mimi55

Apartments in OKC hmm, depending on where u are working how far you want to be from work etc. If it were me I would look for patio homes or condos for rent. Edmond is a really nice little town, mostly patio homes or condos to rent there. I don't know about apartments in Edmond I can't think of any. I don't know anything about Norman. Northwest Oklahoma City has nice apartments especially around Mercy Hospital on Memorial Road west of MacArthur, and on 122nd street between Meridian and Hefner Parkway. I wouldn't go further east on 122nd past Hefner Parkway, but up around Quail Springs Mall there are new apartments built within the past few years. I would definately stay away from the north east side and south side of OKC unless you go far south like Moore or Midwest City. It may be a good idea to stay at a residence inn for a week or two and talk to coworkers about where a good place to live is. Welcome to Okc.

No problem, if you are interested in Oklahoma City there is OU Med Center, Saint Anthony Hospital, Integris Baptist and Heart Hospitals (North & South). OkC has alot of hospitals for its' size seems like there are alot of jobs and for new grads too.

Lawton is a small town, 2.5 hrs. from Oklahoma City 3 hours from Dallas Texas. There is a military base there so lots of soldiers. I know one person who lives there she is a school teacher in a catholic school. She says its ok she moved from Austin Tx. she has family in Lawton that needed her. I don't know anything about the hospital other than they need nurses so you would definately have job security and the cost of living would be much less. It's very country low key but you are close enough to big cities if you wanted some excitement. Hopefully this will help. I will tell you as an RN with many years of experience if a hospital is making an offer that sounds to good to be true it is because they are desperate. If it involves signing a contract a year is doable 2 years can be unbearable. I signed a contract with the hospital I am currently working at for one year got half first 6 months and the rest at the end of the year. That was ok. When I first moved to Oklahoma (Tulsa) many years ago I signed a contract for 2 years and got 2 grand. I made it about 15 months and lost part of the money because I broke the contract which means I had to pay back a portion. A person can do most anything for a year after that if you aren't happy it just magnifys. Sounds like on the east coast new graduates are having a hard time getting jobs from what I have read its not that hard finding jobs here in the state of Oklahoma.

jmsnkids Just curious are you still in pediatric hospice? This reply was from 9/2008. If so I have questions.

I moved from Houston, Tx to Tulsa many years ago. Culture Shock! I worked at Hillcrest and kicked myself many times for signing a contract with them for 2 yrs. I might have been happier had I worked at St. John's or St. Francis. Who knows. I did not care for Hillcrest esp. the OR. I left surgery to go to IV therapy which was better b/c I could float all over the hospital. I left after 2 yrs moved to KS. Came back to OKC. after 2 yrs. and have been here since. I like the landscape in Tulsa it is beautiful green lush with rolling hills. Especially outskirts but it is very congested with traffic. My sis lives there and we have so much fun when I go to visit lots of cool things to do. As far as hospitals go I have been called to do a travel assig. at St. Johns in OR had to turn down for now. My sis had a heart cath there the facility is nice nurses seem happy but the parking was a night mare. St. Francis is pretty but I don't know anything about work conditions now. I use to hear positive things like staffing is good work conditions good. I have heard good things about Southcrest. The economy is great compared to other states. Housing and utilities are cheaper. I found the gas, food and clothing to be similar in pricing when I was in California. There is no Trader Joe's or Whole Foods but Tulsa has Wild Oats they are alot more expensive than Trader Joe's. I just asked my husband if he could live anywhere else in the country where would he like to go he said N or S Carolina. He didn't know I was responding to this. So there ya go. Hope this helps some and good luck with your adventure:wink2:

Thanks so much for your feedback! Honestly I would not have thought to ask half of the things you brought up and I don't know why other than inexperience in extubating. We rarely get report from anesthesia heck we sometimes don't even get report from the circulators. But everything you brought up of course would affect the extubation and the Docs. would definately fill me in if I asked the right questions. Sometimes they will say if the intubation was difficult or the case was longer than they thought it would be. Thanks again:)

I had a couple of pts. recently that came into PACU intubated. Anesthesia said ah they were alittle confused preop just heads.... up make sure they are good an awake before ya take out that tube. Alrighty then.. We have protocol to follow sustained head lift, strong firm hand grip, able to follow commands which I use to extubate. However when they have dementia or are confused thats tough. Does anyone have any tips they could add that could make it easier? BTW I am still pretty new in PACU I do have experienced nurses to back me up which I utilize without hesitating and they have helpful input too. But I was just interested in hearing from some of you all too!:typing Thanks!!

Thanks Babs :wink2: Thats a good idea about leaving ASPAN out for her to read. We don't have much of an orientation at this facility I know I had to find the Policy and Procedure book and read it as it was not part of the orientation I received. Maybe she had the same orientation?

