applelady

I'm a new grad (December 08) working on a peds floor...some of the questions that I was asked in my interviews included prioritization of patients, and a lot of "what would you do if..." type of questions. Let the panel know who you are and be humble but confident. Play up your strengths and admit your areas of weakness. Be teachable and let them know that you are willing to learn and work as part of a team. Peds is a great place to be, but there are specific challenges that go with working with kiddos...at times, the biggest challenges are the parents. Think about how you would deal with difficult parents and think through some potential scenarios - how you plan to handle the situation. Learn about the policies and procedures at the facility, and if you can, ask some of the staff the good and bad things they deal with. Good luck!

Remember, if you treat me like a "stupid nurse" I will be more than happy to play "stupid nurse" all night long and call you with every "stupid" question I might have regarding "your" patients. Respect is a two way street. Don't be offended when we put electronic security bands on our neonatal/pediatric stethoscopes on the pediatric unit. We only have so many peds stethoscopes and are not in a situation to be able to order several every week that you walk out with. If it's banded, you WILL shut down the unit and the alarms WILL be blaring when you try to leave (ie: elevator will not close/open, doors to the stairways will lock, access doors lock. We will be more than happy to retrieve it from you in the elevator with our patient who is being discharged and no we will not apologize for the inconvenience. Even better, bring it to us yourself.

I spoke briefly to the officers who brought the victim to the hospital about this issue. They said they would be happy to help connect me with our state forensics lab for training. Before today, I wasn't even aware of SANE certification. I'll be exploring that option in depth. Any suggestions on getting our physicians/P.A.s and nurses on board? Is there grant money available to fund a project such as this?

So far I've enjoyed the smaller hospital atmosphere more than the larger hospital, for many reasons. I enjoy having a variety of patients with varying needs. I've also noticed that at the two smaller hospitals that I have done clinicals at, the nurses work more as a team instead of individually in caring for their patients. Long term, I hope to work towards maternal/neonate healthcare, ICU or ER, but I'm not closing any doors as of yet. There's really not any part of the hospital that I haven't enjoyed.

I am a nursing student graduating in December. I am trying to decide whether to work at a larger hospital and specialize (L&D, ER, ICU, Med, Surg, etc.), or work at one of the smaller rural hospitals in our area and cross train. I like the variety of patients and experiences that I am having precepting in the small hospital, but many of the more critical patients get shipped out. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am a nursing student planning on completing my ADN-RN program this December. This past week I was precepting at our local rural hospital and was able to stand in on a sexual assault exam and try to provide support to the victim. I am dissappointed in the lack of specific training of the staff and lack of support for the victim. Our hospital does between 8-12 sexual assault exams per year. Any suggestions on starting a multi-disciplinary sexual assault response team in a rural area?