Crew2Nursing

NPS (Family and Acute Care) Knowing what you know now. Would you prefer to have a Dual Role (Family NP/Adult-Gerontological Acute Care NP) degree or just one of the two? If so, what are some of the reasons behind the decision?

Nurses, Have you ever had a patient become disinhibited with a benzo (e.g., ativan)? I know it happens in patients with mental issues around 13% but it was the first time that I saw it. Have you seen this before? Or is it more common that I think?

How do you get your patients to change their bad health behaviors? In the Transtheoretical model of change it states that nurses need to get the patients on board with changing their health behaviors toward a better life. Nurses with experience. Have you given up or do you try to still get them to change? If so, How did you? What are some of your tips/tricks? so to speak? In my book it states: Asking an open-ended question may stimulate the patient to identify a reason to change behavior. Nurses are challenged to motivate and facilitate change in health behavior when working with individuals. However, I can't seem to see changes with frequent patients? Do you see patients change there behaviors? if so when/why did they? Was it something you said/did? Thanks for your input from more experienced nurses.

I find the comments and opinions of some of you posters to be to be very elitist. I understand that your personal views of these universities might be based on your own perceptions. I would like to tell you as a student of one of these for-profit universities, I find my educational system to be adequate and aligned with the rest of the programs from"brick and mortar" schools. In the end, is it not the pass rates that matter on NCLEX? Plenty of our students pass with a 95-98% which is higher than some of the traditional schools in my area. Most if not all of my classmates are working adults that the traditional schools either can't accept, or won't accept (e.g, language barriers, working mother/father, etc) usually a traditionally someone with low income. Now I know its a personal viewpoint, I get it. However, some of the professors from other schools look down upon students like myself. I speak with experience all due to my school choice. I was accepted into a brick and mortar school. However, due to me moving across the country, and trying to get into a program. I choose a for-profit school. When in the end, I will become a nurse and I will be just like any other student from any other school. I want the best for my patients, my family, and my future profession. How does that make me or any of the thousands like me different from students from traditional brick and mortar programs? So when people say they can't wait for "schools like mine to be shut down, etc" it de-values thousands of lives, personal backgrounds, and hurdles to become a valued member of this profession. It devalues me.... Even if you don't personally believe that. Words do matter. I think people find change to be hard and some of these schools are not perfect. These schools have forced Brick and Morter schools to change tactics. More online classes, more technologies with school interactions. Just please don't paint all of them with a broad stroke. My school is not perfect but, I've yet to find a nursing program, professor, or dean who is. Yet, we are all trying to broaden our horizons and experiences to become better future nurses. To be open and transparent my school is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, State Board of Nursing, Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. -Crew2State Future Nurse 2017 -Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. - Rudyard Kipling

I go to Chamberlain College of Nursing in Atlanta, GA. People will say that a for-profit school is not worth the time/money/etc. However, I have found a few problems, but that's life in general. I am doing something that I want to do and its worth it to me. Anything worth doing in this life is worth the trouble. I wish you well and good luck. -Crew2Nursing.

Hello, Do you guys/gals feel sometime that you are getting burnout of school. I feel this and I work out, I eat better, try to get sleep (haha). However, I seem to feel numb with school. It feels as if I am just going though the process. When I was in pre-nursing, I had so much passion. Do you ever feel like numb from the "nursing process - school". Just wondered if I was alone? If so how do you combat it. I am working in healthcare now 2 days a week. I'm a former medic, work out 3/4 times a week. Eat as healthy as I can. I just can't seem to shake the burnout feeling? Any thoughts on your experiences? -Crew2Nursing.

Loved the quote

Think about it this way. Do you know an elderly neighborhood lady in your community. Have you ever cut her grass or work around her house for chores? Now take this same lady and Imagine giving her a sponge bath or Inserting a catheter in her. No matter if you are male/female and hedrosexual/homosexual the sexual pleasure/thoughts go right out the window. It's the way you imagine shuffing papers, copying reports, etc... it's a job and the general hospitals/Mediaografic stories are far from reality. However as the other nurses on here said..... Recreational/Work member/lady parts are in two opposite sides of the spectrum. Your comment gave me a chuckle as well. Thanks.

As a medic student we practiced on the fake arms before we practiced on each other. My partner stuck the needed though my hand almost half way. HE panicked and left it in my hand just sticking up. One of the paramedic professors turned a bit green.I laughed and pulled it straight out... then said a few choice words....... IV's are an experience. Some days you will hit every IV you start, and some days you cant hid the broad side of a barn. Just don't let a few IV"s that you miss mess with your head/confidence. You got this!!!! Now go stick some veins... The best quote by my medic preceptor..... Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ― Henry Ford

I am in a BSN program and we do have alot of papers and other extra documentation/papers to write. However, I don't feel as if I am a better nurse than ADN nurses. I think alot of ADN programs are exceptional in the clinical settings. Some of my best teaching came from ADN nurses when I worked as a tech. They were more willing to explain in detail: the how's, why's, etc.... Not to say that the BSN's didn't have time.... I think both BSN/ADN programs have it hard and anyone who gets accepts, drops out, fails, completes, and obtains a BSN/ADN an even the RN NCLEX had a rough start to finish. Its not easy and I'm proud to say that I am following in the footsteps of some incredible people who care for the evolving profession of Nursing.

I like a laptop personally because my educational institution uses a few programs that are not currently programed for a Mac. Now this is specific to certain programs and computer access. However, I personally like the Windows model. While a tablet is nice and functional. I still like the power of a laptop, (one that I can build or add on to). Also Tablets are nice and you can access many online book sites/programs. However, some of the tablets have limited USB ports to add more gadgets too. Good luck on your purchases. -Crew2Nursing.

