sashamay

Just wanted to run this by you all.. I'm an inpatient oncology nurse.. So I hurt my thumb (..jammed it against the pyxis of all things) 2 months ago- a couple days of it not improving, i filed workers comp and was told to wear a thumb spica brace. 2 weeks of light duty, and my left wrist starts acting up(tendosynovitis) (I do have a connective tissue disorder so am more prone to these things tho ive been injury free for quite some time)... that earned me another spica brace on the other side and more precautions. 2 months later i finally see the ortho hand specialist- he put a spica cast on my right hand/thumb/wrist/arm and a custom plastic spica splint thing up my forearm with cortisone injection for the left.. He gave me "modified duty" and said I can do whatever I'm allowed to do as long as I'm in my cast and brace.. I did light duty for the last 2 months- limited w my braces but i could write and stuff.. so all the chrge nurse paperwork/audits etc were all mine. Limited pt care but i did some, sometimes more than I should have.. (perhaps thats why they didn't heal..?) Now I'm in this cast and brace for 6 weeks... So This time I had to write a list of things i can do... writing really hurts but with a big foam thing on a pen I can do it.. tho my handwriting is crap w this cast. No patient care (sanitation and liability..)tho I MIGHT be able to help w oral meds..if I use a pen to puncture the blister packs. No IV meds. call lights..If i can write enough, I can do all the audits they keep piling on the charge nurse.. Almost seems pointless. part of the issue is.. i don't know what I can do! this dang cast is way more limiting than the braces were.. and some things I CAN do but they end up hurting me later.. (major things hurt right away, other things take several hours to hit me). They really want me to switch to dayshift and do admin/secretary crap but I'm a true night shifter of 10 years+ and I can't tolerate functioning during the day.. and now with me on light duty (plus we're down one nurse as it is), we are super short staffed.. sorry this lengthy.. its just a frustrating situation and Ive also never had a cast before.. I miss being able to use my hands! i miss patients.. and I feel useless not being able to do my job or help out w a lot things at work.. anyone been in my shoes?

I'm suppose to come up with an "action plan" for not being there late.... part of the issue is a damn useless CNA, insane assignments that you sucks when your coworkers point out how lousy of an assignment you have and offer to help as they can and having to now actually clock in and out for the lunch I oh so rarely actually get to take.... if i dont take it, I get yelled at for both the late hour and the missed lunch- but I could do what every bloody one else does and lie about it.... clock out and then do patient care (which worries me liability wise). I also refuse to just copy and past other people assessments word for word and I actually document on education, care plans, daily care, I/O and ensure all my crazy amt of pain assessments and f/u are done as well... (Which only maybe 1/3 of my coworkers do). I've been an RN 5.5 years and yes, i have struggled with time management off and on but had a pretty good handle on things until this CNA started-My latest issues I can pretty much chalk almost all of them up to days I work with the CNA i can't stand.. and extra crappy assignments... How do I make an action plan for crap I can't control? Itd be nice it wasn't all BS either but to be honest I don't even know how to lip service this one... Help?

Hey, I've been a nurse for 3 1/2 years, doing med/Surg with remote tele and have been on an oncology specific unit for the last 2 1/2 years. What agencies do you recommend for per diem hospital work in the Portland metro area? I have my WA and OR RN license. Hubby is in between jobs and my income isn't cutting it. I did agency work as a CNA for about 5 years total in PDX and Seattle area but that was quite awhile ago and I know the scene has changed a bit (Legacy doesn't use agency at all anymore). Thanks!!

ahhhH!!! I just started at a new big hospital (compared to my awesome little 44 bed unit i moved away from =( and at this new hospital, they use Epic and I was just told today I have to go thru and put stop times for the same reasons, and cuz of something goofy with the I&O's (cuz most of the nurses don't actually CLEAR their pumps.. they just click the little button on the program that guesses how much has gone in based on the start/stop times)... And i have to put start/stop times for the IV pushes too! what the hell?! I have sooo much more little stupid pointless crap to do with this system, its driving me nuts... and ironically, my charting is WAY less thorough and detailed than it was with my old system.. when I could put a freaking nursing note in... grr... so yeah, anyone with stop time tips for meds you don't have set to yell at you when the Abx is done? cuz I personally hang too many damn piggybacks at night... its a computer, make it do the math! Or even give you an "estimated stop time" and a little box i can check to say it was right or i can change it? stupid crap.

