nurse_mo1986

thanks all. Lunah, u have long been a source of inspiration to all excelsior students i think:) and I appreciate all u guys encouraging me. I know that someday I'll be able to place that RN behind my name. Thanks, Ryan

Hey all- I just feel like I need a word of encouragement today. I feel like I've been working towards my RN forever, and i'm not there yet. I'm bogged down in the pages of micro, and then still have most of my nursing tests to do. (pre-reqs done). I feel like i'm taking too long to get this done, and I just want my RN so bad. How do you guys keep ur chin up on the down days when u just felt like you'd never be done?

and yet, I remember reporting a nurse one time for suspicion of diverting b/c I noticed this particular nurse chasing down the dr's in the unit telling them that their pt "needs demerol." It raised a red flag in my mind after witnessing this one time to many on a busy night shift. I reported it to my manager. Turns out after an investigation that this nurse had been diverting demerol and self injecting for God know's how long. I'm glad that I listened to my gut instinct. Having said that, I don't report things to management such as a pepcid not being given. However, I would leave the nurse a note asking about it. Ppl, we're nurses. Cant we use nursing judgement and try to help each other? just my 2 cents...nurse_mo1986

Way to go tasha!!! lol. I was gonna do repro next, but I decided to do the unthinkable and get micro over with. This one just might kill me. It's just soo much info. But i keep telling myself that if i could do A&P then I can do ANY class they have:) Let me know how repro goes for ya. Ryan

heya tasha: actually I didn't use the practice exam for this one. I always have but this test seemed so cut n dry that I didn't think I'd need to. All I used was a TCN study guide from ebay. It seemed to cover the material pretty good. If I'd studies harder I'd have gotten that A lol. I will def tell you to know ur theorists very well:)

it also depends on where you work. I work in a smaller ruraal ICU in a smaller hospital and know all of our docs one on one. That means I know when they do vs. Don't wanna be called. Certain docs don't even wanna be called about a resp distress unless I've already done portCXR, and drawn ABG's. Then we have other docs who wanna be called stat and then will direct care. I will say that in this setting we are expected to have a certain degree of autonomy. With certain docs I'd think nothing of giving tylenol at two am for a headace IF THERE ARE NO CONTRAINDICATIONS. A lot of times it just means thinkin for oneself. And as far as the oxygen thing...i believe in treatin the pt as needed. If a pt has a sat of 60% and I think a code is looming, I'll do whatever it takes while waiting on the doc to return page/arrive in unit. just my opinion, nurse_mo1986

So i just thought i'd come back to the thread and let u peeps know I took transitions this morn and passed. got a "B" on the test. It was actually a lil more diff than i anticipated...but thankfully i'm done. Now on to the next test!!!

Yeah, I'm taking Transitions this friday and i'm seriously afraid I might fail it just because it's soooo boring that i'm having a terrible time studying it LOL. But i'm hoping I pass. I'd hate to waste 250 on it, ya know?

lol...yeah I stressed out over the A/P exam myself, got horribly low scores on the practice exams both times (like mid 40's) but when i finally steeled my nerves and took it, I passed with a "B" w/out problems. I was def proud to have passed that exam b/c it's def a hard one. I think the only other one i'll stress out over that much is MICRO:(

why not see if you cant get some type of protocols in place that allows for PRN IVP as needed? In my unit, a lot of our pts are titrated on gtt's but we also have PRN meds allowed for use in addition too titrated gtt. As you mentioned, sometimes pt's are resting comfortably on that gtt, but when you assess or reposition said pt, they become agitated momentarily. In theses cases, I utilize the PRN drugs, realizing that with just a lil boost in happy juice, most pt's will go back to their happy places:) But again, thats just my facility's protocols. Good luck however it works out for ya. just be careful and always always always CYA. Nurse_mo1986

I'm studyin transitions myself at the min. I test on it Friday 9/3...we'll see how it goes. It seems so cut and dry that it's boring at best lol. I'm trying not to take too much time on this one and move on. When are you gonna take your transitions test? Nurse_mo1986

1. do you love, like or hate your job? a mixture of both. most days like, other days it requires work to remember why i'm workin here lol 2. what field of nursing are you in? lpn, work in a outpt surgery center doing post op recovery, also prn in icu-stepdown unit w/100 beds. 3. are you ft, pt, pd? ft at the surg center, prn at the hospital 4. do you look forward to going to work or dread it? depends on my mood. most days i don't mind it too bad. 5. what gives you the most job satisfaction? seeing pt's leave my practice pain free and knowing that we've helped them improve their lives. 6. on a scale of 0-10 (0 being least stressful, 10 being most stressful) how stressed does your job make you? it varies, i'd say it ranges b/t a 4-7 most of the time. 7. what causes you the most job stress? nothing worse than office politics. just leave me out of the female drama and let me do my work in peace lol. !!!!!!! 8. what do you think could make your job better, so you get the most joy and satisfaction out of your work day? if everyone was concerned with their own job, we would all be much more efficently run here:)

