curlilockz

I agree with the above... there's always going to be a new medicine that you don't know, and you need to know how to look it up... some of the drugs I give commonly are Lasix Colace Digoxin Flagyl Ambien Lopressor Lisinopril K-dur I could go on for a while, but I guess this all depends on the types of patients on the floor... It might help to ask one of the nurses on the floor or the nurse manager... In school we had to do standard drug cards for certain drugs, and it always seemed that the patients didn't take those drugs...

that's just wrong. :barf01:

My most difficult might have been the patient going through DT's who chewed through the IV tubing and sucked the NS dry because he thought it was vodka.

I've taken HESI tests every semester of school. For me, our finals are so much harder than the HESI. At our school, if you study for the final, then you've studied for HESI. We're in an internship class where all we do are Saunder's tests. If you do those and the HESI questions, you should do okay. It's not about answering the practice questions correctly, it's about understanding the rationales. I'd rather miss a lot of practice questions and know the rationales. But that's just my opinion. HESI tests change each time they are taken, so it's just a little of everything. It sounds like you're on the right track. Good luck and congrats on making it this far. Hopefully we'll both pass the NCLEX this summer.

Is this your first semester of nursing school? That sounds like something a Fundamentals instructor would do. If a patient says no, then you can't give them a bath. You could always try to convince them, but with some people, it's just not going to happen. One thing I do with patients to help them bathe is instead of asking, "Would you like to bathe today?" is saying, "It's time to get cleaned up. What do you need help with?" This way, it promotes independence, and if they are just adamant about it, they can refuse. I think most instructors are like that because a lot of students try getting out of giving a bath. It's not really fair when the patient refuses though. Sometimes you can convince them to get a bed change, and get them a warm washcloth to wipe off their face. Maybe that will help. I used to be really nervous about giving baths my first semester, but after working as a tech in the summer, you just get used to asking. Good luck with nursing school!

Okay, that makes more sense.

This is something that I have wondered about for a while. With CPR, what is the point of the rescue breaths? It doesn't make sense to me. The patient is not getting oxygen, they are getting CO2. So why rescue breaths? I understand in a hospital where the patient can be bagged with 100% oxygen, but on the field, why breath CO2 into their lungs? And many times the air goes into the stomach, not the lungs. I'm a student, and would like to know the reasoning behind this. It's been something I've wondered about since my first CPR class years and years ago.

New grads where I live start out at $15.65/hr... This is RN, not LPN. The bigger cities in AL pay maybe $17-19 an hour for new RN grads. Cost of living is much lower, but it's still grossly underpaid...

haha! Too funny! I can't believe you did it... I would have said some sarcastic remark and got reported.... I had a pt joking with me because I kept bringing him coffee (I'm a PCT), he said he would double my tips for the day... ahh... if only....

Mine is right now... I've been studying for MedSurg finals for the past week... hmmm... but seriously, no... not like an arm or leg.... arms and legs fall asleep because of lack of blood supply... if the head is not getting a blood supply I would worry about unconsciousness.... Or are you talking about the face? The head is a broad term.

Dumpings Syndrome: related to gastric surgeries; reduce carb intake, do not drink liquids with meals, lie down after eating; S/S vertigo, syncope, sweating, pallor, tachycardia 5-30 min after eating Ammonia levels rise in cirrhosis because the liver cannot break this down. Leads to hepatic encephalopathy. Ammonia is the end product of protein - low protein diet. Give lactulose to decrease ammonia levels and bowel pH. Pancreatitis: severe pain in epigastric region radiating to the back. Give Demerol becaue morphine causes spasms in the sphincter of Oddi. Avoid lying flat because this streches the peritoneum, causing more pain.

That's funny. I'm a PCT in the summers and our census was low. So I picked up those antimicrobial wipes we have (I can't remember what it's called, but it's very strong) and cleaned the siderails in the halls. Our supervisor thought that was great. There's a lot of things I do to help out housekeeping if there's nothing going on, they usually are really thankful for the help. But I don't think they are from a union.