see, this is pretty much exactly why I'm having a hard time learning EPIC! I just got hired at a new hospital and we use EPIC... and at my old hospital, we used Meditech, and my charting there was rather thorough and detailed, mostly in the form of nursing notes. I'd make one note, and add on to it all shift.. so in that case, my documentation would have provided backup cuz I wouldda put something at least once or twice on my little one or 2 line updates such as "Provided pt with 7-up, per request" but in epic... its ALL charting my exception, and I'm having a hard time cuz i feel like my documentation won't save my ass if something happens!

So I just wanted to exclaim my excitement.. I'm gunna be working on an Oncology/BMT unit! Sometime this year, they will chemo certify me, and next year, they will start the mentoring process to get me BMT certified! The unit has 8 BMT rooms. I've been a Med/Surg nurse for a year at a small hospital so I've gotten to have a lot of experience with a little bit of everything over the last year, which has been great. I actually really like my little hospital (44 bed). But I wanted to come back home (Portland, OR area), as i've been up an hour north of seattle for 3 years now (2 yrs of school and 1 yr of work)... Oncology is what is want to specialize in.. and have for a long time. I worked an Oncology unit as a CNA for a yr and 1/2 and it left a strong impression.. Cant freaking believe it!! =) (and im really glad it panned out, cuz I got sick right before an interview at the same hospital for a cardiac obs position, and had an interview on a general surg/neuro floor that got canceled cuz they hired someone in the meantime lol... not to mention this is totally what i wanna to do so that makes it that much cooler!) They seemed to really like that i was already an Oncology nursing society member so thank you guys for all your suggestions to other people about that, cuz I totally listened! hah

I told a co-worker about a potiental move and to be fair, I did email the boss and let her know of the impending decision.. and suddenly coworkers on the prev shift i hardlly ever see are sayin "So I hear your moving eh?!" And then my boss forget I emailed her....and called me and asked me about it cuz she "heard it" from someone. surprised me how quick it spread. very weird.. not use to that kinda thing, esp about me. Lol

So I have been a nurse on a med/surg/tele floor at a small hospital for a year now.. and I want to move back home (Portland, OR). i SOMEHOW landed an interview at a good hospital, on an oncology floor, which is what i want to specialize in! I worked Oncology as a nursing assistant for a yr and 1/2 and didn't realize how much I liked it until I moved away for school. All through school i tried to get Oncology patients, usually pretty complex cases! (I like a good challenge =) And now even through my little 44 bed hospital, we get the occasional oncology patient. We have a pretty decent outpt oncology unit, and we get the neutropenia's and various other complications. I KNOW i want to specialize in Onc, i can't wait till I can get Oncology Certified and get Chemo certified and all that... Ohhh how i want this job!! I'm so afraifd i'm gunna mess up the interview... i haven't had very many in my life, and my only other RN interview was for my current hospital, and it was... so laid back and unofficial-like it didn't feel like a real interview. (830pm and i was in hospital scrubs cuz i had just gotten off work) so this is like.. all official like! Its the only job i've applied for i've heard back from anyone about.. and ohh how i want it. Its night shift, 12 hr shifts...which is also exactly what i want (I'm a true night owl). Its a big high ranking hospital and they are i guess in the top 6% in terms of oncology programs in the nation... I have a suit (skirt.. drk grey/ subtle pink pinstripes) its slightly too big but i think it'll still work alright. its gunna be 80 degrees that day, which sucks... im opting for the not-as-fancy-but-way-more-comfy shoes... cuz im meeting the guy in the lobby, so i figure there will be some walking involved and i want to keep up! ohhh i hope i get it... i hate wanting it this badly. I have a little exp at this hospital too, I use to work for an agency in portland and I often worked there.. its been about 3 or so yrs since then but i am vaguely familiar with their computer charting system... *crosses fingers* I know i'm cut out to be an Onc RN.. hope this is my in! Any tips/advice about any of it is welcome! I suck at asking them questions...seems like usually they end up answering em all for me before i get a chance!

