mytoon38

I live in Phoenix and work at one of the local hospitals. I make base pay of a little over $34.00 and hour plus night shift and W/E diffs. I have been a nurse a LONG time though!

Honestly, I don't understand why you are that concerned about what she wears! If she likes wearing them and it isn't hurting anyone, it is her business. There are probably things you wear that she doesn't like!

My advice is...DO NOT waste your money on Chancellor's, Rue or any of those other programs. I met a lot of people that spent thousands of dollars on those programs and some got ripped off by these type of programs. You can get FREE study guide outlines from Excelsior College. You are correct, the degree comes from Excelsior, and they even tell you not to spend your money on those outside programs! I did Excelsior several years ago and didn't use any of thoseoutside programs. I got a lot of help from the study groups on yahoo. You can go to http://WWW.Excelsior.edu and get information directly on their nursing program. I have worked in several states with my RN license and never had a problem with it. I know there were a few states that didn't accept Excelsior students for initial licensure, but I am sure that has changed now. If you have anymore questions feel free to write me! I am proof that it is a legitimate program. I was an LPN for over 20 years, and thanks to Excelsior , I have been working as an RN for the last 5 years~ Good Luck!

Hi Areawoman, Many, many years ago when I went to nursing school, we had to take a medical terminology course before we ever made it to our clinicals. Even after taking that course, there were tons of terms I didn't know. It takes time to learn the terminology, and it is specific to the specialty you are working in. I still see acronyms and terms that I have no clue what they mean! Don't worry about it though, you will eventually rattle all that terminology off like it's nothing and then friends and family will say, "Hey can you translate that for me?"! I have been a nurse for 25 years and I still learn new terms daily. Nursing is a field that is constantly evolving and so you are forever learning new things. I have been out of tele for a long time, but I know CAD is coronary artery disease, s/p= status post, CABG is coronary artery bypass graft, PCI is percutaneous coronary intervention. I know HTN is hypertension, but I am unsure of HTHN??? I am sure all the experts on here can help you out with that one and all of the rest of your questions. You are correct about the CKD, it is chronic kidney disease. A pleural effusion is an accumulation of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity, most of the time this is caused by CHF, which is congestive heart failure. A lot of times these patients require a thoracentesis which is when the Dr. inserts a needle into the pleural space and drains the fluid. So basically, you have a patient with a bad heart and kidneys that was not breathing on his own, so they had to put a tube down his trachea and hook him to a machine that basically breathes for him! :confused:LOL! Come on all you allnurses.com experts and help me out! My explanation sounds pretty pitiful! LOL! Sorry I can't be more help, but I have been working in mental health for a long time now! Good Luck in school! Happy Studying!!!!!!! Mytoon38

Hi NurseLoveJoy88, I know just how you feel. I have tried every diet in the world and none of the ever worked long term. I went on Medifast for awhile and lost about 40 lbs, but as soon as I started eating regular food, I gained it all back. I have been a vegetarian for most of my life, but I still used to eat all the junk food too. I am Italian, so I grew up eating tons of pasta, bread, and good desserts like cannoli! You know what finally worked for me? I just told myself I wasn't going to diet ever again! I decided I was going to eat more healthy foods. Anyway, I cut out everything white! No white pasta, rice, flour, or sugar. I do not count calories at all! I eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as I want. I substitue whole wheat pasta for regular pasta. I still eat pizza but I go to a restaurant that offers whole wheat pizza crust and I get vegetarian pizza, easy on the cheese. I really think I am a sugar addict, but you know what after about a week, I didn't crave sugar at all. At first, I made my hubby and daughter promise that if they brought sweets home, they would keep them out of my sight so I would not be tempted to indulge my sweet tooth! I work on the 5th floor, so I started using the stairs instead of the elevator. At first, I could barely get up one flight of stairs, and now I go up and down all 5 flights without difficulty. We also bought a family membership to a gym, and go at least 3 times a week now. We also do fun family things like going hiking in the mountains, or going bowling. I started off weighing 207, and now I am down to 165. I feel SO much better! I have been able to cut my dose of Lisinopril in half. My lipid profile and all my labs were WNL. In fact, at my last check-up my Dr. said my lab results were like a healthy 25 y/o's and I am 49! So if I can do it, so can you! Just stop tellling yourself that you need to go on a diet, and try to start eating more healthy foods. Start off making small changes like cutting out sugar, and drinking more water everyday. Start doing whatever exercise you can, and eventually you will be able to do more and more! I know you can do it, just have faith in yourself, and say this over and over: "I have the power to be anything I want to be, and do anything I want to do, and nothing can take that power away from me!" You CAN do it! Hey you made it through nursing school didn't you??? I think if you accomplished that, you can do anything you set your mind to! Mytoon38

Hi 2Tall, Sorry, I don't know anything about Tampa VA. I am a Psych RN at the Phoenix VAMC, and I love it! Our benefits are great, our staffing is wonderful compared to private hospitals and they are very pro-education. After one year they will pay for you to return to school for an advanced degree. You never get cancelled for low census, and the pay is good. You can go to this website and look up pay in Tampa. RN's are Title38 employees so be sure to look at that pay scale. Website= http://www.opm.gov I also did travel nursing in Psych a few years ago. I really enjoyed it but I had to stop when our daughter was ready to go to high school. The pay is good, but the benefits were not so good. I also hated not knowing if the hospital was going to need me after the 13 week period. I usually didn't know until almost the last week of my contract if I would be staying or leaving, and that is difficult when you have a family and children in school. A lot of hospitals have cut out a lot of travel nurses due to budget issues. I know at our VA, they stopped using travel nurses a few months back. Good Luck To You and Your Family! Happy New Year Mytoon38

