jelly221,RN

Hi! Are yall in our Facebook group? I'd be happy to share recs on places to live & avoid, been in Nola 12 years now.

We start May 21st. I'm sorry to hear how the communication has gone with yall on the wait list. Good luck with your future applications!

I've been living in Nola for going on 12 years & 100% agree with everything in this post. Like a lot of big cities we have issues with poverty & inequality that drive a good bit of crime. I've also never had a personal issue with violent, just be vigilant when walking around certain areas. Pepper spray is a good idea if it'll help you feel more safe- I carried some for a couple of years to make my boyfriend feel better but never needed it.

Hi all!! I didn't get a phone call, just an email of acceptance yesterday. So check you emails as well as your missed calls! Can't wait to meet all of you and start this amazing but also somewhat scary journey with you. Woohoo let's gooooo! ?

Just finished my interview! It was pretty quick, about 15 minutes & only personal/EI questions, no clinical. I think they've revamped the quiz based on what people have said here & what friends who have interviewed told me, it wasn't too bad. Good luck to anyone who has an upcoming interview & I will hopefully see some of you in May! (all of my fingers & toes crossed =D)

Waterhouse gives a good explanation in this article: An Audit of Nurses' Conduct and Recording of Observations Using the Glasgow Coma Scale You are correct that central pressure should be used in the GCS-Motor. A central stimulus is applied to the cranial nerves, NOT to the center of the patient's body, and the preferred method is supraorbital ridge pressure. In patients with facial fractures or trauma in whom fractures have not been ruled out, pinching the trapezius (CN XI) is acceptable. Sternal rub is not recommended. Peripheral stimulation is transmitted by primary afferent neurons, which end in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. These neurons branch into two upon reaching the spinal cord- one branch synapses with a second-order neuron causing a spinal reflex, and the other branch decussates (crosses over) and ascends via the spinothalamic fibers and runs through the brainstem to the thalamus. For the GCS-Eye Opening, if peripheral pain causes the patients eyes to open, this indicates that the spinothalamic fibers are intact. However, for the motor portion, testing a peripheral nerve leaves uncertainty about whether the patient's motor response was due to the spinal reflex, or a purposeful movement motivated by a higher brain center. You were absolutely right in your actions, and your documentation looks good, too. If it were me, I'd print an article about central vs. peripheral stimulation & leave it lying around where the resident will pick it up...

Hi! We're looking into using these, did you ever find/develop a policy or protocol that you'd be willing to share? Thanks!

Hi! I'm considering moving to NOLA, just curious how things worked out for you!

Hi there! I'm in an MSN program now (it was almost as fast for me to do an MSN as a BSN) and I'm hoping to go to USC's CRNA program. I know it's ridiculously competitive, hence my question. One of my classes right now has discussion boards weekly, and I missed one due to being in the hospital. My teacher is very strict about deadlines, that's her thing. Fine. The post I missed was 7% of my grade, so the best I can get in the class now is an A-. I've had this teacher several times before, and getting the A- is totally doable. As long as I get all A's in the rest of my program (which I've done so far), I'll graduate with a 3.96. I have the option to drop the class and take it later, which would bump my overall program GPA to 3.98. So my question is, will the 3.96 vs 3.98 make any difference in my application for USC's program with all other factors being equal? As far as other things go, I'm working on a cardiac DOU and am transferring to CVICU in a few weeks, I'm working on shadowing a CRNA, and I do well with standardized tests, so I'm not too nervous about the GRE (my MSN program had a bunch of different requirements, so we didn't have to do GRE). I plan on working in CVICU for 2 years before applying, which will give me about 9 months break after finishing my MSN, during which I'm hoping to do some research and (fingers, toes, arms, legs crossed) publish. Am I just being OCD about the GPA?

Of course when I used (past tense!!) the flush caps I didn't set them down - I would take it off the syringe, hold it and screw into the end of the tubing. Touching air doesn't make things un-sterile!! If it did, the OR wouldn't be a pleasant place to work!!

