simvee

I've been reading many of the threads here re: tuition debt load, but I still feel compelled to ask - is anyone else in this situation? I'm speculating about CRNA school. I'm an ICU nurse with four years' experience. I have a mortgage (not much equit...

Giving serious thought to switching to a PA program. They seriously cannot be as bad as this, can they? I feel being part of a medical program they just can't be as bad as a graduate level nursing program. I'm in the throes of Nursing Theory and it's...

That's hardly fair. Whatever earlier disputes you guys have had here, I wasn't part of that. I just did a ten page concept analysis of the concept (apparently it's just a nursing concept) of independence. I had to define it, then identify antecedents...

Thanks for all the helpful info, this is great. My question is do you foresee being able to work in an inpatient or hospital clinic setting? I was told our heart failure clinic (which is in our outpatient center, but on the hospital campus, and staff...

I too am curious about the Chicagoland area. Can we just use any family doctor? They said we could use MD or NP centers. My family doc had a NP student with him once, so I'm thinking of asking him.

I'm writing here seeking advice. I work for a large teaching Magnet facility which I really love. It used to (I'm sure still claims to) strongly encourage nursing education. I am an ADN RN who is in an RN to BSN program already. Recently I wrote abou...

I think I'm going to ride it out, evaluate other BSN programs, and evaluate other ways of paying. Even if I take out a small Stafford loan it wouldn't bankrupt me I guess. Of course taking out a loan for no financial compensation whatsoever stings a ...

Our hospital just quietly transitioned to a new policy, wherein 0.9 FTE nurses (3 12 hour shifts) are not considered full-time. They reassure us that this policy only affects new nurses, and old 0.9ers will be grandfathered into full time. Of course,...

Hi, I'm a new RN in a trauma ICU. We use a LOT of pain drips and sedative drips. Typical patient has Versed and fentanyl on pumps with orders to titrate as needed to maintain sedation (MAAS score of 2-3). Sometimes they use propofol with the same or...

I'm pretty sure when I was inserviced by the Roche Accuchek folks about using their machine, they said that one of the benefits was that I could use blood from any source, not just capillary (a fingerstick). So I can use blood from anywhere, right? I...

Hi! I'm new to a neuro ICU. Had a head trauma patient with a subdural and a shift. Low GCS at first, but they did a massive craniectomy (entire parietal/temporal bone flap). By the time I got the patient (3 hours post-op) he was following commands an...

Do you guys find you have to work out just to stay fit enough to work? I'm finding work so much easier now that I've lost 25 pounds (due to other reasons - found out I had super high cholesterol). The lack of strain on my back is amazing. Now I find...

Soon after I graduated I joined the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, because I thought it might help me with my new job in the ICU. And I was kind of idealistically thinking that joining your supporting association is good. But frankly, ...

Yeah, I jog the stairs at work sometimes if I'm bored or need a pick-me-up. Sometimes with push-ups at the top and bottom flights.

Christ still takes 50 externs a summer as far as I know.

Working Class is expensive IMHO. Does anyone have any experience with Chicago Scrubs Outlet? http://www.chicagoscrubsoutlet.com/ Saw their good reviews on Yelp. Speaking of which, here's a Yelp search for ya: http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=scru...

One of Masonic's sister Advocate hospitals has serial residency programs, like two a year. It's a new thing but I think Masonic's doing the same thing.

We insufflate just to have an idea, and then x-ray. Incidentally I have heard a wet gurgle on auscultation, only to have it in the bronchus apparently! So insufflation really isn't totally accurate, just mostly accurate.

For some reason we use D5 .45%. Also I think they reserve mannitol for actual cases of swelling and not for prophylaxis anymore? But I'm not sure. That's a good point. I'll remember to say that.

I've assisted at central line insertion a bunch of times, even before I was an RN (I was an ICU tech), and that's pretty sufficient. As long as you are masked and gowned and protect the sterile field and items, what else do they need? And as everyon...

Short answer: no. Don't turn or lift people without adequate help. You can't be expected to do things that you can't physically do safely. No one in management or on the medical staff (the other people concerned with preventing skin breakdown) would ...

Thanks! I was just going to ask about this.

I work in a teaching hospital with several residency programs. Lately we've become a "closed unit", using intensivists, but we "borrowed" the intensivists from the pool of already overworked trauma surgeons and pulmonologists (it's not like they brou...

You guys are right, follow the chain of command. It's kind of annoying to do this for little issues, though. Oh well. Tri-RN, like I said, I'd rather them say they have no clue and ask me what to do than to make up a pat answer that I know is wrong.

peep and zofran - thanks for understanding my plight. Like I said, there is no way to document these boluses. I already posted the only workaround I could see (volume boluses) which is ridiculous but at least it works. Kinda. The problem which you gu...