NurseShell

WOO HOO!!! You go!! For the record - I remember my nurses' names from all three of my births!! Lucy, Leslie, and Polly Lucy had really long beautiful hair and she was so sweet to me!! She held my long hair back while I "hurled" and held my hand when I was being wheeled in for an emer. c-section. Leslie figured out that I knew "some stuff" about L&D and didn't "dumb down" her communications with me. She was really nice to my hubby who was nasty to her (jerk). Polly saved me from certain "suffering" by figuring out that my youngest was "caught" and a simple position change 'fixed" everything!! (The MD was just sitting there watching, no comments, nuthin' - he said about 5 words - he wasn't my usual doc) She was awesome!!! Therefore, I hope to leave an impression - a good one - on my patients in the future!!! Since I know there's a chance they will remember my name

Here's what we did - we itemize, and this only applies to those that itemize on their taxes: Anything that you HAVE to buy for school is a write-off uniforms stethoscope shoes tools, whatever CPR class AND if you buy REQUIRED textbooks at your campus bookstore those are a write-off too. Of course you must have receipts for this!!

We had a girl first semester that was caught "cheating" and she was asked to leave!!! Good riddance!! This stuff is too important to cheat!!!

I just thought of something else...when my classmates ask me questions - the kinds of questions they should figure out for themselves...I get irritated with them...SO, I bet that if I ever have a student assigned to me who is "lazy" about doing their research, or just lacks the ability to remember what I already told them I will probably get short with them - just like I do my kids...grrrr....well, let's just hope that between now and then I gain the knowledge and wisdom necessary to tactfully redirect their thinking processes p.s. this is not directed at the original poster...I was just thinking about the situation and thought of this scenario...no finger pointing here

I am also a student...we have identified the few nurses on our floor who are NASTY to students and they are just not assigned any students. One in particular is down right HORRID...calls names, degrades, etc (she, incidentally was actually written up for her behavior). The majority of nurses I've encountered are GRATEFUL for the help and willing to teach (so a certain extent). I find that if I have done my homework and know going into the day what is "wrong" with my patient, etc...they are much more willing to help. I also carry a little notebook in my pocket and if they give me a nugget of wisdom - I write that sucker down immediately (and give them credit too! so I remember where I leared that tidbit in the future). Along the same lines...if you have a great RN - tell her you appreciated her time and thank her before you leave AND let your instructor Know that Nurse so and so was great to work with - maybe her supervisor will hear it too?? Just a thought.

This makes perfectly good sense to me!! As far as I know the other depts. charge for each item/service (I used to do billing for the cardiology/neurology dept at a local hosp.) I assume patients are charged for the equipment (i.e. cath kit) so since it doesn't sit on their table for looks there should be a charge for it's insertion, care, etc! Right?! When acuity is calculated perhaps the "nursing charge" should coincide? Just a thought...

I did a search for laws about impersonating a nurse and got a ton of hits about child abductions. That's just great...apparently a lot of people who take kids dress up to look like nurses to do it Still looking for the actually wording of the law though

I write what I did that day...I work what I did all day into my care plans...it works wonderfully!!

The way we "get around" the medical diagnosis thing is by "specifying" our nursing diagnosis - using parentheses. So it would look like this: Imbalanced nutrituion: less than body requirement. R/T inability to ingest, digest, or absorb nutrients due to biological factors (nausea, vomiting, decreased gastric motility) AEB abdominal pain, diarrhea I know that's not exaclty it, but I hope it helps...last semester I wasn't using the specifications b/c they didn't say we could...now I have a teacher who is upset if we don't "personalize" the ND to each patient.

Oh yes??! Do tell...I've heard some awful rumors about having to sign contracts and stuff...what's the deal?!?!?!

I am a current student, does that count? How about the male student who claims to be a resp. therapist yet know absolutely NOTHING!! Sucks at clinicals and drives everyone batty?!?! He rants on and on about "I failed that test" while all of us are crossing our fingers that he really did fail...then, he claims that his clinical instructor is "a bytch who is deliberately trying to make him fail" - did I mention that he walks in about 20 min late to every lecture???!! Oh, can't forget that he has a pony tail about 3X as long as mine!! OH!! Then there are the truly stupid questions!!! From various students...for example: (when dicussing patient positioning) "Excuse me, but, when you say 'left side-lying' do you mean placing the patient on their left side?" OMG?!?!?! - (when discussing dosage calculations) "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by 'available'." WTF?!?! I have more, but I also have about 120 pages of med/surg to read!! YUCK!!

Sounds like he deserved it!! Good for you for calling him on it!! I almost (chickened out) wrote up an ER doc that did a quick "consult" on my stepdaughter once. She and my hubby were in an accident and they brought her in (she was7 at the time) as a trauma to r/o internal injury from the lap belt. This particular doc is not a favorite of mine to begin with - he comes over does a REALLY minimal abdominal palpation and we got a bill for about $3,000 for his "consult" WTF??? I was so angry I wanted to scream!! Our insurance paid for it, but damn!! I've since heard several nurses say "if I am ever in an emergency situation and that dr. is on - let me die" he's THAT bad!!! Good for you for writing his sorry butt up!!

