drem7116

Im a very new nurse and have encountered my first end of life care on a patient. She was recently diagnosed with the big C and rapidly deteriorated. The family was very unprepared for this and the past few days I have tried my best to care for them as much as my patient. Unfortunately, my hospital doesnt offer any services for the surviving family. My patient was diagnosed only one month ago and received an extreamly poor prognosis (weeks to months). The family is having a very hard time making decisions and coming to terms with the prognosis. I had requested clergy come to see the patient, however I feel there can be more. (Aside from keeping my patient comfortable). What I am inquiring about is a support group of some type for the surviving family that would come to the hospital or speak to the family to assist and assure the family they are making the best decisions. I have advocated for my patient as best i can, unfortunatly due to insurance issues hospice care/services "isnt applicable" in this situation. Is there any nonprofit service that can come and even just be an ear or shoulder for my patients family? I know I am the nurse and I am her advocate and I have tried, but as a new nurse I feel my voice alone is inadequate/insufficient enough due to my inexperiance. I have spoken to the case managment team and I was made aware that they are there to assist with matters of the patient, not their son (ps the only surviving family member). I know I am new, but in my mind the son is my patient as well and he needs just as much care. Without infringing on HIPPA to much i am located in the NY area. Thank you in advance for any suggestions/recommendations

Thanks, im the type of person that requires immediate gratification (or immediate knowledge of my demise, lol). I hate waiting, and cant wait till I can sleep easy haha

Hi all, I am still freaking out! I took my NCLEX RN yesterday and walked out in tears. I felt so un confident with my performance. Plus it didnt help that of the 78 total questions i got, TWENTY TWO were select all that apply questions. I did the pearson vue trick and got the "good pop up." I still do not believe it, though. Im just wondering if there is anyone out thee that recently did it and can validate it or not. Thanks a bunch!!

What is the Peason Vue "good"pop up trick I keep seeing everyone mention?

My program is a 4 year program, our graduating NURSING class will be roughly 35 people and for the most part we are all a pretty much tight knit group. We also have a RN to BSN program, LPN to RN, and an accelerated BSN program, so in total at the ceremony it would be about 100. We do have a college wide graduation as well, however the pinning ceremony is organized and funded entirely by the students. So as far as to say it isn't "in the budget", well there was never any budget allocated towards it. Myself and the other officials organize fundraising events, not just to vastly reduce the cost of the ceremony that the students will incur, but also to donate to charities and to our schools "skills lab" which is always in dire need of equipment. If you dont mind me asking where did you go to school? and did you find that majority of your class decided to decline the pinning ceremony?

Hi all, I am currently a nursing student in a BSN RN program heading into my senior year (woo hoo almost done). I have also been elected Vice President of the Student Nurses Association at my school and today I got hit with a big blow in an officers meeting!! I was advised that the ceremony to honor the culmination of all my and my peers hard work is no longer going to be celebrated; as the school has decided to do away with the pinning ceremony. Initially, i was at a loss from words. I remembered sitting in my very first nursing class and learning about what a prestigious honor it is to be pinned; to be recognized and welcomed into the the profession of nursing. When I questioned the faculty as to why this decision has been made, there only response was that "The pinning ceremony is more common place in associate programs..." (My school is a BSN program)...they followed with our school "is trying to become a larger school, in terms of the nursing program, and we found that the larger schools no longer have a pinning." So my question is, is this true? Has it become more common place to not have a pinning ceremony? Is this a long held tradition that has fallen to the way side? If so is there some sort of recognition held in lieu of a pinning? and if so what? Personally, I DO NOT want to let this tradition go and I feel if this is the case it is a shame. Myself and the other officers are trying to gain feedback on this issue. We are also tasked with breaking this information to the rest of our class, whom i feel will be just as upset as I am. However before doing so, we want to have sufficient enough information and a petition prepared in the event the general consensus is to fight for our right to be pinned! Please let me know what you all think of this, or if you have heard that the recent trend is to do away with the pinning and what schools are doing so. My college is located in New York, very close to the city. Thank you for all your input:)

When I first decided to go into nursing school, everyone told me how fantastic that is because there is a "HUGE SHORTAGE!" Due to my financial situation, I decided to become an LPN first, then work while I am in school for RN. I graduated and was a license practical nurse shortly after in 2009. I was so excited to get on the computer and have hospitals and nursing homes fighting over me as i applied to them! I dreamed of having all these opportunities to pick and choose from......so you could imagine my surprise when, application after application I was getting no response. Luckily, after several months of searching I was able to secure a position in a private office. Where it was nice to have a job, I felt that the skills that I learned and all my training were being wasted. So I decided to to bit the bullet and take on the financial burden of continuing my education to become a RN. Unfortunately, with this decision also came the reality that I would not be able to work at a private office. So at 29 years old, I packed up all my belongings and moved back in with my mother and father to minimize all expenses that i would have to incur during this 3 year program. Since I have started the program one year ago, I spend at least one hour every day, sending my resume places or filling out online applications....however I always get the same response, "We are really looking for someone with at least one year hospital/nursing home experience." To which I then reply, "Well how am i supposed to get that one year experience, if no one is willing to take a shot on a self motivated, quick learning, team player such as myself?" To which they let out an uneasy laugh and wish me luck on my search. I dont want to sound like I am complaining, because I know what the job market is like and it is hard out there for everyone!! I am just very frustrated! I was vice president of my class and graduated top of my class and yet I find myself in this perpetual cycle of rejection! If there is anyone out there that knows of any jobs in the rockland county NY area or Northern NJ area (yes I am licensed in both states) OR if there are certain websites that I am over looking that are helpful in finding jobs in the medical field I would GREATLY appreciate it:) I am even willing to work as a CNA in order to obtain the "minimum of 1 year experience" I keep hearing about. Thank you!!!!!!

thanks guys, we were not limited to just herbal remedies....in our presentation we are discussing meditation, music, prayer, imagery, reiki, therapeutic touch and communication as forms of complimentary and alternative medicine. I personally don't feel that herbs should be discussed, because of the reasons i mentioned in the 1st post. However I wanted to get the opinion of some pros:)

Hi there, my clinical group was assigned to present on the topic of Non-Pharmacological therapies. We all did some research, regrouped and discussed our findings. We came up with several treatments and nursing considerations for each. However, the topic of Herbal Therapy came up and whether to include it in our presentation or not. Half the group felt that because, by definition non-pharmacological therapy means: " any therapy that does not include drugs or medications. It is treatment modalities that do not utilize or involve pharmacological means, i.e. medications." That herbal MEDICATIONS should not be included. As they still undergoes all the processes of pharmacokenetics and pharmacodynamics. The other half of the group felt that because they are herbs, they naturally formed, that they do not have to be taken in pill form (i.e- ginger, rosemary, mints) they could fall under the category of food and therefore should be included. We are really torn and don't want to not include the topic if it is considered and we don't want to include it if it isn't. Thanks:)