quetepye

Wow, this is a tough one. I'm a student nurse and have seen a few issues like this come up already. They puzzle me since there are so many sides, plus there is no unanimous standard. They don't touch things like this in school. That said, I am also a patient and had liver disease from age 5 until I got a transplant last year. Some of the relationships I've formed with certain doctors, nurses, etc. are SO special to me and even though I'm out of peds, I still am in contact with many of them. If one of them friends me on Facebook, I gladly accept. In fact, I'm friends with a couple members of my transplant team on Facebook. Of course, I'm still (and always will have to be) a patient of theirs. Still speaking as a patient, I would never even ask one of my previous nurses to take me into their home EVER (I would never want to put them on the spot like that) But if the situation arose, I really don't think I'd object. Unless you know what it's like to have a close relationship with a nurse for YEARS, I'm not sure if anyone, or whoever may potentially be the one to attack your license, has a right to question it. It's definitely an interesting dynamic and intentions can definitely be confused. Ultimately, I would never offer to even meet up with a patient outside of work for fear of losing my license. I might want to, but fear would hold me back. As a student, I wish stuff like this was more "cut and dry" but every day, I realize more and more that nursing laws/policies/licenses are a very cloudy area.

Interesting. I didn't have a central line until I woke up from my liver transplant - the line was just there. But they found that it was too far in after a CXR so they reinserted it and did another CXR. I think it was finally good that time. Anyways though, the central line was there for an entire week and no one mentioned or even said anything about a PICC. I still don't understand why not. Isn't a PICC much lower risk, not to mention higher comfort? Couldn't they have seen in the CXR that their line was in too far, removed it, and just put in the PICC instead of going for the central line again? It wasn't an emergency situation. I had an arterial line, large bore IV, and regular IV as well.

Bump. My question is, why would you choose a central line over a PICC line with all the risks? Plus, I had a transplant and had a central line myself and after seeing how invasive and annoying it was... I wonder, why didn't they just use a PICC? And Kay presented a good question above: Thanks ?

Not at all! For me, nothing held a candle to physiological chemistry, and once in nursing school, general nursing of adults is a ton of info in a small m amount of time! I guess it all depends what school you go to...

They always introduce themselves by first names, and I've never heard a clinical instructor be called differently!

Yeah, this came up again in clinicals today. Our new clinical instructor is a MSN CNP and says she will be grandfathered in, but they're doing away with MSNs, going the "physical therapy" way and making everyone else go straight to doctorate for advanced practice. I'm still thinking there has to be REAL data on this somewhere.... This seems more serious than just another "entry level to nursing should be BSN" Hmm...

Good questions & answers. How about students and clinicals? I'm getting nervous for this coming semester - clinicals an hour away in Cleveland (lake effect!) and I'm absolutely terrified of driving in unsalted, unplowed snow. If it was coming down like crazy and I knew it was worse an hour north in Cleveland, i'd definitely call off, but then again this is clinicals so it wouldn't make the unit short staffed. I'm going to ask my instructor what she thinks when I meet her in a few weeks. Any thoughts re:students?

How about if I'm not going to try to conceive for a while? My fiance and I want children - not for a few years, but definitely when it's the right time! Will working with chemo/oncology directly impact that, or only if we are actively trying to conceive now?

Hi, I'm a student in a BSN-RN program and am really interested in oncology nursing. I decided to do my summer externship on an oncology inpatient unit until a friend of mine who works on an oncology unit told me that she knows of 3 nurses on her floor in the past year or so who have had stillborns. Would that make any sense? Assuming they were handling the chemo properly, could there be any correlation? Or can you be harmed from chemo by touching the pt, etc? I wouldn't imagine so, but I'm no expert. My fiance and I want kids, and if there's a fair risk of chemo-stillborns, or any chemo-induced problems really, maybe I would want to rethink this. Thanks :)

... this is my 5th year in a BSN-RN program and it's going so slowly. I have a lot of health problems that are getting in the way of the rest of my schooling so I'm thinking of transferring to a LPN program since I'd probably have most of the courses already done or at least the knowledge. And the schedule is much more flexible. Also - LPNs around here get paid almost as much as RNs. Is that common? And what specifically do HOSPITAL/outpatient LPNs (not facility/nursing homes) do? I worked as a student tech and all I did was blood sugars, clean up poop, and "babysit" while the LPNs were even passing some meds and changing IVs - things I already know how to do and would honestly prefer doing over the "tech" stuff. Thoughts? Opinions? Tuition cost/the cost of LPN school + going back to finish my BSN-RN is not an issue at all. It's just a matter of me needing a job and wondering if an LPN really is that far from actual nursing... in job duties and salary. Also, what's LPN school like? I know what BSN-RN school is like so just curious on hours/amount of clinicals, labs, courses, etc. Thanks!!

I've done freelancing for Kaplan. Sometimes you'll just see a random "call for submissions" floating around nursing blogs/this site. Kaplan just told me they're done with the series, but who knows what else might come up in the future. Hopefully something because I love it too! Oh and journals and things - you just submit research, etc. articles. Look at various nursing journals and they usually have a spot that tells how to submit. Depending on the journal, sometimes it doesn't have to be really research - sometimes they want a personal story, opinion, a poem, etc. I've seen a huge variation!

I'm in BSN-RN at Kent state - they have a few campuses and different options as well. I love it here! I know we have an LPN-BSN/RN option. :) Good luck!

Right now does EVERY APN (NP, CNS, etc.) degree consist of a MSN? Or is that something you get first? And what are the "four" advanced practice roles? Are they the only types of the APN/MSN/? you can get? I would LOVE a "masters/advanced practice" for dummies primer, lol If you have a link or know of a post, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your input.

Yes, definitely. I think mostly everything is okay, but there are definite assignments you have to wonder about. Right now I have a clinical instructor who is insane - she wants nearly 100 drug cards made before we can pass meds, but all of us are required to have Davis' Drug Guide on our cell/PDA anyways so we have the info right there already. Honestly, I can find a drug faster in my cell program than I could flipping through 100 note cards. Seriously.... That's the stuff that wastes time and makes me mad.

I'm in a BSN-RN program, and we lost a TON of people in "pre-nursing" because they couldn't get through the 3 semesters of chemistry, the A&P, etc. We even lost a few in our "Intro to Professional Nursing" because they realized they just did not want to do this. Then once in the program, I'd say we lost maybe 5 -10 of our 100 the first year (assessment lab/first clinical/etc) and at this point, junior year, we are knee-deep in clinicals and I know 2 people who failed the last rotation but are re-taking it just because once you've come this far, it's kind of hard to go back. Just study, study, study, know your stuff, and shine in class and in your clinicals. Ask questions. Understand stuff. Pretend to LOVE clinicals until you actually do. You'll be fine. :)