I'm still hanging in there. Nothing came of the slow charting complaint it hasn't been mentioned since, so I haven't brought it up either. I have noticed that I wasn't the only one so maybe she decided she had too many nurses that were slow charters to complain about. I am not comfortable there but I am learning so much and most of the nurses are good to work with. We work with 2 nurses all the time. Last Friday the nurse I was working with took off for about 15 min. just said I'll be right back knowing we had one pt. left in surgery, in the meantime OR brought the pt. in he was not sating well throwing couplets and triplets right and left and b/p was in the toilet. I already had a pt. he was stable thank god but, I told the OR nurse to stay with me until the other nurse showed up as I had no idea where she was or when she would be back. Anesthesia had stepped out for some reason any way I didn't want to be alone and have the pt. crash if I could help it. Everything turned out ok in the long run but when I talked to the nurse about being gone so long she blamed the OR thier fault for not calling report and giving a heads up and me for taking things so serious. Then she proceded to make fun of me when the oncall nurse called to see if she needed to come in.:argue: I know I am a perfectionist and take myself to seriously at times but....BTW this nurse is new to PACU too so maybe she just doesn't realize the importance of back up. She came from a med-surg floor no ICU/CCU experience. Oh well such is life in nursing.

I am a fairly new PACU nurse altho I have been a nurse for many years working in OR and psych I know weird combo. Anyway my manager came up to me yesterday and wanted to know what my problem was? She says I am taking to long to chart (computer). Now it hasn't affected me taking pts. or affected my pt. care. I work PRN it doesn't affect my hours. I work just like a full time person ie taking call, coming in on day off when she asks me and coming in early when she calls and says we are in a crunch can you come now? In other words I am very flexible. I have worked here since Jan. 2008. She knew when she hired me I had about 1 year of out pt. pacu experience and long past ICU/CCU experience. I had about 2 wks. orientation. This is a new computer program for me and I was out during the summer for 6 wks. due to and unexpected urgent surgery myself. So I have worked there about 6-1/2 mo. I have just gone back to work about 3 wks. now. I am thinking about getting a different job. It is extremely stressful with mostly ICU type pts. I think I have held my own there and she wants to complain about my slow charting oh and I don't keep the pts. until I finish charting I send them on to the unit or floor when they are recovered and finish the chart to take to floor later. This isn't with every pt. either. Anyway I feel hurt the way she approached me and worded it "something is wrong here and I don't get it I don't know why YOU can't get it." She was frowning and almost accusitory. May be I am getting paranoid or to sensitive in my old age. She wants me to think about what I am going to do about this and get back with her on Thursday. I told her a computer lab would be nice so I could practice I probably am over charting. Whew thanks for letting me vent. That place is stressful enough without getting called in to her office about my slow charting.

I was told when I first got sober to only break my annonymity if it would help another person. I have followed this for the last 22 yrs. of sobriety. When I worked on an addictions unit I was open about being in recovery most of the staff was working a program of recovery also and understood that addiction is not a moral issue it is a disease. I now work in a Critical care area, most of the staff do not have an understanding of addiction. I know this because of what I hear them say when we have a pt. that is an addict (practicing or in recovery). I believe this is a program of attraction I will not hesitate to help someone who wants it but, until that time happens I will not openly discuss my recovery in this area. I save that for the AA meetings I attend weekly.

When I first started in PACU I had been an OR nurse (for 12 yr.) Coming from a large OR to a very small one. I would help out in the PACU when I finished my cases. Then slowly I became the PACU nurse because the PACU nurses that were hired didn't stay. No wonder! I didn't realize the risk not to mention the standards that were not being followed until in 1/08 I started working in a large metro inner city hospital PACU. The manager hired me knowing I had no critical care experience I told her the PACU experience was mainly phase II for about 1-1/2 yrs. I do have ACLS we had to have that to work in the OR. MAN I had no idea what I was getting myself into working in a Phase I PACU. Thank goodness I work with a great group of nurses that truely know the meaning of teamwork. They have been so helpful I have been hitting the books studing like I was back in school. (which was many moons ago) It has been both terrifing and stimulating. I was getting pretty burned out. I can't say I love it, yet, give me another 6 mo. One of the nurses told me you don't ever want to get too comfortable thats when mistakes happen you need to keep that edge. Sorry this is so long but I empathize with anyone starting out in PACU without critical care experience first. It has been very stressful for me but I am learning so much. Oh I had maybe two wks. of orientation and have yet to hang out with a Resp. Therapist for a day which is what my manager wanted me to do since I have no vent experience. We are to short staffed I hope I don't get the see one do one orientation with that.