Ashera

For me - my foot - Skechers - I've got a narrow foot and these fit. But the MOST important thing, in spite of these shoes are my socks. THORLO - they have this incredible Isotoner-type supportive fit - My feet feel fantastic at the end of the day and I wear nothing else. A bit pricey at $11-13 a pair - but they last years! My Skechers too!

No matter what the shoe - I swear by THORLO socks - I choose the 'walking' crew, but they have a low profile one as well - they 'hug' your arch/instep and offer the best cushion on the heel and ball of your foot. They last forever. For flat feet - or 12 hr shifts on any type foot - they can't be beat. Promise! Do a google search - Ebay has sellers as well as a few of the sport stores. I've tried other brands - but nothing compares.

Real Life Nursing - So NOT school!

Hi Georgia - I've just spent two weeks exploring MN and WI for relocation as well as job ops. I'm an LVN from Texas and am moving to the cold! You may have already done so but the following sites have lots of ideas: Job Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed.com Job Search Made Simple | Simply Hired Hospital Jobs and Healthcare Job Search - Search Medical, Physician, Administrative, and Lab Technician hospital jobs. HOSPITAL AND HEALTHCARE JOB OPENINGS *(for some reason, Dallas zip etc in inserted in above links - just change your search info) and sometimes even Craigs List. I don't really like Monster - it's slow and only lists specific jobs that have been placed on their board. The others, especially Simply Hired - have several search options - where you can enter a zip, an area, a state with miles from...location. Be sure to try several different key words. You will be surprised at the different return you get by typing: LPN Licensed Practical Licensed Practical Nurse LPN/LVN and definitely try just 'nurse' With just nurse... you'll get returns that want either an RN or...an LPN - Good luck! Wisconsin is gorgeous!

I would not forget to stress - big-time - that patients NEVER, EVER read the textbooks and therefore have no earthly idea how they are supposed to present with S/S when they are sick, just to match what you learned in the classroom. because you learned to do something a particular way. They will not fit into any box, not be "average" and "normal" is just on your dryer. You will NEVER, EVER have the same type of patient twice. And it's not one-size-fits all. A nurse MUST see each and every patient as a unique individual and assess that person as one of a kind. Nursing is never black and white, where just because a pt last week had the same admitting dx, it will have all the variations possible because this new pt is an individual. So many factors come into real life once out of the textbook. An exam question may have "best" right answer, or you can choose between A, B, C, D, or all of the above. You will quickly learn all the other letters of the alphabet as possible solutions to a question. Nursing is never boring if you can look at it this way.

Hi Everyone - Just checked back on this thread and congrats to all who passed. Oh yes, I was blown out of my seat as well. I remember the questions - or some of them - being so far out of left field, they orbited around and were coming in from the right. I don't know who thinks up some of these questions. Studying seemed to do me no good as the damn test did not know what questions to ask anyway! I kept wanting to scream "wait" what about ______???? or ______???? Frustrating - Strangely - I made THE EXACT SAME GRADE as did 4 or 5 years ago - 86% - But the nice thing is, my grade was instant and I had a nice little pic of a very tired me on the printout! Anyway - glad you guys did OK - and....sigh....we've got another 4 years before all this fun happens again -

The Commuter is absolutely right on the above post. The DFW - Group One site only listed what I posted. However, I have also found that many nursing agencies in the DFW area also subscribe to this service. Was told by a Maxim rep that they used this site and it was even commented that often they ran across potential nurses that were listed....but, he assured me that those nurses could counter any erroneous info on the site by hiring a lawyer. He also admitted that he'd heard others say that Group One was a bad deal. This list was just to make it a little easier to see how many facilities etc are part of this out-of-control group. I'm sure they are growing everyday - aka making money...

Hmmmm...might send this in a totally different direction here. Earlier comments all pretty good. OP has good query as to her responsibility - and I agree needs to further explore the order, the responsibility, etc... A 'bowel program' used for a quad or para is very common - and 'usually' involves a set schedule of a pre-suppository, a dig-stim, and then a bowel movement. Most pts need assistance. However, I'm commenting on the above situation. A comment made by a man in respite care to his nurse about his wife doing a dig-stim at home for 45 minutes - I'm going to bet the farm it was not done for "therapeutic" reasons. AKA prostate milking? Whatever works. Been in those positions too where the pt really "needed" this dig-stim several times a day because his "doctor" told him it was necessary. Asked any nurse he saw - CNA's as well. No wonder his wife needed respite....