Hey Panda!! LOVE your avatar!!! "I am NOT a pickle...I'm a cucumber!" Larry the Cucumber

I've read all the posts - so please, explain to me why in our postop lecture today we were told to NEVER EVER drain more than 800cc's MAX at a time (earlier in this thread I read 1000)?????? I understand the whole bladder spasm thing BUT...if I'm retaining upwards of 2000cc's taking a mere 800 off isn't going to make me feel better....what's up with this?

after my second child was born VBAC I was told to call for help if I needed to pee (epidural, etc). He was born at 0130 and I was in my room by 0430 (not sure how many bags of L/R I'd had, but It was plenty). At about 0600 I had to GO, so I hit the call light. That "voice" says "can I help you?" I said "Yeah, I need to use the bathroom" she says "I'll get your nurse." 15 minutes goes by...no nurse. So I ring again, again she says she'll tell my nurse this time 10 minutes goes by, no nurse...i hit the button again and yelled "If you dont' get someone here in 2 seconds I'm going by myself.!!!" I heard running feet all the way down the hall...I overflowed the "hat" and then filled it halfway again...can't remember for the life of me what that totals - I hurt so bad by the time she came in I was in tears...I shoulda just wet the bed and made them clean it up...by the way my "nurse" was on a smoke break and the desk clerk helped me to the bathroom.

OOOOO that sounds fun! As long as I've got a Poise to catch little drips I can hold it for a LONG TIME...only if it's for a good cause of course! I HAD to hold it not long ago because I was stuck in traffic - OUCHY! Talk about bladder spasms when I finally went and went and went and went and went...it hurt!! And kept hurting for a while afterwards...thank God for 800mg motrin!!!!

You have to use the hierarchy!!! ABCs FIRST!! This bit me in the orifice on the first couple tests...I was thinking like you..head injury...ummm...check pupils!! but they want you to use the hierarchy in everything.

We have a "how to take nusing tests" tutorial in our computer lab. Before the last test (pre final) last semester I checked it out! I am SO GLAD I did!! Here's the jist of it: There are 4 Critical elements to every questions and you need to ID them before you can answer. ISSUE - primary problem the question asks about CLIENT - person who is focus of the stem of the question (this is not always the patient, so pay attention) KEY WORDS - most important words like "best" "most likely", etc STEM - asks to solve the problem presented ** The stem can either ask for a TRUE statement or a FALSE statement (ex: which would you NOT do is a "false" stem) So after ID your parts you can eliminate any answers that don't agree with the STEM...if it's a TRUE stem you can eliminate any answers that are "false" if you can write on your test you might want to put "+" and "-" next to each choice. That usually eliminates at least one choice. Once you've done that you can restate the question in your own words if that helps you. Eliminate any choices which contain NEW INFO!! If the choice contains additional info about the situation that is NOT in the original question, eliminate it. IF that hasn't "ID'd" your answer there are 3 strategies that might help (these are my favorite and the SAVED MY BUTT): #1 Look for "global response" answers. General/comprehensive statement which may include correct ideas from other choices. These are usually choices in questions that ask for "general", "overall" or "best nursing approach" questions. for example if one choice mentions taking vitals and another specifies Temp and BP then the vitals one would be right because it includes T & BP #2 Eliminate similar "distractors" - if 3 out of 4 choices mention skin integrity - they are probably not the right answer - sometimes they are written to be sneaky - they might mention "skin moisture" in one and "apply lotion" in another but both are about skin integrity. #3 Look for similar words in choices from the question. If the question mentions a specific disease process the choice that also mentions the disease process may be the correct answer. ALSO!!!!! Don't forget to look at choices in respect to Maslow's Hierarchy!!!!! ABCs FIRST!!! Then: nutrition, elimination, maintenance of physical integrity and equilibrium, sleep. Patient teaching/learning questions - the correct answer is often realted to the patient's motivation. PHEW I hope that helps!! I seriously got about 4 more questions correct on the test I took right after this tutorial because I used the strategies!! Good luck to EVERYONE! WE CAN DO THIS!! Shelly =)

BEST: Earning the highest evaluation score in our group and being told that "great things will be expected" from me in the future. Hearing from a patient at the end of the day "you can't leave! Who'll take care of me?!?!" And from the RN I was assigned to that day "Thank you so much! When do you come here again?" WORST: Messing up on a skills test (evaluated by a student that is farther in the program) and being "failed" only to find out that what I was "failed" for is NOT necessarily how the skill is done in the "real world! By the way, I cried all the way home after failing!

I'm still in school, but I have to totally agree with the sputum, mucus thing - ick! I can't even watch my husband spit when he brushes his teeth!! Ostomy bag contents aren't much fun either! I'm sure as I progress in my career my experiences will hone down my "disgusts"...I cringe everytime our textbook says "describe x, y, z and odor" for whatever topic we are studying - ewwwww! Anything but smell!!!! ugh!