SN4HisGlory

Wear a smile and no one will notice your hair! Patient's and nursing staff don't care so much about how you look as how you relate to them.

In my nursing class we are studying the GI system this week ... Without knowing much about small bowel obstruction except pt would be NPO and looking at the two treatments you mentioned, you would certainly have nursing diagnoses of Risk for hyperglycemia (with TPN) and Risk for aspiration (with NG tube).

As long as the age for retirement doesn't drop to 35 you are just fine. I am 48 and in my 4th quarter of a 7 quarter program in nursing. I will graduate just before my 49th birthday. I can still walk, hear, see, and think ... all prequisites for a good nurse (not to mention having a caring heart). So how old is too old? I don't think you're ever too old to learn new skills, especially ones that will help you help someone else. When you're young time seems interminable ... but the older you get, the faster it seems to pass. So don't worry about the delay in your career. Now is the time! Go forth and pursue it!

I'm 48 and in nursing school. I quit college many years ago to raise my children and I don't regret delaying my plans for the sake of the children I brought into the world. Whether you have another child is your choice, but to have one and let someone else raise it because you're busy with school and then work seems unfair to the baby.

I'm in my 4th quarter ... 3 to go. I have also found much of the nursing program unorganized. Instead, you have to organize yourself. I made a calendar using microsoft Word and put on it what I needed done for each day ... chapter(s) to be read for each class, test, assignments due plus clinical schedule. I also added other things outside of school that I was obligated to do. Each day I look at my homemade calendar and check off what I've done and see what else I need to do. It's easier for me to see the whole month in front of me and plan what to do next. Be sure to take a little time for yourself each day. And don't neglect your family ... especially if you are a mom. A good mom will be a good nurse - one who will not just "do her duty" but will truly minister to her patients and help them improve their health.

I have searched and not found any helpful websites for specific diagnoses. The website listed below has a list of diagnoses - not for laboring moms in particular but if look hard among them you may find something useful --- like "powerlessness" (a mom may feel powerless to control the pain caused by contractions, powerless to make the baby deliver quicker, etc.) or "activity intolerance" (it's hard to tolerate other activities in the middle of a contraction!). Your best bet is to look in your maternal-newborn nursing textbook. Mine lists the following as common nursing diagnoses for intrapartum families: Anxiety:eek: Fear Deficient Fluid Volume Impaired Verbal Communication:argue: Coping (individual or family; ineffective, compromised, disabled, or readiness for enhanced) Deficient knowledge Pain (acute or chronic) Risk for injury Powerlessness (actual or risk)http://inside.ridgewater.edu/library/Nursing/074447B.htm Good luck with your care plan!

I'm almost done with my third quarter of nursing school. What I have found is that when you are taking more indepth classes and working in clinicals the basic ideas you learned in patho will come back to you. You will understand them better the more you use them. You will not even know "everything" when you finish nursing school. When you get a job in some area of nursing, you will continue to understand more and more of the concepts you are just barely understanding now. If you are doing well in your class now, just keep on doing what you're doing. One thing you will need to know for many areas of nursing are lab values (such as hematocrit, RBC, WBC, electrolytes - so if you want to learn those extra well, it would pay off in the long run. Good luck!

I hope it is normal. I feel like that every new clinical ... I like having the instructor by me to make sure I don't forget something or don't do something to hurt a patient on accident (or on purpose). It's exciting and scary at the same time. But I'm sure after a few years on the job it comes a lot easier.