AmyBRN

Hi, Just an FYI. I have been going to a Chiropractor for my back, and felt relief from migraines with just a few back adjustments. She said it could be that some of my migraines could have been from neck misalignment, even though I didn't have neck pain. She also does some therapy on my head. And in the month since I've been going to her, I have noticed a hugh reduction in frequency and intensity of my migraines. One thing about my chiropractor is she also did a lot of post-gradutate work on headaches, and TMJ issues (which I also have). This might work for you too. All you need to find out is one initial assessment. A.

Another repeat dream, is that your running around taking care of your patients, only to realize that it's 200 and you didn't know you had another patient(s).

OMG!!! I thought I was the only person with weird dreams. My problem is I sleep talk and walk. One dream I had was my patients femoral Aline was dislodged and I was putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding, only to have a fight with my husband. He's yelling "Get off of me what are you doing?", I said still half asleep and only thinking about the 'bleeding,' "Hold still your bleeding." back and forth like that, finally he says, "Just go to sleep will you." I say "Fine, bleed out for all I care", roll over and go back to sleep. Another time, it was after I took Pseudophed for a cold, I fell asleep, somehow, and started feeling something like palpitations. I'm thinking, while dreaming that I'm in V-tach, and I cant 'hook' myself up to a monitor. So I'm thinking "Check a pulse." I was able to feel a pulse, so I roll over and think 'good it's not lethal v-tach.' When I woke up later thinking about the dream, I was like non-lethal v-tach??? Maybe just some SVT. Needless to say I don't take Pseudophed before I sleep anymore. Finally, another dream I had was of a patient pulling out their Tracheostomy, and I lunge for the patient and grab the trach and hold it in, asking for someone to help me. Again, DH says "Get off of me, your choking me." As I wake up and look at me holding my hand over his neck, holding in the trach. LOL. Poor hubby takes lots of abuse. I told the last one to a PA, he says, I think you need a less stressful job, gee you think??

Guess he'll have to stop drinking margarita's while showering.

Hi, As a fellow migraine sufferer, I think that you should take whatever medication works for you. When I just started my current job, I told the employee health PA that I have migraines. She just asked if any of my medications for the migraines would show up on the drug screen, which they didn't. But I'm sure that even if they did, as long as I told the truth and had scripts it wouldn't have been a problem. Don't worry, and good luck in your career. Amy

I'm interested to know too!!

A few weeks ago I was passing a bottle of Calcium Carbonate around to my fellow RN's because it smelled soooooo good! I also like the smell of liquid zantac and benzoin. Mucomyst and cat pee antibiotics (you all know the ones) are the worst! Of course the bubblegum antibiotics is yummy. When I was little I used to ask, when I was sick, if I could get the bubblegum medicine. lol. Amy

Regarding PALS, as a PICU nurse. I went to take it after a year of PICU experience (maybe a little longer than I should have waited but...). I think that the PALS class is very interesting, but also very hard. You need to have hands on experience for a little while before taking it. There is test at the end where you run a 'code', as well as a written test. There are a lot of things that you need to know, meds (and specific wt. based dosages!!), EKG's, etc., before you take the PALS course. Personally I would wait on PALS, a lot of nurses on my unit waited about 5- 10 months before taking it. I can't speak for ACLS though. Amy P.S. I am not PALS certified, because I got very sick during the second day and was not able to do the code portion, but my friend said it was hard and without her experience she probably would not have her cert.

HI!! I just started at St. Francis, and I'm hired for there OR program. I'm very excited to start working there. They hold their RN's up to high standards and expect a lot from you, but in the end it makes you a better nurse. I honestly feel that I will be learning 'the right way' to do things. I am currently in their Orientation, I will be hitting a Med/Surg floor before the OR prgram starts (to learn paperwork and hospital policies and such). I have heard great things about this program from people who have done it. And honestly, about people liking it or not, it is just what your 'fit' is. I was at North Shore, and there were a lot of unhappy people there to. It just depends on the 'fit' they have with the hospital. Any questions, you can PM me, and if you do go into the program let me know. I won't be starting the OR portion until May/June, so we might be in the class together. Amy

Hi jetson. Just an FYI, those areas that your considering seem pretty far away from each other to me. (From me, 20 min. to Glen Cove, (being all backroads are the only way to get in and out) Northport is about 40 mins from me on the parkway and Port Jeff. is about 1hr. from me) I'm going to make a suggestion from someone who used to live in Glen Cove. Don't move there if you have kids. The last few years I lived there, though I have to say not a great area, I lived next to a drug addict and a psychotic person who stole my mothers underwear off the line. There are nice areas, and if you don't have kids it might be a great place to live, but the school system is only ok compared to others in the area. One reason for this is because the school budget keeps getting turned down. PM me if you have questions about Glen Cove and surrounding areas. My friend got a job, as a new grad. out in Stony Brook hosp. which is somewhere between Northport and Port Jeff. I got a job as a new grad. in the NSLIJ system as a new grad. There is a hospital in NS-LIJ hospital at Glen Cove which hires new grads. St. Francis I think is hiring new grads. St. Francis, LIJ and NS-Manhasset are all pretty close to each other. Closer to Glen Cove area. There are a ton of hospitals in the area, and in Queens/City if you don't mind the extra commute. Most have websites, and will say whether they accept new grads or not. Again PM me with any questions, both me and my mom are nurses in the area and can help.

I am a NCC graduate from the nursing dept. It is a VERY hard program. My husband will attest to the nights I was up, working on my careplans, at 5 am, crying because the printer stopped working!!!! AHHH the memories. It is a hard program, but rewarding, and I did it!! Keep on working for it and you'll get in it is a great education, for an EXCELLENT price, hence why everyone wants to get in. I was one of over 1000 applicants, and 150 acceptants. I suggest applying to NCC again, as soon as you can, but if you need to bring your GPA up, take some "easy" courses in the meantime, that might apply to your bachelors. (Intro to Stats., Chem., etc.) But also don't put all your eggs in one basket, apply to other schools. NEVER BE ABSENT! DON'T PROCRASTINATE (like me)! AIRWAY BREATHING CIRCULATION! PT. SAFETY!

I'm going to be training on the 8a-4p shift. Once I'm off of orientation I will be working 1200-0030, 3 days a week, no 4th day (which is what they do at someother area hospitals). I was also told that you have to sign up for 5 8-hour call shifts a month, but can "sell" them off, but it is not suggested in the beginning to do that, so I can get more experience. My OR training is going to be almost a year, so I won't be on th 12.5 hr. schedule, for at least a year. Amy

I agree that this website provided lots of great help, in preparing for my interview, I searched WAYY back. Great information, great tips to anyone else looking to go into OR nursing and preparing for an interview. I will be an OR nurse starting March 4th, SOOOOO excited!!

I was given an interview with a group of 3 people in the OR. I was asked questions like Why do I want to work in the OR?, What is a typical day like where you work?, What are your positve attributes/negative attributes? Name a few adjectives that describe you. Have I ever been in the OR, and what surgeries did I see? There was also a lot of discussion about the job, what to expect during training and such. Where do you work, and where are you looking to go?

Just to let you all know... I got the Job!!! Thank you for your support! I will be starting OR orientation Mar. 4th!! Yeah!!!!

Hi, I fairly new to these boards, and have been looking around the OR boards, because I'm interested in working in the OR. Well, I had an interview today, and I don't think that I did so well. :smackingf I didn't ask a lot of questions, as they covered a lot during their description if the position and the orientation. I REALLY want this position, as it sounds like they have a great environment, and a really good orientation (the manager said close to a YEAR). I just don't think I portrayed my assets and interest in the OR very well. They also wanted to know what experience in the OR I have, I've only observed in clincals for school, and none of them were open heart, :heartbeat which is what I applied for. Oh well, I guess I'll keep you posted on the job hunt.

Weight of a dry sponge - weight of the wet sponge. the difference in grams is the amount lost in ml's. Example: Dry sponge - 5 grams sponge with blood -15 grams the difference is 10 grams which equals 10 ml's of blood/ or whatever. We also do this for children's diapers to make sure they are making enough urine.

