to buy in to an internal medicine practice after being there for about 7 years. Another also started a visiting doctor service in collaboration with a physcian and owned a portion of that practice...

Just to add to the general consensus.... As far as the OP goes...I have no idea! Sure, we have a few patients who buckle. Luckily, PT generally works with our patients post-op afternoon/evening so generally you have a heads up that this has been occu...

My school also uses Typhon. We have to submit a calendar at the beginning of the semester and we have a site visit with our clinical faculty. I guess technically they could stop by any day we're there (we're supposed to notify them immeadiately of an...

Here's one you might not have thought of. If you're able to work and go to school, your job could very well pay for part of your tuition or at least subsidize your living and healthcare expenses. Obviously every program and employer has different pol...

It completely depends on the rationale for the procedure. If it's just to extract synovial fluid for testing (tapping the joint), then nothing is typically injected. Steroids would be contraindicated if infection was suspected. If it is for pain reli...

I've been a nurse on an Orthopaedic unit for almost 7 years on night shift. I can say how my night goes has aboslutely nothing to do with how many patients I have. I could have three patients at 7pm and be entirely overwhelmed or have 6 and be sittin...

I had an incident come up recently, but I wanted to see what you all thought. I don't remember all the specifics, but I'll give you the scenario as best I can. I had a patient who had surgery a few days prior. Some kind of Ortho surgery. The patient ...

When I interviewed at my current (and first) nursing job, my now manager briefly and individually pulled two different nurses that had recently started off the floor and and allowed us a few minutes to chat in private. This allowed me to ask them a t...

As a nurse in PA, I've always found this thinking espeically flawed. As a floor nurse, I deal with the ER patients once they came to the floor and the Psych patients before they're stabilized for Psych. While it's true that ER and Psych encounter mor...

I worked two 8's and two 12's for four years before I finally got 12's. I can say hands down I'd rather work 12's. And I think my patients get better care and I'm less stressed. When you work 8 hours you are responsible for the same amount of assessm...

The best thing to do it to check your hospitals policy on blood administration. It doesn't matter what the nurses on your floor say is correct or incorrect, it all comes down to the policy. You are responsible for knowing it and adhereing to it, espe...

Our Duramorph patients always keep their foley till 6am POD#1 (which is part of the reason we don't use it anymore). As far as voiding, our docs tends to be pretty laid back about it. I'd bladder scan at 6-8 hours unless the patient was complaining o...

We actually had a patient who faked being a para just to get a helocopter ride. He was miraculosly cured when we told him his family couldn't wheel him to the lounge in a geri chair, but that instead he needed the special tilt back wheelchair with th...

Our situation is a little different as our Ortho unit is actually comprised of 4 individual units all managed/staffed by the same people. Two of our units open and close with patient flow. One 18 bed unit is typically open Mon-Fri (sometimes Saturday...

We are a large, level one trauma, inter-city university hospital (I think like 800 beds??). Our hospital has a first call policy, meaning you must take report on the first call. There is no grace period given for change of shift. I know this is done ...

On our unmonitored unit, we generally don't give IV pain meds (never push and most patients come back from the OR with a PCA which is then D/Ced). Once a patient is converted to PO meds, any IV meds ordered would be considered for breakthrough only o...

It's important to know your hospitals policies and your doctors protocols. Do foleys and PCAs have to be D/Ced at a certain time? How often do you need vitals and I/O's? What sort of documentation do you need to do? For a lot of new grads the biggest...

Our docs feel that lovenox causes increased serous drainage from the wound and will NEVER (almost) use it. We use coumadin exclusively per a dosing protocol based on INR with the goal being 1.5-2.0. If the INR goes over 2.0, coumadin is held. A few d...

I started Ortho fresh out of nursing school a year and a half ago and I love it. As a new nurse, it was nice not to be dealing with life and death issues on a regular basis. As far as experience, what you learn is pretty specialized. I can say I've l...

Our standard joint care plan covers 7 areas. I'll just list you out what it looks like Pain Management - Pt will verbalize tolerable level or pain on oral pain meds and be discharged on these medications to home/rehab Mobility - Pt will demonstrate p...