on eagles wings

So I started on a surgical onc (step down ICU) floor as a new grad too about 3 years ago. You may or may not be giving chemo--my unit wasn't the chemo onc floor. We received actual SURGICAL pts like status post mastectomies, hysterectomies, bowel resections, amputations, GI bleeds (r/o colon ca), gastrectomies, radical neck dissections, etc.. if they needed chemo we transferred em out. Maybe you can find out if you'll be giving chemo or not. If not, just learn as much about post-op care and education for these patients. good luck :)

Yes!! Oh my gosh that series was amazing. Made me cry so many times. Unbelievable nurses and doctors. :))

Hi! First of all, I wanted to say I really appreciate you for wanting to learn another language. I think it's great when people make this decision as it opens up their world so much! I am a native spanish speaker although I was born in south Florida. Here either you learn spanish at home or you learn it later. Naturally those who learn spanish here when they get older have an advantage because they can go up to anyone and start practicing, no schooling required. I have tried picking up other languages, including arabic and Hebrew, and one thing I have found to be helpful is having pen pals. Yes. Very effective. I went on various language exchange sites and became skype buddies. I had a good Turkish pen pal for a very long while and learned quite a bit. The nice thing it's like talking to a friend here. I suggest you have picked up a little spanish at school, even if it's just greetings like hey how are you etc. that way if your pen pal doesn't speak very good English they can at least chat a bit :) I had quite a few pen pals. I did this because sometimes one would not write for a while and in the mean time I could chat with another. It depends on you. Maybe you will find a really good one. Another suggestion is find out if there is a Hispanic association or something in your college. Maybe some of them are native spanish speakers and wouldn't mind giving you a hand. I also very much suggest using YouTube, Netflix, or prime to watch spanish programs. I do this all the time in Hebrew and Arabic and it helps me immensely. Whenever I get my Arab or Hebrew speaking patients they are so surprised by some of the things I learned to say this is also how my aunt is reinforcing her English, just watching American TV. Also I suggest pimsleaur audio. Holy cow it's silly how affective that system is. It uses repetition to learn a language. Well I hope this helps, if you need any kind of help I wouldn't mind, just PM me! Good luck :)

oh and i forgot to mention the urology patients. we are our hospital's designated uro floor so i don't know if it applies to you, but we get lots of prostate CA pt's who undergo turps, bladder CA w/ turps. so we often have CBI, jp's for them, and suprapubic caths. i think that's it. :)

Hi there. Congrats on your job offer! I've been working on a large surgical unit for a year now and let me tell you it is extremely stressful. We are, according to floats, the most stressful unit in the hospital. We are a medium sized teaching hospital. But there is so much to learn everyday that it is very much worth it. We see all kinds of surgical pts to keep census up but a large majority are surg-onc, mainly colorectal cases. So frequently we have 2 patients each who have colon CA and have or will undergo a bowel resection. So lot's of ostomies, ng tubes, wound care(for the open BR's--lots of packing deep wounds, monitoring for fistula formation, etc), pain management(as much as dilaudid q2, or PCAs). Many tests, egs, colonscopies, bowel preps, TPN. Some of them also come back with a JP drain or 2. We also see many pancreatic CA pts so we do get the occasional whipple patients--lots of pain mgt for those. They also get lots of TPN and supportive/palliative care. Our liver CA patients have the usual octreotide drips, pain mgt, protonix drips, biopsies, and sometimes pigtails if there is an obstruction in the ducts. Also we get thyroid CA patients, so many thyroidectomies/neck dissections for lymph mets w/ q6 serum calciums, monitoring for cardiac arrythmias, & sometimes calcium drips. they usually come back with a penrose drain or jp drain or 2. lots of hysterectomies too. in our hospital most are done lap/robotically so i haven't had to do dressing changes for these. but lots of these come with PCAs. usually require a blood transfusion right after sx, in my experience. for our kidney pts, nephrectomies & urostomies, biopsies, and lots and lots of teaching. strict I&Os. all our surgical nurses are besties with the wound care/ostomy nurse. they are such great resources. ask them the best tape to use, where you can find the eakin rings. they provide the pain introduction to the patients about their new ostomy/urostomy/pigtail but you have a lot of reinforcing to do and of course discharge teaching. find where the education packets or supplemental videos are for these patients. But in the mean time we also general surgery pts like appendicitis, cholecystitis/cholelithiasis, and even trauma patients(MVA, GSW), GI bleeds, abcesses(liver abcess or GYN related abcesses). On our step-down side we have a load of 4 but go up to 6 if we are really short(super unsafe), but on our tele/general surgery we can go up to 7(super unsafe) lol. Hope this helps you =) good luck

Making fun???? Where was I making fun??? I was correcting him, where was I making fun? Are you serious? I clearly pointed out where he was wrong, I think, fairly. Because one does not think like you does not mean I am being mean. You are the one calling me names. I never call anyone names. I also pointed out where you misinterpreted my posts, and you can't even acknowledge that. Wow.

No, I am not an NP, I'm an RN. I don't know how much you read but I was clearly comparing RN's to PA's because DIVOBARI was the first to say they are practically the same thing. I even quoted it. Of course they are not the same thing. You are completely misinterpreting what I said. I have never said NPs don't practice medicine. Where did I say that? I was only replying to divobari's erroneous comparison to RNs and PAs. I was not comparing NPs to PAs. Clinically they are the same. Did you forget what I wrote earlier, you even liked that post. :) Kinda funny you are calling me mean and insecure, LOL!

ah lol its ok!