Hi, So on tuesday I have an interview for basically my dream job.. noc shift, 12 hr shifts, Oncology unit of a very good hospital back home! (I moved away for nursing school and now that I have a yr of exp, I want to move back..and I very much want to specialize in Oncology). I have the numbers of a few of the Nurses I work with now who are more than willing to provide me a good recommendation/review (charge nurse and two of the people I precepted with when I was still in orientation and have since worked with for the last year on my med/surg/tele unit) but no letters of rec as an RN... I have a few rather good ones from my days of being a CNA which were written as I was leaving those positions for nursing school. But I'm not sure if these are worth bringing or not.. ? Suggestions? Thoughts? (and any side interview tips would be great too heh I'm so nervous cause I want this position so bad!) Thanks! =)

On our sliding scale protocol, if the person gets any coverage at HS, (2100), we have to check the blood sugar again between 0200-0300. Also on that, is if the patient is NPO, then we switch to Q6 blood sugar checks and sliding scale coverage instead of ACHS. (Our orders also say to "notify the MD for blood sugars of 360 or higher x 2"....tho no one has been able to tell me if that is 2 scheduled blood sugar checks, or rechecking it twice in case of machine error..) In the above case, I would have given the insulin, and then rechecked it a bit later to see what happened. If it happened to be a bit too low for comfort, I'd call the MD and mention that he happens to have NS infusing and ask if he wants to change that... (our protocol also says to give the D50 amp if its less than 60, but so far I've caught it before then and told the MD) And as for all the type 1 DM's.. yeah, totally! Listen to the patient! Ideally the nurses can get the docs to write an order regarding insulin per the pts regular routine or some crap, which ive seen a couple times. We have a few docs who write this little math equation to figure out how much insulin to give... BG-130/30 - similar to that, depending on the pt, instead of the usual low/med/high algorithm.

Ive had A LOT of patients that Zofran doesn't seem to do anything at all for... My last shift I had a pt with severely delayed gastric emptying/slow peristalsis who said she had tried everything (and we had given her a lot of different stuff over the few weeks we had her) and the only thing that actually kept the vomiting away was 2mg of IV Ativan every 3 hours. She remained a bit nauseated but was able to keep Boost down periodically.

Weekend for my hospital (and every hospital I've worked for) is Friday and Saturday nights. Our weekend diff is $4/hr, on top of our night shift diff. which is $4.75.

My mom's resting HR is around 140-150 without her meds...she also has random episodes of SVT with no apparent cause. She had tried quite a few different beta blockers (including atenolol and metoprolol) and it wasn't until they put her on propranolol did she have significant results. Her resting is still 90s-100's but she experiences far less SVT episodes and overall her HR is way better controlled. Maybe the pt needs a different beta blocker? Unfortunatly mom now has more respiratory/asthma issues likely r/t the propranolol but least her HR isn't so crazy!

Okay so Im going to graduate on June 7th... and likely then wont be able to take my boards till late June or July, based on what I'm being told. I have started to apply for positions and I was wondering if you guys click the little button on applications that says yes you have graduated or yes you are an RN... I havent been doing so, because well, I'm not yet! When it leaves room for it, and its on my Resume, I always have anticipated graduation such and such date, RN pending July 2010 or something... but yea, I figured I'd ask what those of you who have landed jobs prior to graduating are doing about this little grey area! Thanks!

