TheSquire

To back this up - "cheeto sign" or variants thereof is used to minimize a patient's report of "not being able to keep food down" or other apparently dramatic GI complaint. It doesn't mean "the patient's fine," it means "whatever problem this patient may have, it's not prima facie a GI one." Any prudent clinician should know that older women presenting with abd pain still need a cardiac workup...which the "cheeto sign" doesn't negate. As such, the physician's story of an older female patient "eating donuts" in triage after c/o abd pain having a subsequent fatal cardiac event, while unfortunate, doesn't diminish the usefulness of such documentation.

Do you have a reference to cite?

The CAB switch was in the 2010 update. As others have stated, outside of CPR, the rapid assessment order remains ABC(DEFG...)

It's just like throwing a dart. Remember to z-track first.

My last year at camp I had an 18-yr-old counselor like this. She ultimately came to be for a back pain complaint - I didn't find anything, told her s/s of a UTI to look out for, and told her that at this point, if it was musculoskeletal, we'd just have to amputate. She went wailing to her mother (who was also on staff) at that point, complaining that "TheSquire told me that I'd need to amputate my back!" Her mother, to her credit, just snickered and told her to suck it up.

Or, you could initiate an ethics consult as a last-ditch attempt to deal with the issue internally. Also, since throughput times are reportable to CMS, you can also report this kind of gaming the system to them. They don't take fraud lightly...although if you do that, brush up your resume as your hospital might not have long to live.

Depends how strenuous the last of your bachelor's is.

I wouldn't know about that one - if they're sensible, there are rules that take into account experience, credentials, etc., when determining your initial pay.

"Patient is well-known to the department"

I never wear contacts at work - while glasses are no substitute for a full face shield, there have been times I've washed specks of blood off my spectacles.

As an occasional Charge RN, there are ways around this - while I may load up the rooms of a nurse with an ICU-bound pt, it'll be with patients who can be safely ignored for some time, and/or with patients that someone else has already started line/labs/fluids on.

"Not having specialty preceptorships" sounds very fishy to me - do they make everyone do med-surg for their capstones? Also, I'm not sure I'd want to be a new grad looking for work associated with a school that few local hospitals even want to deal with.

I have to chime in - finishing your degree will open more doors for you when you look for a nursing school, both with Accelerated BSNs and Direct-Entry Masters programs.

You should be able to petition your program's Admission/Progression/Retention committee to challenge your dismissal - making you repeat the class might be reasonable, but (assuming that your presentation of the facts is accurate...) going straight to dismissal really isn't. You'd have to have your ducks in a row (including letter from your physician, proposed plan to prevent future occurences, etc) to make that route work. You may also need to contact the Dean of Students' office, and/or whomever is in charge of ADA compliance - if it's a new diagnosis for you, they should be able to accommodate it short of dismissing you. As a last resort, if it is true that you're solely being dismissed because of this one instance, you can choose to lawyer up. However, whether or not you'd want to go that far to force this particular program to keep you is a decision you'd have to make for yourself.

NWM pays below-market rates because they insist that it's an honor to work there. Others have addressed Stroger. However...with experience, you should be able to get a job most anywhere else. Check out the Advocate system (IL Masonic is on the North Side), Rush, the Presence system, University of Chicago (which just came on-line as a Trauma center this year), Mt. Sinai/Holy Cross, the hospitals leaving Tenet, or the slew of independents (Swedish Covenant, Norwegian American, Loretto, Thorek, Community First, etc.).