redtshirt

I have a quick question about purposive sampling that I am rather confused about. Purposive sampling is used to gain study participants who would have experience in the phenomena that I want to study. So I want to study nurses with experience in a specific situation. Do I go about trying to recruit participants with a poster e.g. Have you experienced this? Do you want to participate in a study about it? or Do I try to go and handpick the sample of I know nurse Y has dealt with this could i ask her. The books seem to be a bit vague on it and to me it would seem unethical if I was going to broach certain members of staff and ask them to participate. 6 research books in front of me and still cant figure it out! Thanks

They will usually ask you what experience you have and skills you have that you can use in ICU. So you can discuss your experience with vented patients. They also ask for your education - any specific courses or online learning you have done that will benefit you in this post - or would you seek further training to work there. They might ask you clinical scenarios but you should also have basic / advanced life support courses up to date. There is a lot of team work involved in ICU so mention that you are a team player. Can't really think of much more at the moment but hopefully that will have helped. Good luck!

If they are well enough to be walked why are they still vented? Why not consider non invasive ventilation etc?

Thanks for your help!

Hi all, I am two years qualified as a general nurse and I have worked all over the place gaining different experiences in my two years both medical and surgical. I am now considering going to ICU. I love the adrenaline rush when you have a sick patient on the ward, I like the detective work involved in why they have deteriorated, I enjoy being involved with families. I am afraid however that I will miss not being able to have conversation with my patient if they are sedated. I always talk to my patients however much they are sedated/ comatosed/ dead but i miss when they don't talk back. Did anyone find this a big change? I am also wondering in terms of future employment and upskilling will ICU experience help or hinder me? I have no idea where I would like to be in ten years. Somewhere in nursing for sure. Maybe as a nurse manager or specialist. In my last year I have been a team leader managing junior staff etc. But I am afraid that I will lose this ability going into an ICU environment where I will have 1:1 care instead of being a co-ordinator for 16 patients and 3 nurses. If any of you have had experience with this I would greatly appreciate your advice! Thanks!

Ours must be off the collar but once its presentable and off your face they arent so strict about it

I look up to those people who have a wealth of knowledge and can apply it. Someone who is open to new suggestions and listens to new research, not just doing something because that's how its done. Someone who no matter how busy they are doesn't show it to their patients, they always find time to talk to their patients and reassure them. Someone who can manage well especially under pressure and who treats co workers with respect regardless of how stressful it is that day.

My other half gets my toilet humour and adds his own stories to the mix!

Thanks for the advice whispera. I had a chat with her today and she was able to point out things that she felt she needed to work on and they were similar to what i felt she needed to work on. She seems to have settled in a bit better to the unit this week which helps a lot. And she told me she has been asking her tutors for a bit of extra help and direction. We came out with a better understanding of each other and i have a better idea as to what way she approaches things now too. Thanks!

Ive recently had a ward full of demanding bell hoppers....... Requests included... -will you turn off the tv? ( remote on bed table nothing wrong with arms) -I want a commode...followed by beds 1-6 wanting bedpans and commodes -I want tea -Get me pillows -thats beeping..... -shes screaming (yes she does that) -shes walking around (yes she does have legs) -check on him in the toilet -hes been in the toilet too long -will you wipe my backside -adjust this And the best ones -nurse im paralysed i cant move...how did you ring the bell? -nurse im dead ring the doctor A please and thank you would be nice.

