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!

Texas nurse here - and timing has worked out where I am looking at a move to either Albuquerque or Santa Fe by year's end or at least in January. Great time of year, huh? Odds are it will be Albuquerque - as I am following love/heart all that 'stuff' and he is in Albq now but with a possible transfer to Santa Fe by year's end - but timing is unknown. Making it hard for me to explore all options until the last minute. So questions? I'm a Certified Hospice & Palliative Licensed nurse - How difficult do you think it will be for me to find quick employment? I have lots of experience in all other areas - as in TX I've done acute med surg/telemetry/rehab/agency in ER/acute/med surg - but hospitals it seems are not utilizing LVN/LPNs much here now nor it seems in NM. Is this correct? Is LTC, home health, home hospice my only avenues? Are agencies using LPN's like they are in TX? Are clinics, drs offices using LPN's or Med Techs? And weather???? Am I going to have a problem with snow, driving? More in Santa Fe? I want this change in my life to work. I want to do user-friendly nursing if at all possible - not the killer 36 hr shifts somewhere that I've always had. Do I have options? All ideas, suggestions, go-for-it's greatly appreciated!!! Realize this thread has been rather quiet - but someone please respond??? Need lots of help or just where to start my search - Thanks so much!

Posted a question a few weeks ago saying I was re-certifying after 4 years for my CHPLN - and asked if there were any glaringly big changes - since the study materials were still copyrighted the same year as when I took it the first time. Had no responses, so began thinking that Hospice nurses were not taking this Certification exam for either CHPLN, or CHPN - I passed but it seemed harder this time. 4 years ago, it was a pencil/paper exam - and this time, a computer test. I studied, knew backward/forward all in the study guides, core curriculam book, and...had been a hospice nurse for 4 years more - and there were questions coming out of left field. Hard, nasty little exam and I'm not sure I'll do it again in 4 years. If there are ANY of you out there - Certified - have you seen this adds to anything related to your competency as a Hospice nurse? More $$? More...credibility? Not sure I'm seeing the value versus cost/stress etc. Anyway - just wanted to tell someone/anyone that I passed!

My answer - used frequently: "For me, to be "allowed" to share this most intimate part of a person's life - his death - is a gift and a blessing. (and I firmly, unconditionally believe - a person chooses when to let go and who he/she allows to be there at that time.) For a pt to want to share this part of his life - shows an enormous trust in who I am and how comfortable they feel. I always hope, that by my being available - as a nurse, or simply another human being - I've been able to share something of my strength or knowledge or expertise, when they might need it. I think that's what we are all here for. Yes, it can be sad...but it isn't depressing (for me). Not everyone can do this - there are different kinds of nursing I can't do - but this area has always been something I feel comfortable around and I'm glad I've been able to make a small difference in someone's life - their ending." Variations of above often used. And from that point - if the conversation continues - you can tailor your reply to helping them learn something they were unsure about. Not a one-size-fits-all response. But definitely find something you are comfortable with in responding with. We are always in a position to teach others - cause ya just don't have any idea where it goes from that moment! The old Ripple effect I think!

I had her sister.... ....and had never felt so defeated in my life. Your story could have been mine - She taught two courses along with being a clinical instructor for the first/second term. At the end of the double pharmacology course - my grade was a 92 which she "rounded down" to an 89.4 - due to "classroom participation". I asked what that meant and why she did this? - as this was my ONLY B in the program. She told me it was because I talked too much in class, didn't raise my hand, or didn't talk enough - she couldn't remember. But then said with a little grin, "because I CAN!" She waded in the power. What this taught me - was invaluable - as you have also learned. A person like this teaches us about the kind nurse we must NEVER become. Send her a thank you card when you feel safer and stronger.

We've got a lot of lines about our mother's on here - I'll add my crazy-making one - She says...Norvack - I've corrected countless times - and the dr when first hearing she took norvack, raised his eyebrow and said Norvasc? And my mom looked over at me and glared - as if it was MY fault the new doctor didn't know this drug. And she says - VAIL eeyum - drives me absolutely nucking futs. ....and tor-tee - leah - for tortilla - and we are from Texas!!! She even gets irritated in restaurants when they pronounce it correctly. Going to take a vail-eeyum now... (sigh)

a very stupid sucky ink pin with a ping-pong ball face on a spring on top - with orange fake fur strands of hair - hospital logo - stuck in a suction cup base so it would stand up straight - with blue ink! who would think that was a neat gift??

Had a female pt once - a very needy, prima donna that confused us with the Hilton. Absolutely refused 'that black nurse' and wanted to make sure that no Jew came in her room because you know what 'they did' - and then she complained she couldn't understand the little Asian aide - and there was no way she was gonna let a man in to 'tend to her privates' - so pretty soon - she had run through the entire shift - and had called the hospital manager. His reponse was ' so leave her on the bedpan ' - of course we would not have done that - but the point is - there will always be a pt that prefers one nurse over the other - and to the best we can do - we should politely try to accommodate them. But there really comes a time when it's really hard not to come down to their level and do some really hard line pt education. We were all very glad when she was discharged -

Dr. Phil says "It's OK to look..."

Health South Rehab in Austin - 2003 - 15-18 hr. Good learning hospital - horrid pt ratios - bad morale - overworked angry nurses - rapid upper level turnover - rapid turnover of DON's - but - I made it a year and afer that felt I could almost work anywhere! Didn't know how bad it was at the time - Hope it's better now!

I'm looking for the book I'm going to use for EC Micro - I've decided I want Tortora - I'm looking on ebay, amazon, alibris, abe, half om - etc... I don't necessarily want the latest 9th edition - I'm thinking 8th or 7th would be ok. So when I search - by ISBN or whatever - I get pages and pages - and some of them are very, very cheap - and yet the titles are the same. Some are the same title but have the word BRIEF after the title - but most all of them have the canned info that is printed in generically about the text... What does BRIEF mean??? I've looked everywhere for info on this - and I know it must be obvious - but like on one site - they'll state it's the 7th edition with CD but it will be the Microbioloby an Introduction BRIEF - and the starting price is way under $5 in some cases - and then another with the same title with no CD starts at 20 or so. I'm giving up on finding the best price tonight. I'm tired. Just thought someone with more brain cells might have the easy answer to the difference - Thanks much!