SilverRain

Since I am too late to offer advice on ROC, i will chime in on the other part of your post. I have many years of experience working in HH (from field nurse to sup to QA). It is important to remember that other clinicians can also get confused and give you wrong info. Hence, don't take anyone's word, see for yourself. Read those MD orders, compare to your HH policy on PICC line changes (order could've been written in error to begin with), if you are short on time - use your QAs, ask what your HH's guidlines. Most of us love to educate clinicians and we know CoPs and our company's rules and regulations by heart. Also, if you feel that you need more time to learn, talk to your sup. It's your license and your patient's safety. Look around your agency, find organized nurses and ask then how they do it. It's our human nature to brag - they will show you how they do it. There are a LOT of shortcuts you can take (without jeopardizing Pt's safety of quality of your paperwork). Good luck.

Are referring to the "Universal Negotiating Tool"? :lol2:Works every time! Just kidding!!

Siggi13, I actually found that vomiting does decrease intensity, although only temporary, of migraines. I have a few close friends who are MDs and they insist at prescribing antiemetics for me, they just don't understand why I refuse. I admit, it does look crazy, a person wants to vomit. But when I have a bad migraine I'll do whatever it takes to lessen the pain, even so unpleasant as throwing up.

I found out that I have severe fatigue after Imitex, po or IM, Axert and Relpax. I mean fatigue to the point that I would turn into vegetable (not literal of course). Migraine would subside, I would sit on the couch, for hours, unable to move my limbs, talk or have any emotions. I wonder if I had drool in the corner of my mouth sometimes. It would be so bad, that when I had migraine I would think long and hard how bad is it and if it really worth taking medication because the of the fatigue. I finally stopped taking them. BTW - misspelled words are the result of the Topamax. LOL I just can't win. Why can't I have a weight loss side effect of Topamax? Why did I end up with inability to spell words correctly?

AngelFireRN, I am sorry you have to go though the migraines and deal with unsupportive family members. I am, too, long time sufferer. I've been dealing with mine for the last 20 years and thankfully my family is very supportive and understanding. I just started "experimenting" with Topamax, still adjusting dosages. It does work, although not 100%, the life is much better. Side effects are annoying and I am waiting for them to go away, or if they are here to stay I will have to weigh in if they are worth living with. My migraines are triggered by so many things that I joke that they are triggered by life itself. Symptoms are typical too: n/v, sight, smell, sound sensitivity, occasionally auras. Recently migraines got so bad that I would get them 5-6 days/week. I attribute that exacerbation to our recent relocation to a different climate.

I forgot to add, start working on your WA license early. It took me a few months, mostly because of California's verification delay.

I just moved from Los Angeles area a few months ago. If you think SoCal is more expensive to live than Seattle area, think again. I was in for a big surprise. You know how you always think you can't pay anymore for car insurance than you already are paying in SoCal? Um, you will pay more. Housing is cheaper, but then again, depends on where you decide to settle down. Prepare to shell out more for produce. That marvelous California climate and a close proximity to Mexico afford a wonderful array of cheap year round supply of fruits and vegetable. Somehow, I am paying more for Washington apples here than I paid for then in Los Angeles. Why? I don't know. Gasoline prices are the same as in SoCal (according to my phone conversations with my mom). I did not have a job lined up when we moved and I just started to look. Another shocker, prepare to accept a pay cut for up to 40%. Yeah, you read it right. A pay cut. Nurses get paid much less here, at least from what I learned from my job hunting as an RN. As for 4 seasons, again, depends where you live. If you are higher in the mountains you will have four seasons. Otherwise, I think it more like 2 seasons. Rainy season and Not Too Rainy season. We had snow once this winter, which I was told was typical for this area. I would suggest you to research the area before you move. If you have children, you area will be greatly influenced by the school district (like in our situation), so the housing will be more expensive. Select the area and send out resumes ahead of time and heave telephone interviews. See what you get. No harm in that. Good luck. I have to admit one thing though, the area is stunningly beautiful. There is no lying about it. It's just breathtaking.

Um, what excactly was in job description? Maybe he was looking for a mistress. You, know, your "typical" kinda nurse.:icon_roll

I am so sorry for your loss. Please accept my condolences.

It just baffles me. I've been looking for a job for the last few weeks. Wanna know how many places don't bother to call me for an interview? Granted, I may not qualify 100% for every job I apply, but I apply only for positions I am a close fit and have a relevant experience. Do they pay less to the "imported" nurses? I don't mean any disrespect to foreign nurses, but hey, I am here, available and willing, what gives?

I hear ya on property taxes. We are renting right now, while selling our house in Los Angeles (that's going to take a while:o). Boy, we were in for a surprise when we learned about WA state property taxes! When we started looking a few months ago we were interested in some high end (for this area) homes, but after learning that property taxes can bankrupt us we decided to look for an average house. Not happy about it, as I will have to put on hold my dreams of acreage, but I want a piece of mind and financial predictability. I am thankful to our real estate agent for pointing out that difference in taxation system between CA and WA. And Caliotter3, you are SO right about low end wages!

You are right. It does sound funny. It's not like they trained thousands of nurses and just rounded it up to the closest thousand. Sound like they trained 14.7 nurses.

I just recently (3 mo ago) went through the procedure of obtaining WA State RN license. I went to NS, took NCLEX and was originally licensed in California. To my understanding, as long as NS is accredited you will have no problem getting your license in WA State. They are adamant about you actually attending a nursing school vs challenging NCLEX (I actually didn’t even know you could do that). Good luck

We all have different learning styles. Most of my classmates (BSN) enrolled into NCLEX prep courses right after graduations and most of them passed on their first attempt. I didn’t study a single day and passed on my first attempt. I only took 2 diagnostic tests from my friend’s Kaplan book (failed both:lol2:). But what helped me is that I didn’t want to pass. Long story short – I wanted to stay in school, my ex wanted me to get a job, so I decided to fail NCLEX and stay in school longer. Hence, I was TOTALLY relaxed during my exam. Not a worry in my mind. I was a very good student in college, so the information was there, in my brain; I just had to retrieve it. Had I been stressed I would’ve never passed the NCLEX. Remember -To Each His Own

As a sufferer from severe migraines I can tell you that some of them merit a trip to ER via ambulance. To justify: symptom changes such as paralysis, auditory changes, visual changes etc. Sorry didn't mean to sound mean, just wanted to clarify.

As much as I like spooky stories I can not watch "A Haunting" on Discovery Channel. I get scared of the images and sounds they put out there.

Bump. I love this thread. Spent a few days (and nights:sofahider) reading it. Love it.

I am so glad I found this forum. We just recently moved from California to Washington and as I began to job hunt I was shocked to discover that I will have to take a huge pay cut. We live in Tacoma area and while its cheaper than Los Angeles, but not by THAT much. Car insurance costs us more here than in LA (I still cant figure that one out and no one can explain it to us). Health insurance - another hike. Every shopping trip to the grocery store leaves me wondering why am I paying almost $ 2/lb for locally grown Washington apples, when in LA I paid only .69C? While housing is cheaper on average, it again depends where you want to live. If you have kids and want to take advantage of a good public school, prepare to pay a pretty penny for your future home. Can you tell I am still getting over the sticker price on living in WA State? And I thought California was bad. :lol2:At least it was mostly sunny there. Oy. Sorry for venting. As I search for jobs I see a lot of ads for nurses, especially in hospitals, however, they state such low starting salaries that it makes me wonder, do they pay everywhere such low rate? Does private sector pay higher than that? Should I lower my expectations? I planned on taking a cut in check, just not as much.