Where I am here's the run down of what happens on nights. Baths and weight always on nights, except healthier kids whose parents will do it on day shift. Meds: depends on the child with how many meds they get, but in the icu, after the med is order the med starts as soon as it comes from pharmacy and timed accordingly there after, ie, once a days can be given at night, q8's might have 2 doses during nights etc. Lines: sedation and TPN/IL line changes are day shift, the others are whenever 72 hours are up, meaning all other lines might be changed on nights, including centrals, IV Fluids, hemodynamic gtts. Rounds:We have 'qucikie' rounds, fellow and residents only, talk about "plan for night" what labs and x-rays to be done. Labs:Children with lines have there labs drawn by nurses in the early morning. Other children who are "sticks" have them done by phlebotomy/residents usually at change of nursing shift (VERY annoying), this is because where I work (PICU) nurses aren't allowed to do venipuncture/IV starts etc. unless trained at another hospital previously. MRI/CT: usually day shift, unless the patient is having issues. OR: sometime a patient is scheduled at 7/8 am, so night shift gets everything together for those patients, and goes down with them. Both shifts on my unit are busy but you take it as it comes.

Hi! I have my ASN, and I currently am attending Excelsior college (www.excelsior.edu) for my BSN. I am currently doing some of the pre-requisits. As far as I know, for the nursing portion there are no real 'clinicals', I think you have to teach a community, or at least form a lesson plan (not sure exactly how that course is done, as they recently changed it), and you have to shadow a manager for a set number of hours, which you would set up with a manager in your area. If you can't walk for very long, a) your with a manager, and b) you could do shorter hours instead of a whole shift, again as far as I now. I am not in the nursing classes yet, but I suggest you check out their website. They offer online courses, and credits by examination (you study for a test and take it and get however many credits the course is worth).

I have a little over a year experience in a PICU near me, and at times I to feel like I'm running around like a chicken with out its head. I'm organized, and I go with the flow, but alot of times I am 'slower', basically my time management skills are so-so. However, I have to say that with my experience so far, I have definetly had an improvement in my time management skills. Basically with time, your time management skills will improve. I know the ER is not the same as the ICU, ie, you will always have different patients, but at the end of the night, or before my next shift, in the car, I try and think about what happened throughout my shift, where I had any problems, if any, and what can I do differently next time. And as another nurse said, document write away, you never know when your patient is going to move to a unit, or get discharged to make way for the next one. Get the documenting done as soon as you can. One of my fellow nurses once said, as we were sitting at a desk writing our notes, after shift I might add, is "isn't it funny the one thing we can't delegate, documentation, is the one thing that we always put off." Don't put it off, unless there is a real emergency going on, which hopefully someone is there documenting. Oh and might I add I too have not had any med/surg experience before the PICU, and I don't regret it one bit.

I know that this is an OLD post, however just thought I'd share something. I've never been officially allergy tested, but I am DEFINETLY allergic to shrimp, (hives, itching, difficulty breathing). My mom is a nurse also and when I was a kid/teen I wasn't allowed to have any shellfish after 2 or so reactions (first reaction I was with my aunt, and we weren't sure if it was something else). Anyway, when I was about 14 or so, I had a pretzel at the mall, you know the one with lots of salt, the REALLY good ones, and later on, I started getting hives and had difficulty breathing, and that had also happened again a year or so later (My reactions aren't usually immediate, usually an hour or so later I start reacting), In the salt, there is iodine, as well as in shrimp, hence I am allergic to iodine. However, I think it could be a possibility that people allergic to shrimp, are allergic to the protein, OR the iodine.

:doh: OMG, I can't believe that, this is good information, and will sure to label lines more carefully. As someone posted earlier, MOM is white, and why wouldn't you stop to think before giving that, but Propofol is an IV med that is also white. However, if you have both MOM and propofol in syringes, for some reason. CLEARLY label those meds. Some of those things are scary, and I hope nothing like that happens to me. I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I always follow tubing that I'm changing or connecting into, from point of orgin back (or vise versa), to BE SURE, that I am connecting or changing the right line.