R.NICU

If it's my first day on I just go to sleep whenever I want [[somwhere between 11-2am]], wake up when I feel [[usually 8-10]], and may take a quick hour nap before work..but not usually. However, if I worked the previous night, after the shift, I stay up until 9 or 10. Sleep until 2 or 3, go to the gym and then work at 6 :) We work 6-630

Hey guys. I started the RN program spring two years ago and was 21. Got my LPN license July last year and my RN license 3 days ago ...both at age 23 :-)

sometimes. i tell them i'm a nurse and they ask me if i'm going to upgrade to doctor ...um, no.

what are the patient:nurse ratios (for day and night) on your acute rehab floor in a hospital setting? -on days it's supposed to be 6:1 but it never is. it's usually 7-10 patients to a nurse what is the ratio for patient:CNA? for the techs it's 1:8. it's common for them to have 9 or 10, and occassionally, 11 or 12. Do you have a free charge nurse? what does he/she do? -charge has no patients. She figures out where new admissions will be placed, gets pre admit paperwork started, there for complaints from families, makes shift assignments for next shift, and handles a lot of random tasks. How often do your patients get showered? -Every other day. Depending on the room number, the person will have a day or night shower. Sunday is a no shower day but we always end up giving them anyway or people complain. Do you track I&O's on all patients? -No. Is your charting computerized? all paper baby. remember Kardexes :) Do all nurses complete the entire FIM on each shift? -Not currently, but we are switching to a new flowsheet/charting form and we will be required to do FIMs everyday. What we've been doing is FIM-ing on the first three days of stay and the date of discharge. On a scale from 1-10, how busy/stressed do you feel on a daily basis? -Depends on the day, and there are several factors that play into that. Who's my tech, are necessary resources available, patient load, acuity of patients, family matters, number of admits and discharges, and so forth. How do the CNAs/Nurses get along on your floor? -I work in an acute rehab hospital and we are all like family. Many of us hang out after work, go to school together, work out, and everything else. I like all the techs and i would like to say they like me too :).

Hey. Sorry for the late response, but I've been M.I.A. d/t this last semester of school! omgoodness they are trying to kill us. anyway, that's another story, for another thread. At my facility, you may have also just met the person for the first time and be d/c-ing them. I believe this is common at many hospitals regardless of the specialty. Where I work, we have weekly town meetings where we discuss the patient's progress and barriers to discharge. After everything is decided, the case manager facilitates where the patient is going, f/u appointments, getting equipment for the patient if needed, and pretty much anything else after d/c. The nurse goes over everything. We discuss PT, OT, ST, and nursing considerations and recommendations. We also have this annoying form that has to be filled out with all the patient's meds, what times we administered them at the hospital and what they are for, EVEN THOUGH MOST OF THIS INFO IS ON THEIR SCRIPTS! ugh! ((can you tell i've done too many discharges lately lol )) The sheet is very time consuming when you have alot of patients. So we go over the meds, go over f/u appointment dates and times, go over where/how they will get their equipment if applicable, and adv to contact case manager if they have questions post discharge. If it's hectic and i'm ready to d/c the patient but case mgmt is still working on some of their paperwork, I'll go over the therapy and nursing papers and the case manager finishes up the rest and sees the patient out. So yes, case mgmt sets up the patient's appts at my facility. The patient can do it themselves if they like and then report it to us so we don't double schedule or cause confusion.

That sounds like a cute stehie! Make sure you keep track of it. If you lend it to a doctor or another nurse, keep track of them cuz they will walk away with it. A doc in the ED at clinicals asked for my stethescope and i followed her around for 30 minutes because she was not getting away with mine lol. But anyway, congrats Stargate. My parents got me a stethescope when is started too :)

