Kir

23 yo fe presents by ambulance to extremely rural level IV, in altered state, no ID. Bloods, BAL, cath UA obtained. PERRL, lacerations consistant with barefoot stroll in prarie (confirmed by SPatrol) evidence of old tape to B ACs, occipital lac well aproximated with staples appeared to be greater than 24 hours old. Repeating full name only, then begins to tell us the levels of angeldom needed to be bigwig angel. I was fortunate to 'out aura' (her story, not mine) her as mine vibrates much higher than hers; PFEEEW! She begins to trust me and follow simple commands. Head CT negative as well as BAL, ASA, Acet and Utox. MD du jour states other drugs will cause this level of psychosis and orders narcan. WOW did that **** the angel off! Fully cleared, now pre law student begins to threaten lawsuit. Short term question: What kinda drugs don't show on Utox (and result in completly NORMAL physical exam with PERRL and no slurring of speech? Car was clear for all paraphinalia, can you do shrooms and still have pupils that accomodate? What about payote? *not in season at the time of the incident, does it keep well? Anywho, psych reports inital schizophrenic break, poor kid. Turned out she was an honor student at prestegious university, been missing for a week, parents didn't report it. Her boyfriend had just died and that was probably the catalyst for the break. Can anyone tell my why the narcan worked without evidence of drug? By they way I totally dig psych, must be my aura. TIA for answers! (MD was less than helpful with "I don't know why it worked but I was glad to get rid of her." Cheers!

I haven't worked for St Mary's for about 8 years. I can tell you that when I did I loved it. Good nurse pt ratios, decent docs...I love GJ. If you are in to the outdoor stuff it is the place for you! Drive 45 min one directions to ski, 45 min in the other to hike, mountain bike etc. If you are arty there is a niche for you as well. There is a theatre available, large art community etc. The weather is pretty hot in the summer but the winters are pretty mild. I wish I could go back...Im stuck on the far Eastern plains of Colorado now.

When did it get reinstated? I took English Comp because I couldn't take college writing! Crud! I had the same problem when I was getting ready for English Comp. I never got on. BTW, I hand a horrible time with the english compt test. I consider myself a good writer but the hoops I jumped through with the essays was horrible. This is the first time I have ever prayed for a C! I am still waiting to find out if I passed.

I am caring for a morbidly obese (500 lb +) gal who has two open areas on her gluteal fold/peri/so hard to really tell area. They appear to be shear injuries as they re-open when she transfers from the bed to the w/c. I think they may heal if we can just protect them from reinjury. What do you suggest as far as a dressing? Everything I have tried thus far rolls up when she transfers. I am worried about further injury from the dressing itself. She also has extreme lymphedema in her LE and scratches and picks until she bleeds. I am doing home visits with her PCP and we are at a loss as what to do now. We have convinced her that her diet of fig newtons, Hawaiian Punch and goldfish do nothing for her wound healing and have gotten her to at least start taking a MVI. Thanks so much for all of your help.

Ah, the same route I took. Because of my distance from a traditional school I chose to use my military training and apply to Excelsior. I have been able to use skills obtained as a medic towards my nursing career. The only hinderance I have found thus far is the lack of nursing theory in my medic training. I am currently in a rural medical center, geriatric, primary care, L&D, ante and post partum care. We also get a good deal of trauma secondary to the MVAs and farm accidents. I love it all. FYI Colorado is changing a lot of their rules for acceptance of Excelsior degrees. Good Luck! Kir

for the foam insulation, just in case I'm in the middle of no where and have to wait a LONG LONG time" Uh, what is the foam for? Kir :imbar

Try going to Colorado Community Colleges online. I am not sure of the exact address but google it and it will come up. Also, the name is not Human Growth and Development but Human development or something like that in the psych section. Kir

oh man... :imbar I am mucho confused! Could you please post the formula used? I got all messed up when there was no time frame listed. Should the patient get 5mcg/h or min or day/lifetime... It is the time frame that is throwing me off. Math is the bane of my existance.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! This is all sounding too familliar. I am an army vetran and was promised the same thing upon enlistment. While my recruter didn't stalk me, he enlisted me as excess, which means there are too many of a particular MOS, and therefore I lost my sign on bonus of $3000. To add insult to injury I was told I was enlisting into LVN. I turned out to be a medic, graduated AIT with a EMT cert and medic training. (there is nothing wrong with being a medic, I loved it, but I thought I was going to be a nurse) Double/tripple check with another recruter and tell him what you expect to get out of this. I think the millitary is the best choice I could have made. I would reccomend it to anyone. I don't know much about the Air Force, but the Medic training in the Army is being converted to a much more intense training. Ask about the 91W MOS at an Army recruter if you are interested. Kir

I spoke to her about sugar free Koolaid, "Don't like diet anything, I tried it and it was horrible." I also talked to her about stevia, Splenda and maybe trying to water the Koolaid down to wean her self from it...I don't think she is at a point where she really wants to do anything to loose the weight yet. I have found it takes a couple of weeks to psych myself up to lose a few pounds so to her it may seem overwhelming. (BTW, Koolaid ROCKS! and I could see myself putting a 1/2 gallon away in a day, easy.) She is set in her ways and very low income so a lot of what we discussed she thought would be out of her price range. I told her by just losing a small percentage of her body weight she would feel so much better and have better control of her BP and not battle with hemorhoids so often. Hard to get any fiber from Koolaid, white bread and lucky charms.

