bookscrapper

You may have had errors in your resume, but I work daily with an electronic medical record program that has spelling and grammatical errors all over the place. It is so frustrating, not to mention unprofessional.

I got a card from my dad saying how proud he is of me. And I got put on call last night and wasn't called in...WooHoo! Went to the brunch at work this morning (was worse than your typical hotel breakfast), tomorrow they're offering Cinnabon (I'm not working tomorrow), and there's a picnic for lunch on Friday (I'm working Friday night so I'll be sleeping). Oh well, we certainly don't do it for the gifts or recognition.

Our policy is to flush each lumen of a PICC line with 10cc normal saline followed by 200 units heparin every twelve hours. Normal saline is used for routine flushes before/after fluid/medicine administration.

I just accepted an offer for a night shift position on a Med/Surg/Onco floor in Southern New Mexico. I was never a fan of med/surg during nursing school so I'm a little nervous/anxious. I know it will be a great experience where I can learn a lot about different disease processes and a lot of different procedures and techniques. I eventually want to get into NICU/Perinatal nursing. I meet with HR tomorrow morning to do some paperwork and figure out when I start hospital orientation. I'd love to hear any of your advice or suggestions for starting a new job in med/surg.

My husband and I are moving to Las Cruces this spring and I am researching nursing positions. Since El Paso is not too far, I thought I would look there as well. My areas of interest are NICU and L&D/Ante-Postpartum. I don't know much about the area, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've seen a little bit about these "Versant RN Residency Programs" but am not really sure what they are about. Thanks for any advice you can provide me with. : )

Hi! My husband and I are planning to relocate to Las Cruces in the next six months and I was looking for some current information about nursing in the Las Cruces area. I am interested in NICU nursing or OB/Perinatal nursing. I know there are two main hospitals in the area: Mountain View and Memorial Medical and as far as I know only Memorial has a NICU. I would possibly be interested in working in hospitals in the El Paso area as it is not that far. Any information you can help me with is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I completed my CEUs here: http://ceuprofessoronline.com/courselist.php It involved reading several articles and taking quizzes. It was

(225 ILCS 65/60‑40) (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2018) Sec. 60‑40. Continuing education for RN licensees. The Department may adopt rules of continuing education for registered professional nurses licensed under this Act that require 20 hours of continuing education per 2‑year license renewal cycle. The rules shall address variances in part or in whole for good cause, including without limitation illness or hardship. The continuing education rules must ensure that licensees are given the opportunity to participate in programs sponsored by or through their State or national professional associations, hospitals, or other providers of continuing education. Each licensee is responsible for maintaining records of completion of continuing education and shall be prepared to produce the records when requested by the Department. (Source: P.A. 95‑639, eff. 10‑5‑07.)

I've been working on a high risk antepartum unit for the last six months. A majority of our patients are pre-eclamptic, pre-term labor, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), bleeding, hyperemesis, etc. On every antepartum patient we have to listen to the fetal heart rate with the doppler. Patients that are in pre-term labor often get nifedipine Q6 hours to stop contractions. When a patient has PROM, they get antibiotics for several days (IV to start then PO). With the pre-eclamptic patients, we're watching for headaches, blurred vision, R epigastric pain and also watching their blood pressures closely. If they get dangerously high (>180/110 usually) they often get delivered. Sometimes we have to put a patient on the fetal monitor. Sometimes we do get patients with more med-surg like problems but not too often. Our unit also gets postpartum patients as well. All the pre-eclamptic patients come back to our floor after being delivered; they are on magnesium sulfate for 24 hours post delivery and every two hours we have to monitor vitals, intake and output, edema, and deep tendon reflexes. Its generally a laid-back floor but there are times when things start to happen and you have to move quickly. Hope that gives you a better idea of what an antepartum floor is like.

that's "short hand" for 2...some md's use that symbol on prescriptions

For 2 of my 4 semester is nursing school we did all electronic charting. It was great. At my current job we're about 50% with the rest to come here "shortly." I really liked the EMR because you can easily look at H&Ps, notes from doctor's offices, medication histories, other nurses' notes, etc. You can graph trends in vitals or lab values. I really liked the care plan charting for progress notes. Plus there's tons of patient education info accessible and documented right there that it was given to the patient as well as being able to print out discharge instructions/teaching/meds. I miss the system we used in school but am getting used to Cerner - PowerChart. Everything just takes time.

I just started on an antepartum/postpartum unit and have created my own sheet. Having just graduated last May, I was used to using my own sheet (and I'm a very organized person so I like everything to be in order). PM me your email address and I'll send you the word document I use.

It often depends on the hospitals. The smaller ones tend to cross train everyone for all areas: antepartum, L&D, postpartum, and nursery. I work at a large hospital (~10000 deliveries/year) and antepartum is separate from L&D is separate from postpartum/nursery. I will say that we do tend to get our antepartum patients back on that floor after they deliver because they often need to be watched more closely/have more needs than the average postpartum patient.

I recently got a job at Magee and need to get some white scrubs. Can anyone tell me where there are scrub stores in the area? I know of Scrub Shack at Pittsburgh Mills but that's it. Thanks!

I would definitely say that that experience is not the norm. Personally, I would not go back to that physician, nor recommend him to anyone I knew. You could probably file a complaint but I'm not sure how much good that would do. I attended the delivery of a friend's baby and her physician did the actual delivery but had the resident stitch her up. The nurses were also very open to her desires for the birth. I'm sorry you had such a poor experience.