the following is posted on the dallas fort worth hospital councils website of those members who use group one to screen prospective employees. dfwhc | home hospital members 1. baylor health care system 2. baylor all saints medical center at fort worth 3. baylor jack and jane hamilton heart and vascular hospital 4. baylor institute for rehabilitation 5. baylor medical center at carrollton 6. baylor medical center at frisco 7. baylor medical center at garland 8. baylor medical center at irving 9. baylor medical center at southwest fort worth 10. baylor medical center of waxahache 11. baylor regional medical center at grapevine 12. baylor regional medical center at plano 13. baylor specialty hospital 14. baylor university medical center 15. the heart hospital baylor plano 16. centennial medical center 17. children's medical center of dallas 18. cook children's medical center 19. dallas regional medical center 20. denton regional medical center 21. doctors hospital at white rock lake 22. east texas medical center athens 23. ennis regional medical center 24. glen rose medical center 25. hca - north texas division 26. huguley memorial medical center 27. hunt regional community hospital 28. hunt regional medical center 29. jps health network 30. kindred hospital-dallas 31. lake pointe medical center 32. las colinas medical center 33. mary shiels hospital 34. medical center of arlington 35. medical center of lewisville 36. medical center of mckinney 37. medical center of plano 38. medical city dallas hospital 39. methodist health system 40. methodist charlton medical center 41. methodist dallas medical center 42. methodist mansfield medical center 43. methodist richardson medical center 44. navarro regional hospital 45. north hills hospital 46. palo pinto general hospital 47. parkland health & hospital system 48. plaza medical center of fort worth 49. tenet health system regional office 50. texas health resources 51. texas health arlington memorial hospital 52. texas health harris methodist hospital azle 53. texas health harris methodist hospital cleburne 54. texas health harris methodist hospital fort worth 55. texas health harris methodist hospital hurst-euless-bedford 56. texas health harris methodist hospital southwest fort worth 57. texas health harris methodist hospital stephenville 58. texas health presbyterian hospital allen 59. texas health presbyterian hospital dallas 60. texas health presbyterian hospital denton 61. texas health presbyterian hospital flower mound 62. texas health presbyterian hospital kaufman 63. texas health presbyterian hospital plano 64. texas health presbyterian hospital winnsboro 65. texas health specialty hospital 66. texas hospital for advanced medicine 67. texas scottish rite hospital for children 68. titus regional medical center 69. trinity mother frances health system 70. ut southwestern university hospitals 71. va north texas health care system 72. weatherford regional medical center 73. wilson n. jones medical center associate members 1. animato 2. ati enterprises, inc. 3. balfour beatty construction 4. bkd, llp 5. boka powell 6. campbell wilson, llp 7. cantey hanger llp 8. careerbuilder.com 9. careflite 10. carter blood care 11. chronic disease fund 12. clinical one 13. concorde career institute 14. cynergistek, inc. 15. dallas-fort worth business group on health 16. dallas regional chamber 17. deloitte 18. ernst & young llp 19. esi 20. freedom profit recovery 21. fulbright & jaworski, llp 22. ghn-online 23. grace to you healthcare services, inc. 24. gruber, hurst johansen and hail, llp 25. hammes company 26. hcca international 27. health care reit 28. health industry council 29. home healthcare partners 30. intersystems corporation 31. kaplan college 32. konica minolta business solutions 33. lifewatch 34. linbeck group lp 35. littler mendelson, p.c. 36. madd north texas 37. marsh usa 38. mcgriff, seibels & williams 39. medassets 40. medical living magazine 41. medsynergies, inc. 42. medsys group consulting 43. medvance institute 44. metromark market research, inc. 45. milburn partners 46. north central texas trauma regional advisory council (ncttrac) 47. nursesnow international 48. perot systems 49. pinnacle partners in medicine 50. pricewaterhousecoopers, llp 51. priority power management 52. propath 53. raytheon professional services llc 54. right management consultants 55. rogers-o'brien construction company, ltd. 56. sanofi-aventis 57. southwest transplant alliance 58. sterling barnett little, inc. 59. stewart stimmel llp 60. strasburger & price llp 61. sullivan cotter 62. texas woman's university - health sciences institute 63. thomas group 64. trane commercial systems 65. visiting nurse association of texas 66. willis of texas 67. winstead pc

DFWHC | Hospital Members Lists all the hospitals that are "members"

Just an outstanding letter - and I wish you nothing but the absolute best! You...will be the kind of nurse, or "candystriper", or aid or....friend...I'd want to work with any time - and the kind of compassionate - "real" human being I'd have no trouble with caring for me from the other side of the bed. We are...at the end of most days...just humans - and thank god we all come in so many different flavors. It's just life... Wait til you have a known target/issue rather than all this scattershot "what-ifs?" After you have a recognized problem...then, just put your big-person panties on and deal with it!:) Nursing isn't for babies - any area of it - not always user friendly. But...is life? Truly...warmest wishes... Just....Nike it!

Sent you a PM -

Mucous-y, gray-tinged slime from trachs - the smell of old teeth, dirty mouths in geri's refusing mouth care from aides, nurses or family members and the dentures they pull out - smells like nothing else not big on gangrene either

Imbri - thanks ever so for the kind reply. No...not in NM yet - love sometimes comes with challenges :) - not bad but logistically speaking. Read your other posts - my reply to your ? about nurse/pt ratios - that being 45 pts...RUN.....VERY FAST AWAY - NO...amount of experience makes that a safe situation. And the overwhelming, panic feeling you had was right-on - whether you are a newbie or 10 years down your road. Something terribly broken in that atmosphere and alas - that is more normal than you think. I call it assembly-line med toss - with hopes it lands in the right mouth. Bad deal all around - mostly for the pts. I'm still looking at all options but might be waiting til it warms just a bit. Moves are not easy at any time of year - but this winter has been difficult everywhere - Best of luck to you on your further study - if you go that way - and on what you do in the meantime. Keep me/us posted!

Along with being a Certified Hospice & Palliative Licensed Nurse - and in Texas right now - I've been doing agency nursing and contract nursing in various settings, mostly hospitals, in San Antonio, Austin for several years. Background most all depts in hospital - except L/D, Newborn - and agency work in various LTC's. I'm moving to New Mexico by year's end and would like to get on with another agency in either Albuquerque or Santa Fe. Unsure what location I will actually live in at this very moment. Any suggestions as to whom I might contact? I will be very new to area and would like something that would keep me close to home while I get my bearings. Do hospitals in NM areas use agency nurses? And specifically LPN's? IV certified, telemetry experienced. but want to do whatever necessary to remain as independant from the politics as possible. Any help or ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated!