WantAccel.BSN

Thank you so much for the responses!! Would any of you be willing to PM me the name of your hospital and a good contact person? Management really wants to talk to another facility about specific devices, policies, etc. It would be exceptionally helpful if any of you were willing to share that information! It's somewhat odd because they allow us to use a restraint bed on our adolescent unit, just not on our child unit. They also won't allow a "carry" because a child was dropped several years ago. Thanks again for all the feedback. Any additional information anyone is willing to share would be amazing. At the end of the day, all we want is to do what is best and what is safest for patients and staff alike.

We've recently had some pretty major issues surrounding transporting violent children to seclusion. We've been instructed not to "carry" children, but it also seems equally harmful to hold them in the middle of the hallway or wherever it is that they stop walking (setting off other children watching, the child themselves being embarrassed later, etc.). On the adult units, we typically wheel the restraint bed to the person if go "dead weight" to avoid a carry, but we're not allowed to use mechanical restraints on the child unit. We've been told there is research that suggests mechanical restraints are traumatizing to children, but I can't imagine it is any more traumatizing then being held for an extended period of time by several adults. What do other hospitals do with this?? We are in desperate need of suggestions! Even if you don't have a child unit at your hospital, do you have any ideas for us? Help!

Can you put the capped needles in your scrub pockets? I've done that when I have more than one injection to give at a time, and it's worked pretty well for me.

Thank you for starting this thread. I've been casually perusing programs (it'll be awhile before I'll be in a position to go back to school), and I had no idea this was happening with online programs. It looks like this effects both private and public (out of state) programs, because there are several universities on the list (pretty sure University of South Carolina is public, for example, but I could be wrong). Again, thanks for sharing this information!

I work psych, which I think is a lot differently generally, but I am also bored for about 4 hours each night. That said, I'm typically taking about 3 patients by myself while I'm on orientation....my first day off orientation I will likely have 8. Yikes! Obviously, I anticipate having far less downtime after orientation is over.

Well, I work 12s, and I am often bored to tears a few hours after the patients go to sleep. It stays pretty busy up until about 11pm, but third shift hours are booooorrrrriiiinnnnngggg.

This isn't entirely true. Maybe in the less desirable parts of NC, but in my area only about a 1/3rd of my graduating class have jobs over two months out from graduation.... I feel incredibly lucky to have landed a job.

They sent mine off to the lab, and 3 days later everything was fine. They never did tell me why it had been flagged. It was agonizing! Even though I knew I had done nothing wrong, the whole process certainly made me feel ashamed. It's really a travesty that people have to go through stuff like this. Let's be honest--the whole thing really does nothing in terms of catching the actual hard drug users. It's more of a liability issue, if you ask me..."well, we tested them, so it isn't our fault they were inebriated on the job!"

I'm in NC, I'm a new grad, and just got a job at a local not-for-profit hospital on their psych unit. I'll be making $22.60/hr. plus $4 shift differential for nights. I have my BSN, but your pay doesn't change due to that. I do, however, think it makes it easier to get the job in the first place.

That, Sirius. I *know* I did nothing wrong, but it still really bothers me particularly because I've read about employers failing people for results being too dilute. I just don't want to lose this job or have my start date significantly delayed (it'll be delayed by at least 2 weeks if I have to retest). It seems so unfair. Their instructions said to drink no more than one to two 8 oz glasses in the hour before the test, so I thought what I drank wouldn't be problematic. My prescriptions aren't controlled--just an antidepressant and birth control, both of which I reported. I'm a worrier anyway, so I'm kinda freaking out right about now...

Hi Diane, I'm pretty sure this is what happened to me today as well, although I don't know for sure yet. I didn't actually drink that much, but my urine looked very light. Did they make you retest, or were they able to confirm the validity of the test at the lab?

I'm so, so scared. I went in for a pre-employment drug test today, and there was something wrong with the "instant results." They had to send my results to the lab, and they said this could potentially delay my start date. My urine looked dilute to me, but I really didn't have that much to drink beforehand--about 16 oz of juice and about 8 oz of coffee in the 2 hours before the test. I also took a bunch of vitamins, as I do every day. I reported my prescription drugs, but did not report these vitamins because the form only seemed to be asking about prescription drugs. I took a drug test a year ago and did all the same things and didn't have a problem, so for the life of me I can't understand why it's different this time. They weren't able to tell me why they had to send the results to the lab (the lady said the machine doesn't tell them). Has this ever happened to anyone before? In the last month, I've been around people that have been smoking pot a couple of times, but I made a serious effort to avoid inhaling anything--going so far as to cover my face with my shirt when I could smell anything. I don't judge my friends for smoking, but it's not something I partake in because I know the severity of the consequences. I was worried enough about that that I just went to the local drug store and got an over the counter test that the pharmacist recommended--all negative (about 4 hours after the pre-employment screen), but my urine was noticeably darker than it was at the pre-employment screen. I am so upset right now! I probably won't hear anything from the lab for at least a couple of days, so any information anyone could give me would be much appreciated.