jackieliz

The news letter from the NM BON last month had a section regarding anesthesia drugs and the nurse practice act. Regarding propofol it stated that because propofol is an anesthetic agent, only those qualified to administer general anesthesia would be allowed to use it, this sounded nationwide. I work in a CV stepdown, but our CCU uses propofol all the time. Have any of you heard of this new restriction? I keep wondering if i misunderstood the newsletter, but I don't have it anymore.

Ok. My first semester of clinicals was in a rehab facility-many little old ortho ladies. My peer "Sally's" patient had an oozing incision and our instructor was demonstrating out first live action dressing change. So Sally and I are trying to be compassionate nurses-one of us holding each hand and soothing her. I noticed her fingers were thickly tinged orange and assumed she was a heavy smoker, so I continued to rub her hand. After the dressing, my instructor looked like she was about to crack up and told me to get some soapy washcloths and for both Sally and I to wash our hands well. We cleaned the patients hands with the washcloth and the orange came off. ?HUH? That was the day I learned that little old ortho ladies tend to dig in their dirty diapers. And smart me is massaging stool into her (and my) hands.

We have stickers on the inside of all the charts reminding us to write discharge or discontinue rather than "d/c", and morphine instead of "ms", among a few others. I see PAS on many charts, but it means something was signed by a PA student. And the stockings, we call 'em SCD's or sequentials. I agree that some abbreviations can be dangerous, but when you have to write so much when you're pressed for time, it's hard not to do it. This will be a hard habit to break.

So is one year and one month the standard amt of time for an ADN to complete the BSN at U of P? How do you do your clinical credits?

I just accepted a job on a surgical tele floor after 1 1/2 yrs experience on a general surgical unit (which I do reccommend by the way). My interview focused on my goals and my ability to work with others under pressure. Did not even touch on my knowledge of the heart-no quizzing or anything. Why? Because I have no prior experience on a cardiac unit, it is not expected that I know the rhythms (except fatal). EKG's, cardiac drips etc...will be learned as you go and during orientation. I also have to take a critical care and basic arrhythmia class with ACLS optional, you will probably have something similar. Just be confident and open--you'll do fine.

We do it all the time. As a matter of fact, last spring we were short a tech and I was called in on my on call nite to fill in- I have NO problem making my night differential plus time and a half to tech. It's hard physical work, but it's nice not to be the one responsible for everything sometimes.

The day shift on my unit is really struggling due to a lack of experienced nurses. After the Dec.03 nursing classes graduated, our director hired left and right. The problem is that we only had one opening! Because of the overstaffing on days, nurses were getting census managed about once every pay peroid, causing the EXCELLENT experienced team we had to look for work else where. This left days with about 6 new nurses to 1 or 2 experienced per shift. Unfortunately, errors are now being made-scary ones-because there is no one to guide the new nurses!! A frustrating situation for everyone involved.

I've been at it for 1.5 years and still sometimes get butterflies before going in at nite. This is a taxing job with REAL conseqences to mistakes. I used to have a nitemare (when I first started) that I forgot about one pt all nite long-no assessment/meds/vs-NOTHING. I'd wake up with my heart racing.

I work on a general surgical floor and we care for the reductions that need to spend the nite. I can say that there is definitely scarring-you have to go into the surgery knowing this (look on a cosmetic surgeons web site for pics). Pain control is always a pca and I've never seen anyone without atleast 2 JP's. Hematoma is a risk-we have on average about 1 pt q 2-3 months that has to go back to OR with a hematoma. Despite these issues, one of my co-workers had this done last year and sings its praises from the rooftops!! Says she'd do it over in a second!!

Is IVIG the same as IGg? If so, we treat it like blood.

Also in NM-in my facility, ortho nurses pull jp's, but on general surgery, we don't.

Thanks-definitely helpful guys (gals?).

SANE=sexual assault nurse examiner. I think the class is a couple times a year in Santa Fe maybe? Still haven't found any real info, but looking!

Hi folks! I live and work in Albq. and want to pursue SANE certification. I've been looking online for info on classes etc... but haven't found anything helpful aside from descriptions of what SANE is. I did email some city of albuquerque address I found at one of the sites several weeks ago, but haven't heard back (and probably won't)! If you have any phone numbers/email addresses or just helpful info, feel free to post it or PM me...I'll owe ya one!!

Have you ever seen the Saturday Night Live episode with Nicholas Cage as a guy named A$$wipe, pronounced Azz-weepay?? Funny.