AragornSkywalker

Thx for the advice. Bummer.

Mostly laziness on my part. I'm not saying these are my only options, just whether or not is it a good one.

Is this a good idea? From what I can see, Pros: - Always have something to talk about - Using "busy" as an excuse has an actual chance of working - Better chance of finding someone who is smart and will be financially independent - M/F Ratio - Physical assessments can suddenly be very fun Cons: - Good chance of not wanting to listen to more nursing stuff after your shift - "Busy" might actually be the case, and relationships are distracting - Better chance of finding someone who is uptight, competitive, and controlling - M/F ratio means anything you do will be gossiped about. So if you mess up with one girl, it might mark you to the rest. - Might have to work with an Ex - Overexposure from class time. Seems like a toss-up.

https://allnurses.com/nursing-articles/day-life-new-418404.html

Who could say. If you are getting into a field just for job security, you can certainly do worse than nursing. Though slogging through nursing school with nothing else motivating you will be tough.

Ok, well what girly topics should I be knowledgeable about?

I don't watch sports. The closest thing to sports I am interested in is grifball. But it seems like every guy in the world has something to say about sports. Since alcohol isn't allowed in the hospital, it has become the de facto ice-breaker in male bonding. My lawyer friend tells me that I need to know at least something about this stuff to get ahead. I thought I picked this career to avoid insincere networking. So how much does one such as I, an owner of testicles, have to know about this social phenomenon known as sports?

Ive completed 2/3 nursing home clinicals, and I am so lost and frustrated. After using EPIC, I hate paper charts. Not only am I lost as to where to find certain information, I can't read most of the handwriting either. The labs are all old, and interpretting them feels like an exercise in futility. There are 4-5 "current" dx and 4-5 comorbidities, and I just found out most of them are on there for billing medicare. Had I known sooner, I wouldn't have spent my first 2 care plans addressing irrelevant or outdated pathos. Then there are my nursing Dx. One of my patients has hemiparesis on the left side with contractures in the arms and legs. All he does is lay in bed before getting wheeled to in front of the TV. Self-care deficit and impaired mobility both leaps to mind, but then I consider what interventions I can realistically perform and I am just lost. I thought about having him attempt to perform more self-care with the right arm, but the PCA just shaves and hoses him off in 5 minutes because she has 9 other pt to attend to. He says he plans to leave, but I dont see how that is likely. I did the gero depression scale and the answers were all over the place. He seems depressed though. I just don't know what to hope to accomplish besides keep him and safe and not getting worse. I have 3 weeks and my instructor says that is alot of time to get something done. But it took me 2 weeks just to get an understanding of this patient. I have 1 clinical left and I want to at least appear to be starting on the right path. Our goals and outcomes should be achievable during our clinical periods, so should they be micro-steps in the bigger process? Like if there is a self-care deficit, should I just focus on trying to get him to wash his face and chest with his right arm rather than try to tackle everything? Plus these places are so depressing. The staff treats him like a bad 5 year old, and his roommates can be loud and combative.

Update: my insurance actually covered most of it surprisingly. I am using united healthcare NSNA, and they covered it besides the 50$ co-pay and another 54$ for some reason. 104$ for a 650$ bill is a victory for me. Life lesson still learned.

First semester is all about the science and getting those fundamentals down. Second semester is all about clinical skills and assessment skills. So much damn reading... Third semester is critical care, and thats one place where you do not want to screw up cause you spent too much time watching sports or playing games. As for whether or not it is intellectually tough, it depends on your professor. Alot of my classmates went to a cc to take patho and pharm, where it was much easier than on campus. According to students from previous classes, those are the students that ultimately struggle more. I hope its true. Lazy cowards...

Wow, 2nd semester is rough. Intermediate nursing, health assessment, and gero takes up almost all my time. Ive really cut back on gaming to focus on developing my fundamentals.

Insanely rich, handsome, and possibly possessing god-like powers. Havn't you heard that male nurses are the Chuck Norrises of healthcare?

That sounds delicious. But I wouldnt feel comfortable carrying a bag of fruit paste in my pocket, then eating it like a super go-gurt. I got some cliff bars. They are great!

Something to look at while I load: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/fatlazyhomer/S1050001.jpg Something to look at while I shower: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/fatlazyhomer/S1050002.jpg Easy attachment for switching slides: (The tape was from before, when I was still perfecting the method) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/fatlazyhomer/S1050003.jpg

I remember seeing classmates watching Lakers in class. It was an auditorium so it appears completely natural - until they jumped in excitement.

During my first semester, I got to eat lunch like 3x during clinicals. The rest of the time, I was in the computer lab charting while munching down a power bar. Its convenient and I can put a bunch in my pocket. Thats pretty much the only reason.

Clif it is then. Ill head down to my local market and pick up a bunch of variets to taste test, then buy in bulk on amazon. I dislike fruit bars cause they make my tooth hurt.

Orlly? Hmm... I better crack mine open. They gave us a stack.

I would advise asking some of the more senior students on which classes actually used the reading. I read 200 pages of communication stuff that turned out to be pretty pointless.

I bought 4 cases of Zoes for clinicals the previous semester, and they were generally great. Unfortunately they are OSS at amazon and havnt been in stock for months. What would be a good alternative as far as nutrition goes? Taste can be compromised. I dont really want anything thats sour/sweet like apples. Chocolate is always fine by me. Any suggestions?

Since care plans take ALL day, I don't know why they would want a bunch of sleep deprived noobies to arrive on the floor and have the most personal contact with patients. Our care plan is lab interpretations, patho concept map, 2 nursing dx, a med sheet. We do 2 since we have 2 patients. We have to arrive usually 7-8am depending on how scarce patients are. And sometimes you just dont want to have last pick and get a guy with 30 meds. Our clinical day is waking up at 5am, getting there at 630am to get report. Then we do meds, vitals, PE, bed bath, and whatever else comes up that we can handle. We also need to document and do an outcome note for both patients. It doesnt sound like alot, but Ive had maybe 2-3 lunches in my 8-9 clinicals. Every other time, I was either busy with the patient or charting while munching a power bar. We are suppose to get done at 1:30Pm, but usually we dont leave the floor until 2-3pm since our instructor needs to check all our notes. Then we have 1-2 hours of post-conference that is either just sharing our day or teaching us something new (like inserting NG tubes). I get home around 4-5pm and crash.

My clinical to preplanning is practically 1:1. Get there at 7-8am the day before to find 2 patients, spend the entire day making a care plan. For the clinical, I get there at 630 till 4-5pm including post conference. Its basically 2 days because of how exhausted you are. I almost never do anything else productive those two days.

Who wants to watch anyone - man or women - who is "quiet professional that is just trying to get through the shift doing the best he can"? Film characters are suppose to be interesting to a broad population, and "normal" people are not. I would love for my classmates to have all their dialogue written by Tarantino, instead of the endless stream of mundane chick-chat. I do agree with your 3 generalizations of male nurses tho.

Don't stop exercising. I just started taking combat-swordsmanship this semester and I love it, going to try to fit it in next semester as well. Its my only class thursday so including traveling, its 3 hours of my day, at least 6/week excluding practicing on my own. But I'll cut time from it for nursing if I have to. Nursing is always #1, but nursing should never be the only 1.

Part time + Nursing + Training? I think you will spread too thin. Most schools dont even advise part time, much less training. Not that you shouldn't exercise, but it seems like you wont have enough time in a week for all that.