Yes, I had a pt many years ago like that. I was a young nurse in my early 20's, and I thought he was really old at the time, he was 42. (Now I would think he was so young!) Anyway, his name was Jack and he had liver CA. The most difficult thing for me was he really still looked pretty healthy, but he was only months away from dying. It was hard for me to accept that he was really going to die. He was married to a really sweet lady and they had 3 precious little children. She came to the hospital as much as she could, but she had to stay home at night with the children. Sometimes at night, I would go in his room and find him crying. He would tell me that he was crying not because of his illness or his physical pain, but because he didn't want to die and leave his family. I could not help but cry too. When I would cry, he would try to comfort me and tell me all the great things I had to look forward to in my life, and he would tell me all the wonderful times he had in his life. I would quickly realize that I had to be strong, and would try to be a good nurse and comfort him. Some of the older seasoned nurses, used to tell me it was bad to let a pt. see my emotions, but I just could not help it. Sometimes his wife would come early in the morning before I got off, and she would thank me for being there for him, when she couldn't. She told me that he was so thankful that he had me and a couple of other caring, compassionate nurses to care for him. Anyway, he died one night when I was working. I was so happy I was there to be with him, but I was kind of afraid because he was my first patient death. I knew the time was near, so I called his wife to come in. She made it there right after he died. She asked me if he had any last words, and I felt like she really wanted and needed to hear that he did. I didn't think it was right to lie, but something inside of me just told me it would be o.k. to do it this time. I told her that he said to "Tell them that I will never stop loving them and that I will always be with them, and that I will see them one day in Heaven." She grabbed me and hugged me for a long time, and told me that he told her that exact same thing the day he found out his CA was terminal. I just felt chills go through me, because honestly he just closed his eyes and died, he never said anything at the very end. That was over 25 years ago, and I still remember it vividly. I will always be thankful I was lucky enough to care for him. I learned a lot about living... from a man that was dying.

Well, I know it is not the South and it is still pretty close to you, but have you thought about AZ? I live outside of Phoenix, so the weather is warm or should I say HOT most of the time. The pay is pretty good, but I am sure it doesn't come close to the pay in CA. You can get some very nice homes for very reasonable prices in the Burbs. Just a thought. You could check out home prices in Goodyear, Tolleson and Buckeye. Good Luck!

Thanks to all of you for replying! I have never had anyone question me because I charted alert but confused before. Apparently it was reviewed by one of our nurse educators and she didn't like that I used the terms alert but confused. The little old man was walking around and was totally alert and responsive, but he was oriented to his name only, and I stand by my term confused; because he was defecating and urinating in trash cans all over the unit!

I recently charted that a patient was alert, but confused and oriented x 1 to name only. I was told by one of the big wig nurse educators at our hospital that a pt. couldn't be ALERT and CONFUSED, and disoriented, she said that is a contradiction. I have been a nurse for over 25 years, and I was taught that: Alertness is a global observation of level of consciousness, awareness of, and responsiveness to the environment, and this might be described as alert, clouded or drowsy. So to me, as long as a pt isn't comatose and is responding to stimuli, they are alert! I would like to hear your opinion. Do you think a pt. can be alert but confused and disoriented???? Thanks!

I work at the VAMC as a staff nurse. We have had several VA travelers there and I think they all liked traveling with the VA. I think some of the pros are that you have a lot of flexibility and you only take the assignments you want. You also get to travel and see different areas of the country. As far as the cons, I know right now our hospital can't use any travelers because of the budget. I guess it is like any travel company, you have to take the jobs that are available and work as much as possible when you can, because you never know when you won't be able to get an assignment. Here is the website where you can find out more information. http://www.travelnurse.va.gov Good Luck!

I would have followed my dreams and become a Veterinarian!

Hi Melody, I too am an AAS Excelsior graduate (2005) and I want to pursue my BSN. Please let me know whatever you can about the BSN program. I got information from them, but so many things are unclear. It looks like the program is VERY expensive now. Do we have to go back and do another CPNE? I appreciate any info. you can give me! Congrats on being only 4 classes away from your BSN!!!! WTG!!!!!!! Thanks So Much! Mary

I agree...take the day off...you need it! Emotional distress IS a valid reason to call in! You need the time off to take care of yourself and deal with this emotional blow you just received. You won't be able to take care of your patients, if you don't take care of yourself first! I will say a prayer for you and your Grandmother. God Bless! Mytoon 38:loveya:

Well yes and no. They don't have authority to say what meds a pt. needs or gets, but they do make decisions in regards to admissions being accepted to our facility and how to handle agitated patients. Example: Our pt's are allowed to go out on scheduled smoke breaks, if a pt. becomes agitated and is a smoker and requests a cigarette to help them "Calm down", it is their decision. Basically, any decsion other than meds, they make!