What! My adviser for nursing school to me it was going to be like this: 1) Great way to pick up chicks/dudes:blink: 2) Easy way to make fast money! 3) Glamorous:nurse: 4) Give me feelings of being a Hero/Savior:borg: 5) Everyone that see's me will be saved from (family, friends, diseases, money problems, life's situations, etc) 6) Always new and exciting:roflmao: 7) Easy way to get a degree, career, and husband/wife 8) A great way to be the boss, in charge, and have things always go your way. 9) A career that has no responsibilities, cares, or stress. 10) **** A career that will always go your way when you need it the most emotionally, physically,and spirituality ****

Ok, I've been the the health care a while and I took a break.... Not to mention I am much older now. My feet kill me at the end of the day. I know this is nothing new to most if not all of you after clinicians, work, etc. However, How do you treat your aches/pains of your feet/legs at the end of the day. I've been though 3 different shoes, many inserts and still do not feel as if I am walking on "sunshine/Air"... lol.... Anyhow... I'm flat footed and my ankles/feet hurt me now as I get older. How do the rest of you guys/gals treat your feet? Stockings, (looks odd for men? right?) and....bath salts....? Any other tips?

This can be one of the best experiences you may have with your nursing knowledge. I for one have been a patient care tech, surgical tech, medic, and many other roles. All areas have their low and high points. I learned so much from the nurses that I worked with previous and enjoyed asking questions. While I say this. This may have been an eye opening experience that bed side nursing might not be for you. You might prefer a business type setting in nursing? or many other areas. Many people on this site are jumping you for quitting hastily. I am not in your shoes and would never want to judge you. However, If you had plan to work at this facility in the future it might be harder. With that said..... You need to feel comfortable about the Nursing position. Its not easy and not always fun..... However, I am not saying this is you.... but I liked this post because It keeps me grounded that no task is too little for me. "Yesterday I overheard a nursing student snark, "yeah, this is why I'm in nursing school - so I can pass trays." And if I hadn't been up to my eyeballs in other things to do for my patients, I would have stopped and said: You've already missed the point entirely. I'm not sure why you DO think you're here. If you hope to be a good nurse (or coworker, or person with a heart), you're going to spend the majority of your working life doing things you SO mistakenly think are beneath you. You are going to pass trays with a smile - excitement even, when your patient finally gets to try clear liquids. You will even open the milk and butter the toast and cut the meat. You will feed full-grown adults from those trays, bite by tedious, hard-to-swallow bite. You will, at times, get your own vital signs or glucoscans, empty Foley bags and bedside commodes without thinking twice. You will reposition the same person, move the same three pillows, 27 times in one shift because they can't get comfortable. You will not only help bathe patients, but wash and dry between the toes they can't reach. Lotion and apply deodorant. Scratch backs. Nystatin powder skin folds. Comb hair. Carefully brush teeth and dentures. Shave an old man's wrinkled face. Because these things make them feel more human again. You will NOT delegate every "code brown," and you will handle them with a mix of grace and humor so as not to humiliate someone who already feels quite small. You will change ostomy appliances and redress infected and necrotic wounds and smell smells that stay with you, and you will work hard not to show how disgusted you may feel because you will remember that this person can't walk away from what you have only to face for a few moments. You will fetch ice and tissues and an extra blanket and hunt down an applesauce when you know you don't have time to. You will listen sincerely to your patient vent when you know you don't have time to. You will hug a family member, hear them out, encourage them, bring them coffee the way they like it, answer what you may feel are "stupid" questions - twice even - when you don't have time to. You won't always eat when you're hungry or pee when you need to because there's usually something more important to do. You'll be aggravated by Q2 narcotic pushes, but keenly aware that the person who requires them is far more put upon. You will navigate unbelievably messy family dramas, and you will be griped at for things you have no control over, and be talked down to, and you will remain calm and respectful (even though you'll surely say what you really felt to your coworkers later), because you will try your best to stay mindful of the fact that while this is your everyday, it's this patient or family's high-stress situation, a potential tragedy in the making. Many days you won't feel like doing any of these things, but you'll shelve your own feelings and do them the best you can anyway. HIPAA will prevent you from telling friends, family, and Facebook what your work is really like. They'll guess based off what ridiculousness Gray's Anatomy and the like make of it, and you'll just have to haha at the poop and puke jokes. But your coworkers will get it, the way this work of nursing fills and breaks, fills and breaks your heart. Fellow nurses, doctors, NPs and PAs, CNAs and PCAs, unit clerks, phlebotomists, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, speech therapists, transport, radiology, telemetry, pharmacy techs, lab, even dietary and housekeeping -- it's a team sport. And you're not set above the rest as captain. You will see you need each other, not just to complete the obvious tasks but to laugh and cry and laugh again about these things only someone else who's really been there can understand. You will see clearly that critical thinking about and careful delivery of medications are only part of the very necessary care you must provide. Blood gushing adrenaline-pumping code blue ribs breaking beneath your CPR hands moments are also part, but they're not what it's all about. The "little" stuff is rarely small. It's heavy and you can't carry it by yourself. So yes, little nursling, you are here to pass trays." (Facebook -

I have read James Kelly's - Where night is Day "The world of the ICU" Does anyone else know of good books that explain ICU nursing - that's not a text books on critical care. "A day in the life" so to speak?