lilbeans

I have been working in pediatrics for several years now and I love it. However, I have a low FTE and due to the union contract I must work up to a higher FTE. This is hard to do since we have a low turnover and everyone seems to want to increase their FTE. I have also been unbale to pick up extra shifts recently. So our finances have taken a hit. I have been offered a job somewhere else that will pay better. However it is not in pediatrics. Im unsure what to do. I understand nobody can make that decision for me. Any opinions? Any previous experiences? Been in a similar situation? What decision did you make? How did you feel about that decision?

I work in Pediatrics but we frequently float to NICU. I like going there. I don't take care of the really critical babies. I usually have the babies that are just getting bigger before they go home. I don't think it is depressing. I think its a real miracle that they can save such tiny babies. I was scared a little at first, because they are so tiny. However, I love taking care of them. Most of them are so cute. All the babies are hooked to monitors, and they aren't supposed to be messed constantly. We try to decrease their stimulation. So, yes there is down time. I know the critical babies tend to be a little more work. I like the NICU babies, because they sleep most of the time. When we get babies on the peds floor, the babies don't usually go by any type of schedule. There is one thing I do not like about NICU is that the babies tend to have crazy moms. A lot of the babies have moms with substance abuse history or other issues.

I personally knew somebody that was abusing alcohol when I went to school. I believe this person drank a lot. She didn't show up for most class days. Only ones that were required. She still did well on tests and was pretty good at clinicals. She had confided in me that she wanted treatment, but she was scared it might affect her career. I do not believe she was using other drugs, but our school did not do any drug testing, even for clinicals. I even asked for advice on what she should do on these forums. I always advised her to get treatment. As far as I am aware she never did. She also finished school (with honors!) and received her license. I never informed any instructor or any higher up official. I have never been drug tested for school or any nursing job I have had. So this person that OP is referring to may never be stopped by drug tests and they may finish school. That being said, this person personally told me that she had this problem. As far as I was aware she was never under the influence at school or clinicals. If she had been or if I knew she was abusing illegal drugs, I would have reported her. If I was OP, I would not report this person.

I work in Pediatrics and I am just now being trained into the Pediatric ICU (we are one unit and must be trained into both areas). I am not familiar with some of the medications but I do know in the PICU that we usually have compatibility charts printed out with the medications and drips the patients are getting. We also have a program on the computers to check the compatibility. If the line (I am assuming this is a central line of some sort) has multiple lumens, then not all the medications are mixing together. I would figure out which drip is compatible with the med i am administering. Otherwise pause one of the drips and flush, give the med and flush, then restart the drip. If all else fails, see if you can get a PIV.

+1000, lectures, powerpoints, watching the clock, lectures, powerpoints, watching the clock, for the first two weeks

it depended on how comfortable i was with the material. my studying greatly decreased as i continued in nursing school. i never studied every night. review books helped more than the textbooks. graduated with a 3.8 GPA

yes, no doubt. but earlier in my life. the more i work as a nurse, the more i love nursing!

Very similar to saunders. I don't know which questions I was doing good on. I would say 90% of the questions I did not know for sure. I just made very educated guesses on. There were some repeated areas. I actually know I got one right on vitamin deficiencies and then I got another question about vitamin deficiencies that I was completely clueless about. I swear I had 20+ SATA. It seemed like i would get them one after another. Ugh. I don't think I knew any of the meds. I would just make an educated guess by the suffix.

Minnesota. Yes it was fast. 24 hours from my exam appt. I couldn't even buy the quick results yet.

I used Saunders Comprehensive Review. I just looked over the sections that I thought I was weak in. I also used the CD with questions a whole bunch. I also just finished pathophysiology this summer. Patho was an optional class, but I think it helped that I took it right before I took the NLCEX.

I took the test yesterday. I looked at the BON website today and I passed, yay! Shut off at 85 questions. Lots of pharm and SATA questions. I didn't feel like I passed yesterday. But i did yay!

I passed my NCLEX-PN! I took it yesterday. I looked on the BON website today, and it says I passed. Yay! One more year of school and then I get to pass the NCLEX-RN.

Yeah pretty much what Strawberry said. Basically do basic nursing skills. Things you learned in your CNA classes. Anything above and beyond that they tell you and help you out if you need it.

:ancong!: Good luck!

When I applied for my PN license there were questions about alcohol and drug abuse. Those were reasons for denial of your license. She abuses alcohol. I think she has done other drugs, but she does not abuse them. I am pretty sure she would not divert drugs since she does not like pain pills. She doesn't even take them when prescribed to her. She is afraid that if she does go to treatment she will not be able to get her license. She keeps trying to quit herself, but it never lasts very long.