Lil late but figured I'd chime in... I've been a CNA since 2004, and did homecare for a year privately before I got hired on with my first agency. I was thrown into a nursing home and i literally had no idea what i was doing or what needed to be done as I hadn't been in a nursing home since my cna training over a year before.. then i was put in a hospital, a small one, dayshift, 12 hr shift... fastward about 2 years. I very quickly learned that i could refuse shifts, (i only do nights and occationally evenings), refuse types of facilities (all nursing homes are a no-go for me.. ive worked maybe 5 shifts in em, ever.. and i suck at them lol) and strongly prefer hospitals and psych units (and ONE assisted living place that rocked heh) Didn't take me long at all to decide what i liked and what I didn't. There is one hospital id only work at if i was desparate for money cuz i always got a bad vibe from that place.. but it usually wasnt a big deal. If your willin to help them out every so often for a "oh crap, a shift just came up! help!" shift... and u sorta set the rules and work enough for them, then they'll help you out too. Id pick up on things fast... try to figure it out on my own and if i couldnt figure it out, i'd ask someone and theyd usually show me with no problems. I also watched people intently, and listened..to see how the nurses talked to the psych patients to redirect them and calm them down etc.. As i got the hang of the smaller hospitals, and got to know all the staff on nights and requested back... then i was put on the floor of the affiliated larger hospitals, where usually the nurses were eternally greatful to see me as there were 30 patients to a floor, and i was the only CNA on nights. i learned how to chart electronically on the fly because at the time, the hospitals didn't have any formal comp training for agency cna's (now they do!) (ha! once i worked a unit i was very familiar with for a 16hr shift cuz of a snow storm and lack of people able to make in to work at 11pm - and the hospital had just launched a bran new charting program the day before... after asking nurses how to put in my vitals and I&O's, and after charting all 16 hrs on my 30 patients over and over, i got the hang of it real quick!). Usually im pre-booked with the hospital, but dont know what unit until either a phone call confirming im for sure working 2 hrs before the shift, OR i show up to the hosp and find the staffing office and they tell me where to go.. then i show up, and if its a new unit And if its a floor-shift instead of sitter one, then I always ask what is their routine for things on that shift, like when/who does vitals, daily weights, i&o's and any other quirks. Then i ask for a brief tour of the unit...so i know linen, dirty utility, med room, supplies etc... and then off I go. =) and write down my nurses names on my census sheet, so i know who to ask for when i have an abnormal blood pressure or whatever.. Ask questions when i need to, but try to figure out stuff so im not annoying. OH! And i keep sticky notes in my pocket to pass on stuff to nurses, and to jot down important things about the unit...like their routines, any special tricks unique to that hosp or floor, and things Like the code to get in the break room for future use, so i wont have to ask again =) keep it all close by so when i go there again in 6 months, i still have it handy =) I'm just about done with Nursing school now..and by July will be ending my career as an Agency CNA. (i did end up working at one hosp part time to supplement my income for a yr and 1/2). Since March 05' when I was 20, I have worked at 13+ hospitals, 6 psych units including a lock down group home for schizophrenics (which was pretty interesting and they kept offering me a job tho the pay was lower, and I like the variety of agency too much), 1 assisted living facility, etc... Even once I got sent to a tiny 12 bed hospital at a local beach (2 1/2 hrs away). They paid my gas and my hotel.. i did an evening shift, went to bed, then did a 12 hr day shift (special circumstances for me, usually i didn't do days but it sounded fun hah which it was!). As a side note...I've learned *SO* much in the last 5 years its amazing... and everything has helped me get through nursing school! My evals always talk about how i can enter a new hospital/unit and figure things out, that I'm very indepdent but ask for help when its appropriate, very comfortable in a hospital, and i get along well with all of the staff, that i dont let it show when im overwhelmed hah "nerves of steal or a very good poker face" my prof told me last wk heh I was kickin myself before that i hadn't gotten into school sooner... but now i wouldn't trade it for anything. I also really wanna do travel nursing when ive been a nurse long enough. =) can't wait! I also think it'll be REALLY weird to work only at one hospital for a year... cuz even when i worked at one hosp, on one unit... even tho the overtime wouldda been waayy more, I picked agency shifts instead cuz I'd get bored or burnt out goin to the same place all the time hha). Anyway..enough blabbing! =) Sorry hah