These websites have pretty good diagrams: http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/Military_OBGYN/Textbook/AbnormalLandD/fetal_position.htm http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://z.about.com/d/pregnancy/1/0/4/e/3/lopFotosearch_COG12046.jpg&imgrefurl=http://pregnancy.about.com/od/laborbasics/ss/fetalpositions_4.htm&h=374&w=724&sz=140&hl=en&start=10&um=1&usg=__IHV_S1yOTKAm-KJ9a1X17xd6kNE=&tbnid=fqKaG2lmNoy6UM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfetal%2Bposition%2B-%2BLOA%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

I found that I made more friends being in nursing school. Look to those in your classes; they know what you're going through and will be supportive. For the friends you currently have, make a date for an outing for the day after your next test to spend time with them when you'll hopefully be a little more relaxed. It may seem like you need to spend all your time studying, but you do need to take time for yourself or you'll get burn out. You need a healthy balance.

healing hands, here's a great site for learning EKG strips: http://www.skillstat.com/sixSecond2.htm (open in IE, not firefox) i learned them last spring and we used a great book that had lots of practice sections: ECG Workout by Huff (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/ECG-Workout/Jane-Huff/e/9780781782302/?itm=2) I would suggest, if you're not doing it already, to schedule study groups with others in your classes. We started that in our 3rd semester and it really made a difference. We would meet for a couple hours at a time and really break things down. Like with various conditions/diseases, we'd state what it is, what we would see in the patient, what we would do for the patient, and what nursing diagnoses would apply. Hope that helps! PM me with any ?s.

I graduated from Parkland in May 2008 (and yes, everyone I've talked to passed NCLEX on the first try). The program prepares some of the best nurses in the area. It has the reputation of being far superior to both Lakeland and U of I. They really force you to learn the material, and if you're not committed you won't make it. Sure there are students that fail and leave the program, but I'm pretty sure that happens everywhere. I think it's more common that students that were full time end up going part time because they have a lot of other committments (jobs, kids, etc.). The group of students I started with probably numbered close to 50, and I graduated with about 35. We only lost maybe 3 or 4, most of the students just dropped down to part time for a semester or two. Yes, I will admit the program has had some problems...mostly related to the administration. Just over a year ago, they switched program directors (the old director still teaches there, and the new director taught there before taking over). It can be really frustrating at times, but you just have to persevere and push through it. The classes have changed somewhat in that I know they now put more emphasis on the ATI tests, but they really do help you in preparing for the NCLEX (believe me, they're more specific than NCLEX so if you can get through them you should be good). They provide you with the ATI books that really should be utilized more than they are. During my two years at Parkland, I never heard anything about them losing accreditation. The past several semesters they have had a very high NCLEX pass rate. I would suggest for any student starting out, or anyone in the program for that matter, to get Saunders Comprehensive Review book. Go through this book as you go through your lectures. It really helps break things down, and just reading the subject matter for a 2nd or 3rd time in a different structure helps it make sense and stick in your mind. All the clinicals are a 1:8 preceptor:student ratio. This is what is allowed by the accredidating bodies. If they dropped the number of students, then fewer and fewer students would be allowed in the program. (It's hard to find nurses who want to get their masters and go into teaching.) We had a great number of clinicals and learned a lot from them. They try to find as many opportunities for the students as possible. In relation to the 1:1 or 1:2 ratio that U of I supposedly has, they have fewer clinical experiences over all and don't even have the chance to start IVs on real patients. Overall, I would greatly recommend the Parkland Nursing Program for anyone in the area. Yes, it's tough; yes, it can be frustrating. But it is well worth it. You come out of there thoroughly prepared to take and pass NCLEX. And the local hospitals know that and are very willing to hire Parkland grads.

Night shifts usually get a night bonus and weekends usually get a weekend bonus. It may be like $0.50 or $1 or $2 dollars; it just depends. If they offer 8 hour shifts...they are usually 7a -3pm; 3pm- 11pm; 11pm - 7am. Twelve hour shifts tend to be 7a- 7p; 7p-7a. The one hospital I had an offer from started the night shift bonus at 4pm and the weekend bonus from Friday at 11pm to Sunday at 11pm. There is often great holiday pay as well (1 1/2x - 2x normal rates). As far as what you actually work, most often you will sign on for day shifts or night shifts but there can be rotating positions. Usually the position will indicate day/night/rotating within the description.

1. How many questions did you take on NCLEX? somewhere between 110 and 120 2. What study materials did you use? Did you take a test review course? no review course...used saunders books and cds...lippincott cd and another one 3. Did your SON offer any testing (ERI, ATI, HESI)? we used ATI tests though i believe those are more detailed/harder than nclex 4. How long did you wait for results of the test, or are you still waiting? waited 2 days for unofficial results online...it was about a week/week and a half until the official letter 5. What were your thoughts coming out of the test (total disbelief, certainty you had failed, confident you had passed)? i didn't feel great about it...but i didn't think that i could have gotten enough wrong in that number for the computer to deem be incompetent 6. Was this your first attempt at NCLEX? yes

good suggestions! anything that can take your mind off of it is worth it! i know people who planned a vacation afterwards to just get away.

i used both of the saunders books (the green one - just questions, and the blue one - topical review) and cds as well as the lippincott cd and another cd...the key is to just doing questions over and over again i don't know how many thousands of questions i did in preparation but it was all worth it because i passed!

congrats!

Most of the job postings on UPMC post starting pays...for RNs in hospital setting its usually like $22/hour...office positions tend to be like $15/hr