JettRNurse

Sounds like she is a grumpy/rude nurse. I'd like to see the evidence backing up her claims, I've never heard of such a thing.

It is possible that a quick influx of fluids may have increased the blood pressure significantly, which could cause complications in the post operative period. (additional pressure causing sutures to tear etc.) Would need more information before we could actually determine the cause of death. Will their be an autopsy? 150cc's over 10 minutes is quite quick, sounds like you were giving an ordered bolus? Ordered bolus for malnutrition seems odd, I'm assuming the resident was under the impression the patient was dehydrated? Perhaps the HR was elevated compensating for a low blood pressure? Listen to your gut in the moment. Residents can be good resources but are also learning on the job. Asking for an explanation re: their line of thinking is totally appropriate. It is important for us to understand what we are doing, before we move forward with doing it. Don't get too hung up on this one situation, you can't change what is done. We learn and move forward, so our future patients can receive better care.

When you get to heaven, will you look back and regret electing to take more time for yourself instead of doing something that is making you miserable? I say drop out, take time to be uniquely you!

So this post is late, but may still help others. I recently found myself one statistics course away from finishing my BSN degree. All the community colleges required that I take algebra before admitting me into statistics. They would not merit completion of Algebra II, from high school. You could take a placement test, and would need to place in the highest bracket in order to be eligible for statistics. I eventually found that Grand Canyon University (Grand Canyon University is a private Christian University in Phoenix, AZ) offers statistics in a 5 week course. They have courses starting up every couple weeks. There is no pre requisites, and the entire class is online, no proctored exams. Simply work through the course material, participate in discussions, do excel worksheets and provide thoughtful answers/explanations for questions found at the end of select sections of the text book. Wasn't necessarily easy, but allowed me to maintain a working schedule. Definitely recommend it to others.

Sounds like you did the right thing. IVF's are a solid choice, and continuously monitoring, which it sounded like you did. The only thing that comes to mind is the documentation. "Physician notified re: bradycardia and hypotension. MD aware, no new orders given. Continuing to monitor the patient." Also as was mentioned, asking the MD if they have considered an EP consultation is a great idea.

apRN, I found that the psych hospital I was working at had another hospital nearby that had a tele unit. This allowed me to be an "internal transfer" even though it was some 45 miles away. I'm not sure if there is a similar situation for you. I have found in any situation where you are seeking a job, you must try to score face time. Get some face to face time with a manager, make an impression.

Have you looked into private colleges? It was 12 months between starting my first pre req and starting nursing school. Tuition was about 22,000 a year, but I figured better to get in today, pay 44,000 and have a degree, and a job than to wait years and years on a waiting list. I suggest looking into private, yet more expensive schools.

I remember standing at the crossroads that you are currently at. I had finished my EMT-B and wasn't sure which route to take. I took the nursing route, and feel I really made the stronger choice. Nursing has a lot of flexibility, and you can take your career down so many different paths. If you want to be an ortho nurse, you can't do that as a medic. I have heard about people doing a medic, and bridging into an RN program, but I think it would be much faster to just do a 2 year ADN than a medic program followed by a bridge. Good luck to you!

Even before I got into Nursing School, I had a dream of being an Emergency Room nurse. There is just something about an ER skill set that excites me. The idea of being able to use my every day nursing skill in day to day life is very appealing to me. So Fast forward a bit, I graduated in March of 2009, and since have spent a year in inpatient psychiatric services, in a lock down unit treating patients mostly on 5150's. I took that job with an open mind, thinking I would really learn so many valuable skills that I could take with me when I finally got that ER job that I have always wanted. I was able to make the move from my job in psych to a telemetry unit. I always heard that every nurse should "do their time" on the floor. Pretty much all across the board, every experienced nurse would say that you should do your time in either telemetry, or med surg. "It really rounds your experiences out, and gives you the foundation you need" I would be told. I was strongly advised not to go straight into ER nursing, because I wouldn't be "as good of a nurse." Or at least that's what I was told. So I have spent a year in psych, and coming up to a year and a half in telemetry. So now I feel I am a little bit older, and a little bit wiser, so here is my predicament. I feel I have greatly benefitted from my experiences in both psych, and cardiac, but I haven't had any ICU experience. I have been told, "ICU nurses can handle anything, any ICU nurse could float down to ER, but you couldn't float an ER nurse up into the ICU." Am I ready to go into the Emergency Room with the experience I have, or should I be actively trying to spend time in an intensive care unit? I feel while I'm sure I could learn a ton in the ICU, I feel like I would still have so much to learn, even after 1, 2, even 5 years in the ICU. I do really want to be an excellent Emergency Room nurse, but also want to give myself the best advantages to be the best nurse that I can be. I am currently working at El Camino Hospital, in Mountain View CA. The online job postings have just listed 4 ER RN postitions, and they cater to Internal hires first. Should I apply, and try to start "living the dream." Or would it be more wise to stay where I am in telemetry, and try to move to critical care before I take that step towards my dream job in the ER. I have a couple friends who have pretty much gone straight into the ER without having worked in any other role as a nurse, will I really have a leg up on them having so many other experiences, or does it even really matter? Thank you for your input and constructive feedback, I am looking forward to reading your responses.