I did agency as a CNA full time in the Portland-metro area for a few years (about to graduate nursing school now tho! =) In Portland, OR the top 3 agencies are Maxim, Nurse Finders and MSN. Maxim was definitely my primary agency... i got paid a lil less, but i *usually* was able to get enough shifts to survive cause they had a lot of contracts. I could have worked more but i refused to do anything except night shift, with the occasional evening at Hospitals and Psych Units, and this one unique assisted living facility (ended up working at 13+ different hospitals over 3 years =) Even sent me to the beach once, put me up in a hotel and paid for my gas.. and i worked at a tiny 12 bed hospital for 2 shifts which was awesome! =) They were always fairly nice, called me a lot, and my average was 30hrs/week (sometimes down to 20, sometimes 50+). I ended up breaking my foot at work, their workmens comp took good care of me for the 6 months I spent on crutches (spent awhile doing office work as part of the deal for 4 hr shifts, was very interesting to see how things work from the inside! Found out that with some people... they "ghost" them, which means they book a shift with them, but then don't contact the hospital until the night of!! They claimed they only did it with select unreliable employees who would try to call off pre-booked shifts often.. Their staff also see a very high turnover rate, but its always too energetic 20-somethings with business degrees (i also had to search resumes for hiring a new recruiter while i was there). -With them, if you were willing to help them, theyd totally help you. probably helped that i usually had various units calling and requesting me to come back fairly often.. and i'd pick up the occational late call shift...it totally paid off over the years! Also worked for Nurse Finders, and I got about $3 more an hr with them and I wasn't canceled nearly as often, but i also wasn't booked nearly as often as well. Usually only 1-2 shifts a week, at the most..despite open avail. One of the office ladies was cool, the other was kind of mean. I also worked at the same hospitals and psych units as with Maxim. I transferred to Maxim's Seattle branch when I moved to Nursing school and the Seattle Maxim was awful!! Wouldn't prebook me for shifts, only called me for late-call's, totally ignored my availability and would only call on my specific off days, an hour before the shift.. Obnoxious. I left that place pretty quick. I now work with Axis Medical Staffing in Seattle, and being at the end of nursing school, i dont have all that much availability.. and get canceled a normal amount. Mostly only working for one hospital, but the lady (Brianne) is awesome.. she emails with me so no annoying phone calls waking me up when i'm sleeping during the day! And she'll only call me for a late-call if i specifically say I might be open to it that weekend. Very accommodating and super nice. =) Pay is alright, about the same as Nurse Finders. Also get direct deposit on Thursday of every week, which is a bonus. =) I'll be kind of sad to leave them in a way, I wish i had started with them earlier! Can't wait till i'm an RN with a year of exp so i can try my hand at travel nursing! =)

Venting about screwing up my first interview... Well, I had my first nursing job interview....and it was the phone for a major teaching hospital halfway across the country. and i'm quite sure i botched it! =( Dangitall. they barely asked me anything!! I was expecting questions... and they asked me like, 3 questions.. total. "What were your top 3 patient diagnoses in nursing school and why" "whats your 5 year plan?" and "tell me about yourself..." - based on that, and my crappy freakin answers..... damnitall. When they told me to tell them about me... i SHOULD have focused or hit on all the key points I had thought out if they asked me why they should hire me.. i should have been thinking along those lines cuz THAT in hind site, is what they were asking. But i freaking suck at talking myself up.....to be honest, i have a lot of good things thatd make me stand out but i barely even touched on any of them! I really really need to learn how to interview better... esp phone interviews. its harder than I thought not seeing their faces to see how they are responding..im not good in person but i think id do a bit better. =( and because i think it went bad, i HIGHLY doubt that id be able to get another interview for a different position if one were open at that hospital. And what sucks even more, is that from what they told me and what i researched, it would be such a great fit for me! But i'm an idiot and apparently couldn't tell them that =( Dangit.

Hi =) I've searched the forum for your wonderful answers regarding other new grad jobs and interview stuff.. but I have a question I was hoping to get help with! I graduate in a couple months (8 wks!) and recently started applying for new grad positions out of state (damn economy!). And I actually got a call back and request for an interview at a huge major teaching hospital halfway across the country! Its with 3 of the unit managers of the 3 floors I applied to..Oncology, med/surg and endocrine floors. However... First, I've never had a phone interview, and i've really had very very few interviews at all (5 years of hospital CNA exp though). Secondly, i *REALLY* want the Oncology position... i use to work Oncology as a CNA, and through nursing school, i specifically sought out Oncology patients.. very strong interest/desire for this specialty. Extremely emotionally challenging at times but i love it with a passion. How do I express this strong desire and passion, w/out sounding bad to the other floors?! Cuz i mean honestly, ill be very happy if i can land any hospital nursing job at this point hah esp in that area.. and at that hospital but im not sure how to well, go about expressing that i suppose.. How can i talk up Oncology w/out being a turn off to the other floors at the same time? Thanks! And of course, any general phone/new grad interview tips welcome but thats not what this post is after =)