Hey tasha, What day are you taking your transitions exam? I just recently took the A/P exam and am now scheduled to take transitions next fri(sept. 3rd). I'm kinda nervous on this one b/c it seems TOO straightforward to me, and i'm afraid i'll be too confident and fail it LOL. -Nurse_mo1986

Sadly, you will find that in nursing you run into these types of situations frequently. I work in an ICU, and more times than I care to think about we've had to go thru the motions of a futile code just because the family members insist that we save momma. Even knowing that momma can't be saved, we still must go thru the actions and it's very very sad. Just find comfort in the fact that you did the best you could, knowing what the outcome would be anyways. Nurse_mo1986

I'm in the midst of my excelsior education myself. However, I haven't had many ppl say negative things about the program. However, that may simply be because at my facility, there are several RN's who have gone this route and ppl have seen that they are just as good as any other RN in the building. The one's that have said something negative, I simply brush off my back and smile to myself knowing that one day soon I'll be Nurse_mo1986RN :)

LOL. Well, It would certainly seem that i've struck a nerve with my comment at the start of this forum about becoming a nurse for the right reasons. So, shall I explain myself more in depth?? I personally have nothing against a good paycheck. Yes, I do make a good salary as a nurse. But yes, I also VOLUNTEER as a nurse with a local community organization several hours a wk FOR FREE. Does that make me a better person than anyone else here, NO. But it means that I do try to keep my perspectives in order. I did not become a nurse b/c of the paycheck. I did not become a nurse because I have some saintlike quality about me. I became a nurse because I care about ppl in general. I hate to see suffering among humankind. To me, there is much sorrow in life. There are many ppl much less fortunate than I, and if I can help them just a little bit in life, then my life is better for it. To the OP, I apologize for sounding if I was attacking you personally. That was my bad. I've just seen way too many young nurses come straight from nursing school into my unit not giving a D@#@ about the sick pts in my unit, and only caring about what they're gonna do with this wk's paycheck, and "how do these scrubs make my butt look?" lol...these nurses drive me crazy...and quite personally i wish they'd never joined nursing. Again, I'm sorry if I lashed out at the OP. There is nothing at all wrong with wanting to earn a good salary. Nurses do HARD work, and do deserve much more than the majority make. However, please do keep the pay in perspective and become the type of nurse that you'd want taking care of your family members. Nurse_mo1986

You know, I happened to read this post on a bad day for me...so i'm just going to put this bluntly. If you're going into nursing for the money and to quickly zoom to the state that will pay you the most for the least amount of work, then please do us all a favor and just become a lawyer or politician or something BESIDES a nurse. I've worked with enough nurses that were just there for the paycheck and not b/c they cared at all. Long story short, they were CRAPPY nurses. Don't join those ranks. Either be a nurse for the right reason or simply stay out of the field.

There are several staffing agencies that supply LPN's to UMC clinics outpatient. As of last year the per diem rate was a flat 20.00 and hours were plentiful, as long as you had your one years exp. If you need more info, pm me and i'll get you the name of some of the staffing agencies. I lived in that area until this spring, when i relocated. I worked in a local hosp doing a wknd package and made 22.0 hourly. The money's there, you just need to know where to look.

hmmmm, well call me hateful but I always try to stay short and to the point. From the managers (and daughters) point of view...YOU UNLAWFULLY RESTRAINED THE PT. Now, having said that, I've worked in ICU for several years, and I know that there's times i've had to apply restraints and then call for an order afterwards, but I'VE ALWAYS CALLED. This is a prime example of how you should protect your butt by always calling the dr. I do feel bad that you lost your job, but geez, you cant just go around tying ppl down to the bed, this isn't nursing in the 70's, and it just isn't done. I do hope that you find another job, and hopefully will utilize better discretion next time in your nursing practice.

I just took the A&P exam. I scored low 50's on BOTH practice exams thru Excelsior, took the real exam and made a "B" so take it with a grain of salt and go sweat thru the test. you'll do ok:)

A NURSE IS A NURSE IS A NURSE...YOU WANNA BE CALLED A NURSE, THEN GO TO SCHOOL AND GET YOUR DIPLOMA, TAKE YOUR BOARDS, AND THEN I'LL CALL YOU A NURSE. TIL THEN...YOU AIN'T A NURSE. LOL. Plain as i could say it:)

I'd laugh at her the next time she calls and tell her to leave me the *&^# alone. And threaten her if she didn't "cease and desist."

My thought on it is that if the pharmacist wants to be responsible for this HUGE potential med error, then he/she can enter it theirselves. To me, this is a big potential waiting to happen, and I would not code it this way. Speak to the superuser of this system, and find a way to resolve it.

Our ICU tends to limit wastage by keeping locked drawers in each individual room with commonly used supplies. We then take out only the supplies we need each time we go into that room. It seems like the system works really well for us, and there is def. a limited amount of wastage by doing it this way.

Well, my hospital is a smoke free campus. The way management deals with smoking pts is to simply tell them on admission that if they're caught smoking while here as an inpatient, that's grounds for signing out AMA, and will be considered as such. Policy works pretty well in my opinion. As for nurses that smoke, they simply clock out, and must leave the premises in their vehicle to smoke. Which means that the majority of smokers simply leave for their lunch breaks now days.