I haven't been on these forums probably since I last posted here, but the handy email alert made it easy to find this post. It sounds like you are in a very similar situation that I was in, as I took a job in MH because I needed to pay the bills. I have since started working on a telemetry floor, at the same hospital that owned the mental health unit I was working on. I am looking to transfer into an ER position, probably at a different unaffiliated hospital, once I have finished working at my current job for a year. I think you should take whatever job you can get, there will always be opportunities to move laterally down the road. I still strongly believe that my starting in psych has really helped me develop my people skills, and made my job so much easier all the way around when it comes to dealing with difficult patients, and difficult families. Sheesh, a lot of times even helps when dealing with difficult coworkers, and physicians!

The job market in the greater Northern California area is really tough right now for new grads. Being the highest paying area for nursing, with the recession as it is, any job is a blessing. Psych wasn't my first choice, but I am super happy to have my job. I liked Psych in school, and I gots bills to pay. I have found my job super rewarding so far, and I love hearing interesting stories. Older nurses aren't retiring, because their 401k's just got nailed, and it costs hospitals quite a bit of money to train new grads, instead of hiring new nurses. I probably won't stay in Psych forever, but who knows?

You are jumping the gun a little bit. You are not quite graduated yet, but are still working on your pre reqs... Sounds like you have a couple years left. The things you have heard about finding jobs as a new grad right now will probably not be a problem when you finish school in 2 or so years. The economy right now has caused a lot of nurses that would be retiring to not retire, and hospitals are cutting new grad programs in attempt to save money to not have to staff 2 RN's to a single patient load during training. As for Psych, I am a new grad, and just finished my 4th day on the job at a lock in behavioral health center. I won't lie, I absolutely LOVE my job so far. I wasn't planning on going into psych, was more interested in ER/ICU type things. Psych is a great place to learn valuable people skills, and how to deal with intense situations. A background in psych will surely serve you in whatever line of work you take your nursing career in the future. The pay is less than most places, but there is often a good opportunity for overtime, which you can really make bank doing. I am in the northern california area, so pay is a bit higher than most other places. I was started at $36.70 hourly, with a +3 dollar PM differential, so it comes out to 39.79 hourly. If you work a double, (16 hour shift) you make 1.5x pay for the first 4 hours of the second shift, and 2x pay in the last 4 hours of the shift. I hope this helps, and good luck with nursing school!

Thanks! I am aware that Africa isn't the safest, but it's got one of the highest needs. God's got my back, and I suppose should I die, I'll see him soon enough anyway =)

I just wanted to raise some awareness, and was wondering if anyone had heard of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, or their health mission. This church has planted hospitals all over the world, in some of the most remote locations. This one hospital I am drawn to in particular is the "Bere Adventist Hospital" located in Chad, Africa. Sandwiched between Niger and the Sudan (where Darfur is, some of you may have heard of the Save Darfur campaign). Anyway, have any of you considered working as missionaries? This hospital is run by 1 doctor, and I believe 4 nurses? My girlfriend are thinking about taking a leap of faith, and taking our Nursing careers to the hospital in Africa! What do you all think? Have any of you thought about being missionaries?

Look at your weak areas on the breakdown of the ATI predictor B results, that will be a really good place to start your studying, because it is a good analysis of what you know. Take it like you would take the nclex. Good nights sleep, breakfast in the morning, dress for success!