hey everyone, I'm in my fourth semester at Pima CC. You will have to have the following to be eligible for clinicals in the spring: 1. a TB skin test, good through the end of the spring semester. (TB test is good for one year) 2. Copy of your shot records proving you've had a TDAP (tetorifice diptheria and pertussis), proof of hepatitis shots (or you can opt out of that one), and MMR. maybe a few others. 3. You will need to get a physical done from a physician and the physician has to sign a paper saying you are physically and mentally stable. 4. Fingerprint card 5. Copy of paid fees receipt 6. Pima student ID 7. Proof of health insurance 8. CPR card from the American Heart Association (AHA). there is a really good and quick place you can go to on speedway...they will provide you with the info in class. I believe it's called Eclipse CPR. The instructor is funny, efficient, and quick! And your certification will be good for 2 years. I think that's about it. After your orientation they will "surprise" you with a HESI exam. It covers A&P, math, and some other subjects. it's all vague now. They will use this exam to help illustrate which subjects you are great in and those in which you have opportunities for improvement. Congratulations everyone! The two years goes by soooo quick!

i have a friend that works at tmc and she said alot of nurses got laid off.

...I get a new admit! I'm a new nurse chugging along through my orientation. Things seems to be going well, i started with 2 patients at the beginning of orientation and had 4 today + a new admit, so 5. I think i'm catching on nicely. Things were going pretty smoothly today until the new admit arrived. In the past, I've done them with my preceptor, but today she felt i was ready to try it alone. So I did. This was the first time i went through all the paperwork with the admission on my own. Omgoodness, if you want to be thorough, this process can take a good hour...or atleast it did for me. The patient was HOH, speaks slowly, had a daughter who kept putting in her two cents ((or two dollars)), patient was a nurse for 60 years and questioned a med I gave her, wants all her meds divided in 4 instead of just crushed in apple sauce [[***!!??]]...i'm sure you've all been there. it just seemed like i couldn't get in and out like i wanted to. and of course, all the while, i hear the symphony of call lights ringing in the hallway. i can still here them as i type this thread. Finally, forever and a day after meeting my patient, it's done. Advanced Directives copied, paperwork filed...done. Back to reality, where i'm way behind. I have to help with a max x4 patient who keeps trying to slide out of his chair every so often, a demented woman who hates and fights her nurse so i have to reorient her and administer her meds and call her daughter up to occupy her time. Then, i have to deal with my patients! The fun never stopped. Wow, is it shift change already? I haven't even begun to write a note...*sigh*

Maybe that will be good for you. There are several factors that could help determine that...how fast you learn, their new grad program, your preceptor, etc. I'm surprised your orientation isn't longer though, especially for a specialty such as ER. I'm a new grad in Acute Rehab and my orientation is 6 weeks but i was advised i can go up to 12 if i wish.

writing 101 and 102 was basically a repeat of what i did in high school. I don't remember but one or two things from my psychology and sociology classes. Child Development was fun, but not needed. My humanities class was a joke!...but an easy A.

stethescope, penlight, tape, alcohol pads, several pens, and atleast two pairs of gloves on me at all times.

I also work at a rehab hospital and would give it an 8/10. Reasonable patient load, docs are nice most of the time, wonderful co-workers....yeah, 8/10. What knocks it down two points is that fact that we don't always have the necessary resources that are needed, and we have been getting alot of obese patients lately that are impossible to transfer w/no less than 4 people. This can be time consuming and taxing on your body. ((we don't use Hoyer lifts at our facility))

thank you all for your replies! I'm so stoked! Wednesday is my first official day, but the nurses have been allowing me to do little things here and there :) what do you believe is the hardest things for a new rehab nurse to adjust to? I'm absolutely terrified of going to team conferences (every wednesday) because i hear the doctors tear the nurses to shreds if they ask questions. Any input? Thankyouberrymucho =D

Hello! I just received my LPN license this month and have a job in acute rehab. I believe I have a leg up on you by having worked in this facility for the past year as a tech so I'm not as intimidated. But I'm intimidated nonetheless. You have to remember you passed nursing school and the dreaded NCLEX which proves you are competent to practice nursing. You will have an orientation to help you transition and ask a lot of questions. As someone said, also learn your policies and procedures. I. read up on common dx and meds I will be giving in my specialty. On the contrary to what a previous poster said, I use my med-surg book to review this info because I like a more in-depth explanation of the subjects I'm covering. My NCLEX review book is awesome, but not AS detailed. Exhale. Take it one day at a time.