picurn10

our picu also routinely writes orders to strip chest tubes. Its part of the order set to strip every hour for the first 24hrs.

I live in one of those states where the nurse practice act for lpn's is intentionally vauge and hospitals set their own standards. I have known quite a few LPN's practicing in the ICU setting, but they all worked in smaller hospitals or in more rura...

when a neurosurgeon is placing an evd or bolt and grinding through the skull...blech! trach's always gross me out, even though I work with them all the time. emptying/measuring suction canisters and jp drainage. digging around for an art stick.

I guess I disagree with most of the responses. If you were regularly crying, yeah, that's unprofessional, but getting watery-eyed with a pts family doesn't convey weakness it convey's empathy. Our MD's regularly cry with pts family's (I work in PICU)...

I'm actually really interested in traveling to UCH. I grew up in CO, and would love to go back for awhile. Do you mind if I ask what agency you went with? Also, do you have a bsn? I've been looking on the hospital's site and it looks like they only h...

I just found out the other day that the LPN school I'll be attending in August requires TAN scrubs I know this is just a silly post, so please don't flame me, but I was just wondering what everyone else wears? They really couldn't pick a better colo...

I know I'm asking for it, but does it ever seem like from clinicals that nursing can be really boring? I just finished my LPN program and start RN next week, but in all my different rotations it seemed like there were a lot of things that would bore...

I think a good hospital will orient you well. A nurse in our unit is transferring to another hospital in a large city, and she's been in picu for a couple years and she's supposedly getting 12wks.

I work in a teaching hospital and the D(s) designation on badges would be helpful. We don't make any distinction here, but in my unit we have multiple MSN/DN students who round and take pt loads along side our residents. They are all RN's so they hav...

I agree that it sounds like a management problem. I've had one pt family freak out because I wouldn't start a med (nothing critical) until I could properly scan it, and the scanner was broken. My charge nurse came in there and set the family straight...

It gets better! I just finished my first year in PICU and honestly, I felt like a world class moron for the majority of that year I dreaded giving report every shift because the more seasoned nurses will make you feel like crap if you miss something...

Honestly, I'd have helped the pt. Its not infrequent while giving report for a pt to need to be changed, a flush put on a pump, pt family asking for something, etc... If I'm charting and the other oncoming nurse is getting report, I'll typically jump...

I could be wrong, but I can't find anything on their site about being HCA. I work at an HCA hospital and have several coworkers who've recently come from CMC and their MAJOR complaint is about us being a HCA facility and how much worse it is than Da...

I didn't have time as a single, working mom to do an externship at all. I did LPN to RN with no break in between so once I passed LPN boards I got on at a peds facility, and then right after taking RN boards (8mo later) got hired into the PICU! I was...

my hospital does but you can't pass meds at all since you have no license to practice with/under. Students can pass meds because they are working under the license of the clinical instructor.

I've been in the PICU about 6mo, off orientation about 4, and at the end of every shift I just see everything I did wrong. Not huge things, but stuff I wish I did better or things I missed. I also feel like when parents ask me questions I don't reall...

sorry, i wasn't very clear: I got the job about 6mo ago, but I came here first and read the stickies and found them very helpful!

Selfish parents Parents who have preferences for nurses based on personality, not competency, and throw fits when they don't get assigned their favorites. We aren't waitresses whose section you can request! in my unit assignments are based on acuit...

reading the stickies here helped me in my interview. I actually got some of the exact questions in my interview that people here had shared I was beyond thrilled to get the interview so soon after graduation, so I went in really wanting the job, but...

I made $14/hr as a new lpn, and with shift diffs around 19/hr. Most of my classmates got jobs making around the same. hospitals pay slightly less.

I've been a peds nurse for about 18mo and recently moved to PICU. I love it! It is hard to see kids die, but for me the child abuse and tragic injuries are the tougher part. I'm still trying to figure out how to decompress from the things we see, but...

Just trying to simplify my life as much as possible since I'm a single mom and will have to work through LPN school. I've been reading a lot about how you can't have your hair down on your collar for clinicals, and I just wonder if it'd be easier to ...

I don't really agree with that advice. I HATE med/surg and I really don't like working with adults. It would have been two years of hating my life/job for no reason, had I followed that advice. I LOVE what I do, I'm so thankful everyday that I get to...

I live in OK and all the major hospitals in town are hiring for NICU/PICU/peds. I just graduated from my RN program in May, and none of my classmates had difficulty getting jobs. I already had a job as an LPN and a small pediatric hospital, and just ...

It does vary a bit depending on your region of the country. For example in my area, you can do postpartum/nursery as an LPN, but only RN's can do neonatal ICU (which is either a 2 or 4yr program). There is no specific title that goes along with it. ...