Hi I am just wondering if you can suggest some ways that I can approach a student nurse. She is currently in her final year of her programme and has 8 months of placement with something like 5 different units/wards in it. The idea is that the students at this level are half a qualified nurse and should now be independent within their own scope of practice. However I am nearly 2 years qualified working in a teaching hospital and have been named her preceptor. I haven't dealt with a student that I have had so many negative things for her to work on in order for her to pass and I am clueless in knowing how I should approach this. I have worked with her for two shifts now and all she wants is to do medications and I feel her basic nursing skills are lacking so I dont want her going near the trolley. I love teaching and i am confident in my own ability as a nurse to do so but there is so much to do with staff shortages and budget cuts i feel i am not getting the time to help her out. I have set that we will have a talk this week but where do i start? These are issues I have so far identified: - Not assessing situations appropriately and thus not being able to carry on efficiently. E.G When we do the washes instead of getting all the supplies first she ends up running in and out to get stuff. So I want to teach her about the basic steps of nursing assess, plan, intervene and evaluate. - Not knowing what to do in an emergency. We had a head injury patient seizing on the floor and she just stood in the way of staff and docs going in and out of the room until she ran off. Apart for Airway Breathing Circulation and other things you would do for the patient I dont know what to say to her about that. - Priority of care. Instead of checking vital signs on the sickies first she was checking those who are very stable. I think a lot of this is common sense or i thought it should be. How do you teach common sense? -Talking to teams and doctors. Ringing an doctor five times over because she hadnt thought the whole thing through. I will tell her to think of what she needs to discuss with the doctor before ringing and how to communicate effectively the patients needs and a timeframe in which they need them. -Documentation is just a nightmare. I nearly cried when i read what was not written into the documentation. Post op patient no note on what operation they had done. No note on what anaesthetic they had. No note on meds given. No note of post op instructions. I think this may become clearer to her when we get the foundations understood. She is very stressed and her basic skills are lacking. She took swabs and didn't label them. Had no idea how to take a urine sample from someone with a catheter in. No idea of a nursing admission. I am afraid that I will come off as a bully for bringing up all of these issues all at once in our meeting but if I dont she will continue on being dangerous. I ask her through out the shift if she needs help and she will say no. I ask her if she has questions and she will say no but other staff have told me she was telling them about things she doesn't understand. I am approachable according to the other students. I am just lost in this situation and want to help. I am very stressed out about staff shortages. And her lack of basic skills is very worrying. Thanks for your help its much appreciated

I was doing great going to the gym feeling great and then my mental health plummeted and now i comfort eat and whatever confidence i had gained and will to get fitter went out the window!

I think if you are going to be honest about you weakness you should have a plan to overcome it. And remember that you do have experience. Think back over your training and find something that you knew nothing about but then learned once the opportunity arose. For me it might be tracheostomy care because it wasnt something i had come across. I read about it and i spent a day course learning about it. I then had the opportunity to care for a patient with a trachy and achieved my competency. You are never going to know everything in nursing and some days you really have to be inventive. Remember that there are other staff there to help you in when you start in new units and that each unit is different. When a unit is run well and managed properly you will get the least sick patient as you have the least experience. They will know by your cv that you lack experience so make sure you have a game plan to tackle that. And tell them about past experiences you have been involved in eg an arrest on a unit and how you dealt with it etc.

Hi all, I'm qualified about a year now and I love nursing. But recently my mental health outside of work has deteriorated. I have an ongoing embarrassing health problem and that has gotten so much worse over the last few months, its not life threatening but it is becoming debilitating. I went to my family doc about it a few months ago and she started me on medication to help and referred me to a consultant. I had been attending and still am attending a councilor to work out some issues related to the health problem and stress management. The medications my family dr gave me can also be used in depression. When I went to the consultant he said due to the side effects of the medication I needed to come off it. I was started on something new which doesn't work half as well. My mental health had improved dramatically on the first medication but have since deteriorated further than before. To manage my moods,stress and depression I go for a run or do some exercise. I listen to music to keep me calm I also have a relaxation CD the councilor gave me. I have given up caffeine and fizzy drinks. I never drink alcohol or smoke. I try not to eat junk food and I do eat well. I don't work night shifts. When I am off I spend the day with my boyfriend or friends. I don't ever feel stressed about work in fact I enjoy being there. I use lavender oil to calm me and help me sleep. I am however still plagued with horrible feelings and sometimes suicidal thoughts. Though not right now. I know not to act on these nor have I ever tried, my rational side keeps me in control. However the line between rational and irrational thought is becoming thinner. And some days I am terrified of what goes through my head. So I am asking is there any more I can do myself to help this? Is it possible to work while on antidepressants? I am very reluctant to go on them at my age (22) and because I am willing to give everything else a go first. How easy is it to come off antidepressants? Thanks for all your help

At the end of a late shift we recieved our drug order for the day. Went to give the medication to my patient that had just come up, box was plain white with a sticker on it containing all the right information. Opened box looked at blister pack it was a strip of an entierly different drug which i remember was a sleeping tablet. It was my final year of training, i was proud of my call, and i submitted a medication error report. Only to get given out to by the manager the next day for doing so because it made work for her. I was glad my patient didnt sleep for days because i was thorough in my medication checking. Slips are easy to make.