You said it better!!! It is nice to have more than purely a contract- a sense of loyalty makes employment more pleasant. There's an awesome book, "If Disney Ran Your Hospital", that talks about courtesy and going out of your way as an employer to recognize employees. If hospitals are going to attract and retain the best, then they need to show that they actually recognize & value hard workers and good nurses. I realize that this is different than a generic "Nurses Week" celebration, but in my experience, complimenting or thanking someone makes them work harder, at least for a little bit, because they take pride in their work and realize that someone else notices the little things. Little things make all the difference in nursing.

Sheesh I understand about your situation as a tech- good luck! I worked as a tech through NS, had awesome performance reviews, aced my interview with my facility for Versant, but didn't get it because I'm ADN. Good plan to just go to the hospitals. Try to go to individual floors and talk to managers/directors- HR is the roadblock you want to bypass, especially as a new grad. Just let your personality and passion for nursing shine - they want someone who's going to benefit their team. Good luck!!!

Makes sense. I guess where I'm confused is that I fail to see the difference in the cap from the flush and the little white plastics caps. They're both sterile, and they're both covering the threads & tip of the tubing that connects to the IV site. Unless I contaminate either cap, they don't automatically become "unsterile". Goodness, if the flush caps aren't sterile, then I've been risking a lot of phlebitises (not sure the correct plural?) every time I flush an IV. Not arguing about the "one-time use", just trying to think through it logically.

Yes - all the docs at my work use 1 ml/kg (body weight)/hr now.

I haven't had it with a patient, but I have a friend who flat-lined 3 times in one day. He was mid 20s when it happened (10 or so years ago), a professional athlete, and has had an AICD ever since. They've never figured out why he had the sudden cardiac death, but he's a spokesperson now for some heart health program at Cedars-Sinai. Pretty interesting.

Thanks for the info! I'm on my way to class (MSN program) and I'm gonna ask my friends what they do & if they've ever checked, out of curiosity.

Could you share what you find? I've seen Zofran work on countless patients, not to mention myself! Reglan & Compazine give me dystonia, but good ol' Zofran has yet to let me down.

Huh I'll definitely check out their website, I used it as a resource for a poster presentation I did for our Skills Fair this year, and they had some great resources. Do you have any specific links to info re: saline flush caps?

I was taught that the rubber stopper is sterile under the cap, which makes sense considering how hard it is to pop some of those suckers off. Now that I think about it though, I've never checked manufacturer packing to see if it is actually sterile under there- does anyone know? I'll be reading some vials at work on Thursday :)

I guess I should've been more clear- I'm not taking this personally, as I am quite confident in my skills and passion for nursing. The fact that my hospital didn't have an ice cream party for Nurses' Week doesn't make me question my work or even be dissatisfied at my workplace. My post was more of an observation about the culture of my hospital.

LOL most of the nurses on my floor would be THRILLED to get a new copier for Nurses' Week - we've been all but begging for a year. :uhoh21:

See my previous response about MD Day at my place. I definitely do agree with your 2nd paragraph, but please don't think that I'm the kind of person that needs a "Thanks" in order to be proud of my work. My post was more of an observation of the culture at my workplace, but I see how it could've come across differently.

Great post. I do consider myself a professional, and I work very hard at furthering my education as well as work experiences. A little perspective on my hospital though - they put up a banner for Doctor's Day and made multiple announcements over the PA throughout the day about the free lunch/dinner for MDs in the cafeteria. Of course this would be FAR more costly (and probably impractical) for nurses since we are greater in number. Really, it would've just been nice to not feel like my hospital was ignoring the fact that it was Nurse' Week.

I totally agree with this, and I'm 100% fine personally with not getting recognition from my workplace - knowing I did all I could do to the best of my ability for my patients on my shift is MORE than enough. When patients thank me, that's the icing on the cake. My comment was more just aimed at identifying a sad trend of not recognizing nurses. Recognition is positively linked with job satisfaction, and while I LOVE being a nurse and by no means need the recognition to feel satisfied with my work, a simple "Thank you to our nurses" would have given me the "warm fuzzies" about my workplace. Just a small, passing disappointment. Now that "Hospital week" is over though, I do have to say that it was a lot of fun! They had carnival games and a BBQ and a talent show. It did a lot for morale.