I recently had this poor gal who was 350+ (weight more than scale would weigh). She told me she only ate one bowl of cereal a day and one sandwich. She said she was too heavy to do any exercise. I asked her how much water she drank a day. She said she was well hydrated because she drank 7 (seven!) gallons of regular Koolaid a day! She was really upset when I told her how many calories were in Koolaid, said she would not give up her Koolaid. I honestly could not make her understand! So unfortunate. Kirsten

Here is my understanding of everything. (I enrolled in January). Tuition is $825, the student fee is appilcable after the anniversary date of enrollment and the exams vary, but $150 sticks in my mind as an average. I haven't taken a test yet so I don't know if there is a fee for the Sylvan learning center. I have not purchased any books as I am using friends books, and have found reference to several on this board who are doing the same (search books+excelsior on the board). The study guides are free and I have seen some mention on the EC enrolled students area there are more indepth guides that you purchase. I am going to try and do this with the least out of pocket, and there are payment options for the $825 so you don't have to do it all at once. Hope this information was of some use to you. Good luck! Kir

Very close veins = varicose veins The whole phenagrin/Phenergan grates on me too. Metoprolol = met-trop-rol-LOL.. drives me nuts too! There are physicians who can't pronounce drugs correctly.

Oh my gosh I am so sorry to laugh at a sad time in your life but I can only imagine walking in and seeing that! Your cousin sounds like she really does care though. Who else would think to deliver oral care?

I don't have any advice as far as the school, but the cost of living in GWS is outragious! My dh and I lived there for two years while he was going to the law enforcement academy there. We both say it is a nice place to visit...there are other RN programs on the Western Slope. Mesa State has a BSN program and I belive there is still an ADN at the Vo-Tech in Delta. Where is your family? Kir

LOL! I was written up for panty lines under whites so I wore a flesh toned thong and got written up for not wearing support hose. My dh and my best friend swore they couldn't see the thong! I was so livid!

I just found out I got in. I finally got to talk to someone. They really had no reason for the delay. I just have to come up with the money for tuition and all of that stuff. I am excited to start! Thanks for your support. Kir

Thanks for your information, Ken. Is there anyone who has taken the boards in CO with an Excelsior edu? Kir

I have contacted the state board five times to find out if Excelsior is an accredited school in Colorado. I have been given the run around every time. Does anyone here know if their program is accredited? Thanks in advance. Kir

I still haven't heard. I keep checking the website. Where is the link for trying to enroll? I have been all over that site I thought! I haven't tried to enroll in any classes because I don't know if I am in or not. Were you notified by regular post or email At least you gave me hope I might get in! Kir

We have a medication line the medical record staff listens to, writes the RF request and pulls the chart. (phonetic spelling of drugs is sometimes a challenge) This stack then goes to the triage nurse of the day. Her first priority is to answer nurse calls (BTW between having the med line and front office asking if the question has to do with scheduling a routine exam helps out a lot) If the triage nurse is on another line another nurse will pick up and take care. This has worked very well for us because then we only have one nurse booking patients in the 'double secret appointment' spots (ie, begining of a WCC or physical exam) There are some days if someone calls in sick the triage nurse is on the floor, then it is a free for all and the front office takes messages. We have tried to enforce the 24 hour turn around Rx policy but we are still in the teaching phase of all of this. I don't have a huge problem with some of my old folks calling and asking for a RF that day. I am just glad they are taking their meds. The people who pi** me off are those going on vacation who forgot to call and request meds. They are usually on thier way to the airport...

OOOOOOOOh! Where did you get your information? I want to be able to inform my patients. I live 2 hours east of Denver and everyone is scared here. I thought two of the children were immunocomprimised and the others were healthy. Kir

Influenza HELLABAD here in Eastern Colorado as well!!! School had more than 58% of kids out Wed. We have run out of liquid amantadine three days in a row. We have had to send folks 2 hours to Denver for a Rx. We have had to transfer 8 infants to The Children's Hospital since Wed noc. Kir

I only wish mine went that quickly. I was in contact with EC a while ago and they stated I would be accepted, but when I forwarded all of my stuff and my money...nothin... Waiting is the hardest thing for me to do. I am all about instant gratification! LMAO Kir

How long did it take after you enrolled and sent your money for them to let you know about your transcripts? I have been waiting since early Sept. Kir