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Some things I've read in ER notes: The patient was recently diagnosed with "ear and double bowel syndrome." (Irritable bowel syndrome) The wound was urinated with normal saline. These always crack me up. Made me feel a little better when I found out the ER physicians use voice recognition software for their notes.

I know this is a question from school...but I love the idea of keeping a thread like this going with other possible scenarios. I love reading answers like this from experienced nurses because, as a new grad, I'm at the point where I'm able to tell when something's not right with my patient but the "now what" is what I'm trying to get the hang of. Thanks for posting this!

I was watching House a couple days ago and the doctor excused himself because he needed to go hang a new IV bag for a patient...it made me giggle :)

I graduated 3 months ago, and I was just wondering what sources you use to keep current on nursing issues. I'm mostly thinking new research, procedures, etc. rather than the political side of things. Now that I'm out of school and not doing the constant studying I'm seeing all the "real life" stuff but I miss getting the academic side of things.

Hi everyone, I'm a new nurse and I'm in the process of trying to fine tune my organizational sheets to save time throughout my shift. One thing that I'd like to make more efficient for myself is calling the physician for admission orders on a newly admitted patient. I'm trying to make a checklist of specific things I need to get orders on so nothing is forgotten. Some doctors are great at covering all the bases, but others will only give you what you ask for. I was hoping you could help me try to figure out if I'm missing anything. What I have so far: Home meds rec, IV fluids, pain/nausea meds if needed, DVT prophylaxis, diet, activity, labs/tests, chems/insulin for diabetic pts. Is there anything else that I should be asking about routinely on admission? I work on a general medical floor. Thanks.

I'm looking for scrubs that are made of stretchy material that are also available in petite sizes in pants. I found NuDimension which seem like the kind of material that I'm looking for but I can't see that they're available in petite pants. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.

I just want to thank everyone who participates in making this site wonderful. I started coming here when taking my nursing prerequisites years ago and then started following the threads religiously when getting ready to start nursing clinicals as a way to relieve stress of the "unknown." I've learned so much about nursing from technical skills to politics from reading the discussions. I'll be graduating from nursing schol in 8 days and I absolutely cannot believe how quickly it has all gone by... despite the countless times that it seemed it would never end. I'll be starting my new job as a graduate nurse in the unit I did my externship in a few weeks, and while it's one more thing that I'm extremely nervous about, I'm so excited for what's to come. Thank you again!

I'm not a morning person at all either. I just love nighttime so night shift works a lot better for me that way as well as just more convenient for me since I have school-aged kids. However, I worked the day shift for about 6 months and was fine. I definitely had to go to bed earlier on the nights before I would work and it was no fun getting up that early, but once I was there I was there and so busy right from the get-go that it was never an issue.

It depends on the facility where you work. At my hospital we use computerized charting and the expectation is that each shift will complete care plans. This includes a problem list and whether the pt has met this goal and it is no longer applicable, whether it was met this shift, whther they are progressing, or whether the pt has not met this goal. If they have not met the goal we fill out a variance for that problem and state the problem, interventions, pt's response, and follow-up actions. It sounds tedious, but really it only takes a few minutes and I like them because they really makes you think about some things that you otherwise might not have time to stop and thing about, i.e. what ARE we doing about the patient's elevated BUN and creatinine?

1. When did you graduate? Will in Dec 2010 2. Do you have a BSN or ADN? ADN 3. Are you still looking for work? No 4. If not, how long did it take you to find a job? Applied to the unit that I did an externship on and currently work as an aide and was hired the day after I applied. 5. If you don't mind my asking, those who are working, what type of job or floor do you work on. Medical pulmonary

I thought the same thing, but once I realized that absolutely NO nurses on the floor that I was on use them I wanted to check. It's one thing for a few nurses here and there to take shortcuts but it really made me wonder when no one was doing it.

I'm about to graduate in 2 months and I know there are things that are different in the real world than "textbook." I see nurses on the floor do so many things differently than what I'm taught and lately I've been struggling with figuring out which things are okay to do a different way and which are just nurses taking unsafe shortcuts. One of my issues lately is the use of filter needles. I always use filter needles when administering meds from ampules. Nurses will kind of snicker and make comments about me using them because I'm a student. Do you use them? I was taught that shards of glass can be injected into the vein if the filter needles aren't used. Is this true or is this just in theory and the filter needles aren't actually necessary? Also, if you have time...can you mention some things off the top of your head that really are okay to do differently than what is taught textbook. Thanks.

I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate all the responses and explanations. It makes me feel better to know which way is correct and why.

Thank you all so much for your help. RNMeg-Yes, my hospital does have Micromedex. I use it for information on the drugs themselves, but I've never realized there was an IV compatibility tab. I will definitely be looking for that! P_RN-I agree about not going by what other co-workers tell me. I've realized that people have many ways of doing things and they aren't always considered the "correct" way. Since I'm just now forming my own ways of doing things I want to make sure that I'm not starting off by doing them incorrectly and I love to have references to back up my "why" of how to do them. Thanks. iluvivt-Thank you so much for the information. Yes, the rationale that you gave makes perfect sense.