lelafin

I start RN to BSN April 1st too! I have 34 credits... I guess we have an orientation of some sort on Tuesday. And a mentor to be set up with. I'm ready to get started and get this done with.

Wow, those are a LOT of questions. I would suggest you head over to your nearest hospital's ICU with the aforesaid snacks and see if anyone is available to answer. You'd get way better exposure that way, see some things and patients hands on, and maybe even meet some people you could network with. I'm a neuro ICU nurse, but honestly I would be much more receptive to talk about these things face to face instead of typing them up. That's a lonnnnngggg list!

THAT is exactly what goes on on our floor on a daily basis. I don't blame the techs to be honest. But the nurses are left dealing with it as well. I honestly don't see increasing numbers/decreasing pt load as an option! We've been saying that forever. Whenever they ask us what can we do for you to help you/make you happier or what is it going to take to get hcahps up... that is exactly what we say. I guess the funds and the staffing grid will not allow it.

That sounds very promising! I know there was talk for a while many months back about assigning each techs to specific RNs. But it was going to be a random thing each shift. I'm not sure my manager will go for this model of care because management on my floor tends to be VERY autocratic, and I think it would probably have a stroke if it gave us any form of autonomy at all hah! Us doing evaluations! Wow, I think management just peed itself a little bit. Though they do love to pretend they're democratic... bahahahah. We're having a meeting to "discuss" staffing soon, and I'd absolutely LOVE to hear more about this dyad model you're talking about. I feel like if I could present it in a very pleasing way, maybe we'd have a shot!

Hi everyone! I've been a member of allnurses since before I started nursing school, and I've always come here to find answers to questions and see other nurses perspective on things. I sort of got a more realistic view on what nursing might be by reading the boards on here haha! I was not deterred. At least not enough to quit :-p I am writing this post because I'm hoping to get some feedback on how you do staffing of nurse techs on your floor. My manager is tired of having to deal with nurse techs quitting/no shows, and is very interested in going over to primary nursing. I (and most/all nursing on my floor feel this is going to be a disaster). I'm trying to get some ideas on how to utilize techs better, maybe make them more happy in their job... or just be using their time better! Some background: I'm an RN working on a busy surgical trauma floor. We have have a pretty high turnover rate both with RNs and nurse techs... it's understandable. We're very very busy, our patients are dealing with the worst moment of their lives and need someone to take it out on, and we are the only level one trauma hospital in our area. I do love my job, but it is extremely high acuity for a floor. Very very busy and most days we are running all day without a break and lucky if we get a fully 30 min for lunch. Our typical ratio is 5:1 and we are lucky if we get three nurse techs for the whole floor of 30 beds, but often it's just 2 or even 1 because we get a call out. So even right now with the techs we have, the nurses are doing most of the toileting, cleaning up poo/pee/linen disasters, blood sugars, post-op vitals (techs will "forget"), and assist with meals. The techs primarily will do baths and assist quads/head injury pt's with feedings, along with sharing the other duties mentioned above. Depending on the tech, depends on how much you do yourself lol. Manager is thinking of bringing in a "fluff and puff" tech who will come in and just round on pt's rooms, bring ice, be the "extra hands" to help turn pts, sit with suicide pts when their sitter needs a break, etc. She wants one of these techs on either side of the hall mon-fri 8-5, then NOTHING the rest of the time. She says our ratio will be 1:3. Not really.... not when we have call outs all the time, are getting new orientees with preceptors being taken up with only 2 pts, etc. So here are my questions for you: How do you all do techs on your floor? What are their responsibilities? How many pt's are they assigned to? Are they content with their job and is the retention rate high? Anything else helpful you want to add?!? :) I would love any and all feedback!!!

I feel like this post is going viral on my facebook page among all my nursing friends haha. And her entire blog is awesome!

In Columbia, Palmetto Health Richland and Baptist specifically hire a ton of new grads and post positions for new grads specifically. I graduated in December and applied for the new grad position, and got hired right away at Richland. I swear that my entire graduating class is working there now! Lexington hospital will hire new grads, but you have to apply for their fellowship, and usually they only will hire internally.

Last night was my first night on night shift on a busy trauma unit! I felt the same way as you. I've been orienting for about 6 weeks now on days, and finally was getting a rhythm, and feeling like I could handle the time management to a degree. But omg last night felt like I had just stepped onto the floor for the first time (almost), and they threw 6 patients at me all at once! I just wanted to say something because I felt like I could have written your post. I was so behind on both tasks and charting, the morning nurse was giving me nasty looks in report. SORRY!!! Plus I felt like I was going to fall over from exhaustion the entire time. It's hard to do a good job when your mind is running on no sleep! Here's to us getting used to night shift! I feel like I will eventually like it though - the people are the coolest :)

The greys anatomy junior mock wrap scrub top is the best - only one I've found that is actually flattering. I like cherokee long boot leg cut draw string pants because I"m tall and they're the only ones that don't do the high water thing on me!