A BSN is a bachelor's degree in nursing. A RN is a registered nurse. A person with an ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing) takes the same NCLEX as someone with the BSN. I have no clue if there are pay differences between the BSN and ADN. If there are, they are not much. The ADN has fewer prerequisites, but that does not mean it is easier. In fact, at my school, many people going for a BSN go to the local community college for prereqs. ADN and BSN have 2 years of nursing school. There are very few differences in the nursing program once someone enters. There are many ADN to BSN programs that can be taken online. Most (if not all) Master's programs only take BSN nurses. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. If you are looking to apply for CRNA school, go ahead and get your BSN. It will save you time. ADN is not an easier degree than the BSN. And this is coming from someone in a BSN program. I don't know much about LPNs. The hospital I work for phased them all out. There are only RNs and PCA (Patient care assistants). Many of the LPNs went to a nursing home, let the hospital pay for the schooling to get their ADN or BSN, or found another profession. Hope this helps.

I had a patient who fell and hurt his right hand. He was an older man (>80). Well, he insisted that I hold his member in his urinal while he went to the bathroom. I asked him why he couldn't do that himself. He told me his arm was broken. I told him he had another arm. He insisted that he was unsteady with his left hand and would spill it all over the bed. I told him "If you can hold a fork to eat, you can hold your member. You're not going to get away with that in rehab, and you won't here." I then put towels all over his bed, placed the urinal, and told him to call when he was finished. You know... He didn't spill a thing on that bed.

ENFP... hmm... we really are rare... I think there may have been 5 on this thread.

To my fellow nursing students: yes, the patient our instructor assigned me to smells badly. Yes, she's an overweight woman with areas on her abdomen with necrotic flesh that's probably infected with MRSA. Yes, I've given her a bath, and thanks for the help you offered. Standing in the hall talking about how badly she smells really helped. No, you won't get to choose your patients when you are out of school. So if you can't handle the smell of infected wounds, poop, vomit, etc., then yes, you should probably go into another profession.

This happened to me while I was a patient. I went to the ER one evening, with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. One of my friends (a guy) had to take me because I seriously couldn't drive due to vomiting. Also, my family lives about 4 hrs away, so there was no one to take me. Well, when I was there, they asked me if there was any way I was pregnant. I understood why they asked this, and told them no, there was no way. (ER nurses, I'm sure you hear that a lot, but seriously, wasn't pregnant). Well, they do a pregnancy test, and sure enough, it was negative. Anyway, they wanted to do a procedure the next morning. So my friend drives me the next day. They still couldn't figure out what was wrong. The ER doc comes in, looks at me and very rudely says, "So your pregnancy test came back negative last night." Turns looks at my friend and asks him, "Is there anything that went on last night that could have changed that?" I was mortified. :imbar I don't suppose ER docs are known for tact.

What is the lowest passing grade you can make? At my school it's a 73, a 72 is a fail. And yeah, I had a 4.0 until this semester. It's frustrating.

I was helping a nurse shave a pt's leg for surgery on his ankle. He was in his late teens, and his mother and grandmother were in the room with him. The nurse made a joke with him about his hairy legs. The mother said (and I quote), "If you think that's hairy, you should go up a little bit more." Poor guy. He turned blood red and yelled "Thanks mom."

I am still in school. I'm still not sure what I want to go into, but right now, the ER is what I'm leaning toward. Anyway, a good friend of mine who is a nurse told me I should get experience in another department before going to the ER. Her reasoning is it would be better for a new grad to get experience in assessment skills before going to the ER. She recommends ICU or a step down. As ER nurses, would you recommend starting off in an ER, or would you recommend getting experience on another floor? If you think experience is needed before the ER, where would be the best place to start?

I was in the OR on a clinical. One of the surgeries I saw was done on a pt who had a TURP in the morning. He had to have emergency surgery later that afternoon due to extensive bleeding. What would that surgery be called? *Note: I'm new to allnurses.com. I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place.