edogs334

edogs334

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  1. As a recent graduate, I've noticed that many hospitals- especially the large academic systems that everyone wants to work for- hire few new graduates while continuing to post umpteen positions for experienced nurses. One hospital I looked at was eve...
  2. Why is it that many laypeople think nurses make a ton of money? It's kind of annoying that just about every other time I say to someone what I do professionally, they say "oh, there's a lot of money in nursing because of the shortage" or "oh, my aun...
  3. PHRN/EMT-P

    PS- Paramedic school is definitely doable, but judging from my experience, it isn't a cake walk. Be prepared for a major time commitment. After clinicals started in January of the year I took the program, I was either: a)at work; b)studying; c)in h...
  4. PHRN/EMT-P

    As someone who did it "backwards" (EMT while in college, then nursing school, then paramedic), I would have done it the other way around. Nursing in a hospital and being a paramedic are two different worlds- although nursing knowledge and skills com...
  5. RN Who Wants To Become A Paramedic???

    What do you mean by lack of options? There are plenty of lateral and vertical moves you can make in nursing- especially of you get more education (ie- a masters degree). If you're one of those people who wants to do something related to inpatient car...
  6. RN Who Wants To Become A Paramedic???

    ^^^What She Said^^^^ I learned this the hard way (I want to combine my passion for EMS with my nursing career). It's not a "step down," rather, it's a lateral move which teaches you an entirely different skill set- ie- how to care for patients in un...
  7. Nurse and Firefighter

    I'm a critical care nurse who volunteers as an EMT with a nearby fire department. At this point I'm EMS-only but I've thought on and off about taking firefighter training. I love doing it because- for one, although we deal with stuff that's serious...
  8. What would you rather do than go into work this weekend?

    I also feel very fortunate to have the job I have, however, rather than waking up at 5:20am on my workdays, I sometimes feel that I'd rather be: 1)Socializing with friends 2)Hiking 3)taking random road trips to places I've never been to 3)Riding th...
  9. I ask because in my ICU (and in the other ICUs in my hospital) 90-95% of the time each nurse gets a two patient assignment- usually two busy, vented patients with families who have a million different questions and demands. Not to mention all the sp...
  10. So what the heck are we all collectively going to do about it? We need to do something- we can't just sit idly by and let our nurse-patient ratios increase. Prone patients and CRRTs NEED to be 1:1- they are 1:1 for a reason! We can't just accept th...
  11. Every hospital at which I've worked- both as a tech and now a nurse- does modified self-scheduling. Meaning that you put in the days that you want to work (within the scheduling rules) as well as the days you want off and you may or may not get any ...
  12. Modified self-scheduling has to go (IMHO)

    true self-scheduling using computer software (i think you're talking about nightingale?) would definitely be nice. the latter half of your reply basically describes what goes on in my unit- sometimes you get most or all of what you want, and other t...
  13. Modified self-scheduling has to go (IMHO)

    Which is my exact point. That's why they call it modified self-scheduling, because it isn't really self-scheduling. Management (or whoever they designate to write the schedule for that six week period) ultimately decides who gets which days- which ...
  14. Maintaining EMT-B cert as an RN

    If you want the specific requirements for Florida, the NREMT website usually has links to individual state EMS offices. Once you get to Florida's website you can either see if they have a specific policy or regulation listed, or you could always cal...
  15. Should I Maintain EMT-B with new RN?

    Unless you want to get back into EMS in some way, shape or form- (eg- volunteering or working part-time on an ambulance) or want to do flight/transport nursing, it may not be worth re-certifying. The only reason I kept my certification current when ...
  16. OP here- I'm 1.4 years into my ICU experience. My time management and prioritization skills have gotten better. If by no other measure, I used to routinely leave by 9pm (shift ends at 7:30pm) because I needed that much catch-up time for documentati...
  17. Going from a career in nursing to med school

    Yes, it's true that you can take your education in "steps" with nursing- lots of people do that and find nursing to be more flexible in that respect. Whereas the educational ladder in nursing allows people to "step off" at various levels (eg- LPN, R...
  18. A good tech is worth his or her weight in gold- that's all I've gotta say after today's shift. Thank you for all you do- as an RN, I truly appreciate the work that techs do as part of our team. You make my job that much more manageable and provide ...
  19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Care_Practitioner http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/working_for_us/from_our_staffs_perspective/ian_wilmer_-_emergency_care_pr.aspx Judging from the description of the ECP's role in the British health care system...
  20. What states have a prehospital RN scope of practice??

    Someone in a previous post stated that "people line up to volly" as EMS providers in some states- which would negate the need to have RNs in the prehospital field. I can tell you that's definitely not true where I live- we don't have enough people t...
  21. Need some Precedex advise

    We just had an in-service on Precedex and I can tell you that facilitation of intubation is definitely NOT one of the labeled indications for this drug. Those docs are either very ignorant or just plain crazy- the outcome of that intubation attempt ...
  22. Feeling like the 5th Wheel at Work....And I feel stupid :(

    When I was on orientation not too long ago, I got an admission from the ER at around 0530. I forget what the patient's chief complaint was, but the sending RN (from the ER) had said in report that the patient's K+ was something like 2.9 (I forget ex...
  23. NP Residency Programs?

    I'm not an NP (I'm an ICU nurse atm), but I have the same question. My hospital uses NPs extensively, but I've never heard of a formal residency program for NPs- at least not at my hospital (or the others I've worked for). I think having a residenc...
  24. Want to do Flight, but, well, I cannot stop eating CRAP!

    If you can't kick the sweets habit, then there's always ground critical care transport. Not as sexy as flight, but some of the patients can be just as challenging. On a diet note- try eating fruit for dessert instead of ice cream- or have fruit an...
  25. Vent: MD visitors who are NOT intensivists

    In my unit, we have restricted visiting hours from 7am-9am and 7pm-9pm specifically so the nurses can give uninterrupted reports and complete uninterrupted assessments (without family member interference). The only exception to this rule is if the p...