blinks14

I also never learned how to do a venipuncture or IV in nursing school. All we learned in school was the theory behind placing an IV. But the school I went to was affiliated with a hospital that had an IV team (they don't anymore) so they didn't teach...

I work per diem at an outpatient surgery center. They're only open 4 days a week, no weekends and no holidays so I don't have to worry about those requirements. Sometimes it gets a little tiring and it's not something I'm gonna do forever but for now...

I recently applied to Drexel's online program to get my Bachelor's and was wondering if anyone has completed this program online? I have a coworker who went to Drexel but not online. I was just wondering how long it takes to complete the program and ...

We do not have Pyxis per se at my hospital but we do have something similar, it's called Omnicell. Anyways not every single med is stored in our Omnicell. We keep IV fluids, all narcs, additional emergency meds and other various things in the Omnicel...

I don't think it is a law but I worked in ambulatory surgery where anyone who received general or MAC anesthesia was discharged by wheelchair. Noone really ever made a big deal about it. Local cases could walk out. Now I work on a cardiac unit (in th...

We don't have a wage freeze as of yet but NO overtime, no agency, no per diems. We also have a hiring freeze and transfer freeze (I'm not sure how that helps) but our unit is short because there were 4 full-time RN positions open and noone was hired ...

I had heard that our Infectious Disease department had once picked a nursing unit to swab to see what the incidence of MRSA was and it turned out they never released the results presumably because so many actually carried it.

I just started 12 hour shifts and I LOVE them. The day goes pretty fast for me. I start at 3p and work til 3a so when I get in at 3 in the afternoon it's always busy. The first 8 fly by. Then the second 4 I reassess everyone, do meds, chart checks, m...

We use Alaris pumps with the Guardrails system for blood administration. Initially the rate is set at 120/hr for the first 15 minutes. After we do a set of vitals to check for transfusion reaction we can increase the rate to infuse the blood with 4 h...

We are required to get to work on time if we are scheduled. I never think about it, I just go, I adjust my departure time accordingly. I honestly get quite peeved at people who think that snow is an excuse not to come to work, if I can manage to get ...

At our facility we do not hang blood, nurses on our IV team do we just do a double-check with them, but I've watched it done both ways. To me it seems easier to prime with saline first. For me the problem is always switching over the saline in time t...

We are not completely computerized at my facility yet but physicians have the ability to put in computerized orders wherever they can access a computer so if you call them for something they just put the order in and you get it. Which sometimes has i...

Nursing is everything I expected it to be and more. I LOVE it. I love it when it's hectic, I love running around, I love solving problems or being part of the solution. I thrive on all of it. The only thing that I had a hard time wrapping my head aro...

If we want to apply for another position in our hospital we have to have our manager sign our transfer request before we can interview.

I work on a Surgical Tele unit and our ratio is 4-5:1. We also may cover an LPN and their ratio is the same. We may or may not have an aide, the ratio for them might be up to 1:16. We also have at least one unit clerk, and our tele is centralized, th...

I had my first Code on one of my patients this evening. Unfortunately the patient did not make it. I know I did everything I could, there was no indication that the patient was going to code until it happened, the Doc thought it was a PE. I cried whe...

I'm not surprised to hear this at all. I've never heard of a contract with nothing in it for the employee but it is a way for the hospital to get their money's worth out of you. By that I mean the money they invest to train you once you are an employ...

As a first responder I responded to an MVA one time and didn't realize it was a friend of mine (he didn't make it either) for several hours until his girlfriend came down to the scene (the accident was only around the corner from her house). It was a...

We follow the protocol word for word, but our insulin gtts are open heart patients and it's important to follow the protocol on those patients. Plus the drip gets documented on a special flowsheet with the BS and the drip rate and all that stuff.

I think the practice questions available in that review are very helpful. I encountered many questions on the actual NCLEX similar to the ones in the NCSBN review.

While I do strongly believe in adequate pain control for patients I ask my patients frequently if they are having pain and need to be medicated. I wouldn't give a pain med that is ordered PRN as a scheduled med. What if the patient does not want the ...

In the critical care units at our hospital nurses routinely mix their own meds, including insulin gtt's. Anytime I get a pt on an insulin gtt from the ICU the med was mixed by them. When I need another bag on my floor though the pharmacy does it for ...

Our hospital is full to the brim. Practically overflowing. I work on a surgical cardiac unit and someone always needs a cath or open heart surgery or is in CHF, because we are the overflow for that unit as well.

We have a bunch of people who must be contacted in the case of a death and it takes almost an hour for them to come to the floor to see the pt. But we start post-mortem care as soon as those various people have seen the pt. And we take the body down ...

I can't even begin to count how many times I have forgotten to bring a flush along before starting an infusion or disconnecting one. But I guess as a student you need to make sure you have all the proper equipment, although I don't think it's necessa...