Hey =) I'm graduating from nursing school in June and have started the dreaded hunt for a new grad nursing job! Some of em are pretty dang far away thanks to the 15% unemployement rate in my area. I have been a CNA for 5 years now, and I have acquired 4 good letters of recs (2 personal from bosses, and two professional on hospital and agency letter head)..but I have no idea which to include?! i also asked for copies of my final eval's and then scanned it into a pdf file the last two quarters of Final Evaluations I've received from my clinical prof's. I can make a pdf file with all of the files included and attach it to some jobs (the websites that offer "additional documents") but is that overkill? They all kind of focus on different things.. all good Lol Is 4 letters + nursing school eval too many?? help? =)

I am the first to admit I didn't study...cuz we showed up for lecture one day in the 2nd week of first quarter and they were all "Oh hey, btw...after lunch meet us in such and such computer room, ur having a test." But i still thinks its ridiculous. Because you can't get through all of the dang pre-reqs if you don't have "some intelligence!" And ya can't apply until you get through all the dang pre-reqs either. Had to be college level in reading/writing and math and then take the required college level stuff w/ a certain gpa, and then had to take advanced sciences (A&P, micro, chem etc..) and do decent enough overall. Yup, that required some degree of intelligence, (and a hell of a lot of work for some of it lol)- Not random BS crap that has nothing to do with anything pertaining to nursing...i don't think its an indicator of intelligence.. its a test of how well you know random crap you'll most likely never apply to nursing.

So, my school (thankfully!!) didn't require TEAS testing prior to acceptance, they did however require us to take the test our first couple wks of the nursing program. They said they wanted to compare the data to other students regarding how long ago people took their pre-reqs, their gpa, sciences gpa, their test scores throughout the program and those of us who complete it or have to drop out. (basically,. for research). A lil about me: I'm 25, I took my pre-reqs when i was 16-20 yrs old (did running start in high school and knew i wanted to be a nurse). I couldn't get into the programs back home because all 5 local schools had too many people vyying for spots (1500+ applicants..and they choose 30), so it was entirely GPA dependent (for 140 credits, i was 3.3..B+ average - wasn't good enough, and too many credits to just retake a class or two to try and bring it up). All the schools didn't count experience and all the schools ONLY focused on gpa. So i got my CNA and ended up working in hospitals for 4 yrs while i applied over and over and over. Credits were gunna expire, so i applied away from home finally (4 hrs away) and got accepted.. So, I'd been out of school 4 years. --my sciences i had taken were to 6-7 years old --My A&P scores were B, B- and C+ (2nd C+ on my transcript of 140 credits b/c my colleges A&P was insane.. for me, harder than the freakin program!) --and my TEAS in Sept 08' was 71%.. bad!! However.. Every quarter I've pulled either an A- or B+.. (our grade is strickly how we do on our tests...) and I'm facing my last quarter now, with a raving review from my prof (final eval today, it went very well *blush* =) Graduate in June... man i can't freakin wait!! anyway haha- So, my question is... WHY the HELL are so many schools relying sooo heavily on this STUPID test that has NOTHING to do with nursing at all?!?!?! what the hell geology crap has to do with nursing is beyond me!! My math score was awful, my sciences were too, only because it was all science i'd never even had before! I've never even had a normal biology class, yet alone geology! (in high-school i took Sr level Human A&P as a soph instead...again, cuz i knew i wanted to be a nurse so i didn't see the point in wasting my time learning about plants Lol). Someone please tell me what rock formations have to do with nursing?! My school has since changed their requirements for acceptance and I wouldn't qualify for it anymore. My A&P gpa isn't high enough (at my old college, a lot of people would take it at a nearby community college cuz theyd easily pull an A while theyd dissect cats instead of cadavers like we had...). A few of my the colleges i tried to apply to before now require TEAS or that other one.. dont remember. but yea, i'd probably fail that one too if i tried it. I don't get it.... But i am SOOO greatful I applied up here when I did, and moved 4 hours from everyone and everything I knew to do this the last 2 years. So close now I can taste it... but its scary to think that all my classes could have expired first and nothing would count at all.. when i know this is what i'm meant to do/be... its stupid. Besides...B+ average ain't bad dangit lol.

