ICUclerk12

I forgot to mention... Does anyone know of a website that quizzes you on ECG strip interpretation? I found a few, but if anyone else knew of any others, could you mention them as well?? Thanks a lot.

So the hospital I work at doesn't have any monitor techs and recently, they have had nurses coming in to watch the monitors on the Telemetry Unit. I know a few of the nursing supervisors at my hospital, and I was speaking with one of them today (she happened to be the nurse today monitoring the tele monitors) and she said that if I took a test and scored well on it, they would orientate me and let me be a monitor tech. I asked her if I had to have some sort of certification and she said no, and as long as I score well on this test they administer me, I would probably be ok. The thing is, how in depth do you think a test like this will be? How proficient do I need to be in interpreting ECG's? I mean...I think I am pretty good. I have a ECG nursing book that I have read front to back, although I don't remember everything that was said, I have a good, general grasp on everything...I think. Today, I was standing next to the supervisor who was watching the monitors, and I was able to tell her which ones were abnormal like who had a pacemaker, who looked to have past cardiac related issues, I was pointing out the PACs and the PVCs and was explaining to her why they happened (she knew already, I was just testing myself), and other small things that popped up. My question is how in depth do I really need to be able to interpret?? Because in the end, I'm not going to be the one to administer the atropine or the amiodarone or whatever...and I'm not going to be the one diagnosing the patient with LVH or WPW....all I need to do is be able to tell if its abnormal or if the leads are off, along with a few other clerical duties like the measuring...right? What kind of other duties do your monitor techs do or perform? Also, the tele unit today had a census of 28, and thats usually a normal day for them. Sorry for the length of such a simple question, I just kept typing, ha. Thanks

Yeah, I think I have read somewhere that you need to ween yourself off until you are at 100mg/day....then you should be able to quit completely without the withdrawal symptoms. Also, my aunt quit drinking coffee and instead drinks a cup of hot water in the morning now. Kind of weird, but she says it has helped her..whether it be psychological or not, it still has helped her.

It is doable....I did it last summer...AP2 and Micro at the same time. I didn't really have a social life at the time...it sucked, but you really need to prioritize. Me...it was a no brainer....I wanted to get all the pre-reqs done, so I did it. You just need to discipline yourself, and make it happen. It's a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end. Good luck.

So.....I have a question....Rush University isn't offering any Bachelor degree programs anymore? If this is true...does anyone know why?? I always pictured myself going to Rush University down the road to attain my BSN after my associates, so this news is somewhat disappointing for me.