I'm also curious about advice for this! Also, are traffic tickets a big deal when trying to get licensed? :-/

Hey klj0315! I love that you are 1 semester ahead of me :) Thanks for the update - I'm assuming you mean NUR210, not 215? I've heard that it's easy-breezy compared to 3rd semester! I'm taking it this summer, and I've gotta admit I'm still a little intimidated by all the critical care stuff, esp the IVs and the paper. Your advice about 3rd semester helped SO much! I got through and did really well, but it was definitely the hardest semester I've ever had in any school hands down. How is 210 clinical? Just how involved in patient care are we (how much independence do we have) - like how different is it going to be from 265? How many patients will we have? Any major no-nos to be aware of?

never heard of it before, but looks like it could be really fun AND helpful especially for helping with remembering! How does the game work? Like how in depth are the questions and how do you win? :-p

Wow pajamas????? You've got to be kidding! Thanks for the tips - I like to see it coming from the interviewer's point of view. I'll be a new grad in 2 semesters and I know I'll be extremely nervous when I first go out to interview for my first nursing job! I think pajamas would be the last thing I'd consider wearing hahah!

I've always wondered if 5hr energy works... guess I should go get some!

Yeah it must be all of the above... I think it's most likely the stress that tops it off! The stress of getting a poor mark from your instructor for any little thing you overlooked has you constantly on point - there is actually NO rest even when sitting now that I think about it! I forgot to mention that when I get home, not only do I just want to drop in bed and zone out, I usually just want to stuff my face for a few hours with many different forms of chocolate as well LOL! I guess the solution is to stop planning to study after clinical... it just seems like when you're a nursing student you sort of are required to learn how to study when exhausted if you want to get by.

So it feels like on the days that I have clinical I come home so absolutely exhausted that I just feel too foggy to study or do anything productive. It seems like it's got to be something more than just physical activity! I mean, I can work out really hard and be on my feet for most of the day, and feel okay when it doesn't involve clinical. Is it the getting up early? On my clinical days, I get up around 5:15ish, and I'm there from about 6:40am to 4pm. I'm doing total patient care, and etc. so it's pretty labor intensive at times, but there's also a lot of sitting down to chart and do preconference/postconference... Anyway, I"m just sitting here all frustrated that I feel like passing out in bed at 7:19pm when I have 3 major tests to study for! Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone else know why clinical does this haha? Or is it just me?

@klj0315 Thank you SO MUCH!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Most amazing post EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, you are my hero :) Where are you at in the semester now?

Yeah, our passing rate is 80% - that's the lowest C you can get. You have to have a 93 or above to have an A. Hahah CrazierThanYou - my instructor last semester was totally an attendance nazi too! I was late to lecture one day and when she handed me the sign in sheet, she had circled "3 minutes" next to my name since apparently that was how late I was She will do the same thing for people coming back from break late. Apparently, the wall clock in our classroom was faster than our cellphones so everyone was coming in like 2-3 min late, but she would hear NONE of it. Finally, someone changed the wall clock. To this day no one will confess to it haha! But we're all happy they did! She never did notice except that we were all finally coming in "on time".

Yeah mine is the same way... if you fail any two clinical courses within the program, you are OUT! And after 2 absences, GOODBYE! and if it's after midterm, it equals a WF... which is essentially a fail. You're exactly right, it seems like if you are not up to basically military code in nursing school, you can kiss the RN license goodbye!

hmm I guess it's not the ADN vs BSN thing then... just a theory lol! I'm trying to figure out the discrepancy. I guess it's just up to the nursing school - so random... Clovery - that is so messed up about making people pay for a missed clinical day?! What kind of messed up policy is that?! Seems like we already pay wayyy too much as it is! Or is this some kind of under the table *wink* *wink* thing between instructor and student?

Hmmm I wonder if the difference between the mandatory lecture vs non-mandatory is ADN program vs BSN? It seems like the 4 year colleges don't really care too much about attendance (i.e. they treat you like an ADULT) whereas the tech colleges are more concerned with it for some reason. That's just been my personal observation around my area...

Wow, and I thought my school was bad!!! What if you get in a car accident on the way there... or your child gets deathly ill the morning of clinical and you have no one as backup?! I guess you have to make sure you have plan B, C and D lined up in the case of the child.. and if you have a car accident, go in bleeding and with a concussion and all Jeez! At least at my school you can make up ONE clinical day if you have a good excuse... I can understand the clinical policy more easily, but I just don't understand the lecture policy! We're adults... it should be our responsibility to learn the material. However we figure out to do that is our business... I believe most people would come to class most of the time. We're too afraid of failing not to! But if someone has an emergency and has to miss on the last week of class after having gone through the entire torturous semester.... BAM! Withdrawn! I just don't see how that's fair.

Hey I was wondering if everyone else's nursing school has an attendance policy for lecture? Mine is super strict! If I miss 2 lectures during the semester, I'm automatically withdrawn (and 2 tardies equals 1 absence). So if I'm late twice in a semester and then say have an emergency like a car accident or something, I'm out! It seems like an unnecessary rule since if you're passing the tests, you're learning the material, right? Also, it's super annoying because for the most part, the instructor just reads verbatim from the powerpoint slides, so it sometimes seems like a waste of 3.5 hours

Just because I make As does NOT mean I cheat!!!!!!! Jeez!!! I wouldn't even know how to cheat if I wanted to! I study my behind off... you should try it sometime! And quit asking me for the answers and my study guide!

Thank you so so much! That's exactly what I was looking for :)