haha!! I've had those moments... I graduate in June and its so weird that the nurses who are (graciously) working with me and helping me, actually listen to what i think or ask what we should do.. and whats even weirder, is I have answers (sometimes! hah) Its so weird to me heh. I've wanted to be a nurse since I was 6 yrs old.. I finished my pre-reqs when I was 20.. then had to wait 4 yrs to get accepted into a program (worked as a CNA in the meantime doin agency hospital work). I've always known it was gunna happen.. but it was always going to happen "SOMEDAY", i knew someday i'd be a nurse... but whats hitting me now, is that its not someday anymore...ITS HAPPENING NOW! 3 months! thats it! And my prof today did my final evaluation, she basically praised me for 15min and told me I don't have any real areas to "improve" and what i need to work on jsut comes w/ experience but that I'm at that level and a quite a bit above what she'd expect of me at this point... critical thinking skills, multi-tasking, prioritizing, etc.. gave me all these examples of what I did in clinicals this quarter.. she kept telling me that i dont give myself near enough credit.. lol So.. yea =) Apparently "someday" is now... and THAT reality has been hitting me pretty hard =)

I've been a CNA for 5 years at a variety of hospitals (mostly agency per diem work). (gunna be a nurse now in about 3 months tho! =) Wish i had a good solution to this problem but unfortunately it seems to be a bit universal. Shift-Change sucks. lol One place i worked as staff, tracked how long call lights went un-answered (it was all electronic) and sometimes it was up to 45+min in the morning!! The places that seem to run the smoothest that I've seen, are the ones where the nurses do their own first set of vital signs. At my last primary hosp, we had 2 blood pressure machines that worked w/out being chronically plugged in, and 1 you had to always plug in.. and also *usually* had enough pulse ox's and thermometers to go around for the nurses and/or iso rooms (usually...some would randomly disappear at times..) , and we had the BP cuff on the walls (which i thought was universal till i moved up 4 hrs north for nursing school...and work at a place that doesn't have a manual cuff anywhere!). The nurses could get their morning BP's while they did their assessments, not only would they have them for the meds, but it virtually eliminated any back-tracking-double VS taking, med problems, timing issues, and second guessing for accurate VS (a couple nurses wanted to do their own manual BP if it was abnormal, even if i had already gotten a man. reading for them to cross reference the machine) - Anyway, after the dayshift CNA's (and RNs) read the written report in the break room and copied what they needed, night shift would be answering lights. Then theyd hit the floor, and nights would give a brief verbal report, adding important stuff not listed. - usually quick, sometimes took a lil while when i had 15patients or so.. We'd often answer lights together during this brief time if needed, and some nurses even would answer lights together as well, cuz they were suppose to do a face-off dealy so if their patients were callin, theyd kinda kill 2 birds w/ one stone. (depending on the nurse....) Tho inevitably, a couple certain CNA's would run off the floor the second verbal report was given..and hang out in the breakroom, even if we had 15min left till we could leave.... I was usually the one getting extra 15min of overtime here and there cuz I'm pretty anal about call-lights Lol. But that way..the nurses got their VS when they needed them, they had to go in and meet every patient anyway for their assessments...as someone else said, it takes just a couple extra min per each patients.. - and the day shift cna's can get a better handle on AM care, baths, breakfast, and call lights get answered. =)

ok i know this was posted awhile ago.. but Im readin thru the humor section and it came up and i have to agree with every ******* single one of those! GREAT IDEAS!

just commented on the youtube vid itself.. but OMG that was great!!! I wish you guys were in my nursing program!!!