jennafly

Love: 2:1 ratio, rapid turnover, no night shift, making pain go away, high acuity of some patients, working so close with anesthesia, recovering many types of patients and procedures. (some are really amazing!) hate: boarding ICU patients, long delays for beds, weekend calls, cranky surgeons, patients can crump super quick and sometimes you can't hand off your other patient... They basically get ignored while you're saving the life of the pt next door!

I actually just took it today!I took a review class about 3 months ago, then I studied for about the last month, but some days I would study for HOURS. They tell you to study in little chunks at a time over a long period, but I am not too good at that, lol... I used the core curriculum for reference, the practice questions book and aspan standards book. I never opened Drain's perianesthesia book, but hear its good. The core curriculum is nice because it's just the facts, very concise and aspan approves. Great to make flash cards from. My practice questions book, (I think is by Putrycus?) is not approved, but I liked it because it tells you the rationale for the answers. I did the whole book and reviewed only what I missed. Chapters 6&7 were pretty brutal! Best advice: don't spend time on what you already know, if you are constantly recovering ortho patients, you know the dermatomes... If you never recover kids or pregnant women, make sure to check that out. All the best to ya! I was just about nuts when I was done!

I took a review class about 3 months ago, then I studied for about the last month, but some days I would study for HOURS. They tell you to study in little chunks at a time over a long period, but I am not too good at that, lol... I used the core curriculum for reference, the practice questions book and aspan standards book. I never opened Drain's perianesthesia book, but hear its good. The core curriculum is nice because it's just the facts, very concise and aspan approves. Great to make flash cards from. My practice questions book, (I think is by Putrycus?) is not approved, but I liked it because it tells you the rationale for the answers. I did the whole book and reviewed only what I missed. Chapters 6&7 were pretty brutal! Best advice: don't spend time on what you already know, if you are constantly recovering ortho patients, you know the dermatomes... If you never recover kids or pregnant women, make sure to check that out. All the best to ya! I was just about nuts when I was done!

A day in the life of a nurse is a hard thing to explain in a post, lol... you are right... But lemme try- I am a newer grad and have been working in an urban ED for the past 1 year and 10 months. I can't tell you how many mornings I went home in tears during my training because the learning curve is vicious!:flamesonb That being said, it did get better. Regardless of what unit you work on, your day should start with a nurse to nurse report, where you will get the necessary info on the patients you will care for during your shift... You'll hear why the patient is in the hospital, pertinent medical history, what meds/procedures/diagnostics, etc. were done and what the next course of action will be, among other things. Hopefully, you get a thorough report so you don't have to investigate things or realize something too late into your shift. Then you should "round" on your patients, let them know who you are, do your own assessment, check vitals... You need to stay on top of MD orders, ( in the ED they come at random, but the floors generallly have a MAR, or medication administration record, you can refer to for administration times- I'm sure they probably can change mid-shift though!) I've never done floor nursing, so maybe someone else can help ya out there... During your shift you have to cope with many things, feeding pts, clean ups, admissions... the list goes on. Patient conditions can change, you'll need to be astute in your assessments and note any trends in vitals. You have many, many tasks that need completing and your time is VERY valuable... you need to be able to gracefully excuse yourself from the lonely patient that wants to talk with you for hours. You need to be thick skinned when a patient is irritable and curses you for something beyond your control. You need to remain calm in situations where the patient condition changes to unstable. You need to be willing to ask questions upon questions, even if it seems you're bugging those you ask. Have to be willing to accept criticism and know, MOST of the time, it is meant to make you a better nurse. Have to realize that some nurses really do 'eat their young'. (those nurses SUCK!) And most importantly, really WANT to be a nurse... I heard the same things when I was in nursing school, even from nurses, lol. "You really wanna do that?" "Why?" I read in one of those corny nursing gift catalogs that "Nursing is the hardest job you'll ever love" I think the corny mag was right. Good luck to you in whatever you do- hope this helps! P.S. You'll probably get night shift initially and this post barely scratches the surface of what a typical day is like. There are just SO MANY THINGS that occur during a shift! Your school may be able to help you shadow somewhere.