I'm replying to Divobari2's post, where, if I am not mistaken, makes it sounds like PA's just "do more technical things" than RNs but have the same level of education. But I just realized he/she is from Germany. I don't know what the PA model is like over there. But here in the US/AU/Canada/NZ/UK it is not like an RN with a few more hands-on skills...

Oh no no no. Very incorrect, I am sorry. First of all, getting your certificate, Associates, Bachelor's or Masters in PA Studies is the SAME. They take the same coursework, except Master's may take extra elective rotations (Rural medicine, tropical medicine, subspecialties), but all sit for the EXACT SAME PANCE. Much like how certificate, ASN, and BSN RN's have taken the NCLEX, yet no difference in scope. And for pete's sake how can you compare the education of a PA and a nurse? Nurses study NURSING, not medicine. PA's study medicine. I never took a whole 16 week class on Electrocardiology like the PA's in my school do. Never did I take nearly 8 credits in just pharmacotherapeutics. Nor did I have 60 hr weeks in a surgical rotation alone. Nope. Nursing care plans make admission notes look like child's play. Any medical assistant can learn how to suture. PA's diagnose and treat complicated diseases, not just colds or nosebleeds. And I would never call ordering and interpreting tests as "technical", as if its easy. You can't diagnose everything with a CMP and CBC. Knowing what to order is just as important as identifying trends. And please don't flame me for this, but I don't think the task-oriented job of a med-surg bedside nurse is practicing medicine. Sure, I do wound care, give meds, but after a while it's all just stuff I have to check off on a list. BTW plenty PA's don't have hospital experience, they worked as medics in the field however, and are excellent medical providers.

I would do PA if I were you. I don't see the point of getting your RN to become an NP. Your experience is real competitive for PA programs, you would just need some LORs and I think you could get into a program easily :) good luck

To slinkyheadcna, I knew since 2nd or 3rd semester I would probably hate nursing but felt stuck since I had already made so many sacrifices to get in. Now that I have been an RN for 7-8 months, I regret getting into nursing altogether. You don't have to be practicing as an RN to realize this ain't for you. Sometimes you realize it later... To the OP, you are super young. I feel like you sometimes, guilty and stuck. Actually, I feel that way all the time. But it's never late to find out what your career is. Find shadowing opportunities to get a good feel for different careers in healthcare. Actually this is what I did, I started shadowing an MD and a PA and I liked what I saw. You've got time. But since you're already an LPN why don't you just work with that for now. Maybe not at a hospital but maybe a flu clinic or something so you can pay your bills, but have time in the evenings to take classes. Or do home visits if you need the flexibility. Good luck :) you're not as stuck as you think you are!!

Honestly I wouldn't bother. Enjoy your break and let the professors enjoy theirs. You will be learning a whole lot of info for the next couple of yrs, and not receiving 3 of the syllabi isn't going to make your first semester any worse lol. If I were you I would focus mainly on organizing your self, looking up helpful websites about pharm and physical assessment. Get to know the library, where the nursing books are, etc. you can look up YouTube videos on health to toe assessment or on IV fluids you will need to know. Lot more useful than a syllabi :) good luck.

These requirements are nearly identical to my local PA program that also awards an associates. Now they are offering a Bachelor's and Master's bridge program with local universities. Just because it isn't a requirement to have a bachelor's doesn't mean they don't give you points for having more education. My local program has a really tough point system and having advanced education strengthens your app. Most of those who get accepted are medics/flight medics/rns/pns with lots of experience. We also get lots of FMGs. Personally I just prefer the PA curriculum since its more science-y. But I have seen great NPs working as hospitalists and meeting good outcomes. Your education and career is in your hands and whatever you choose, if you dedicate yourself to it, you will be a good provider.

MOST PA programs require a minimum requirement of GOOD HCE(many times over 1000 hrs)--meaning army medics, RTs, RNs, PNs, ER techs, PTAs, etc. including volunteering and shadowing MDs/PAs/NPs.

I can relate so much. About the same amount of time, started at a step down unit with a ratio of 4-6. high turnover. daily huddles in the middle of med pass to tell us our pt satisfaction scores are low and we need to step it up. lol. totally over it!

Don't bother with Baptist Hospital. They will only get you with 1 year experience. Even if you have 9 months experience, they will not hire you. I have friends who got jobs in Jackson North--they got paid ER residencies. They just had an open house. Check their website and see if you can get on their mailing list for upcoming events. My other gf got a job at Kendall Regional, NG residency for medsurg with sim lab and weeks of classes,. Mount Sinai gets a ton of new grads. Huge residency program, but very short(6-7 weeks, no sim lab, just preceptor & a few days of class). Also try rehab facilities, like the one in Coral Gables. They hired an old friend of mine. Good luck guys!

i am almost at my 6month mark and i do dumb stuff all the time. i work in stepdown/sx. i still cry. a lot of the nurses with 5+ years of exp. still cry. don't beat yourself. a lot of it is nerves and sensory overload(lol). its a new place, new job, new people--a lot is going on and it is hard to think straight. don't worry about it. :) you'll get the hand of it!

as a new grad they had me on $20/hr, lol. i was happy because as a UC/tech i was hardly making enough to pay gas. but seeing what other new rns are making elsewhere in my city i am feeling pretty cheated!

Hey, thanks for writing. I think you have a point, especially because having my BSN I would be meeting requirements for both degrees. I was looking at the curriculum for the RN-BSN tonight, and it seems easy enough for me to bump my GPA (I was lazy with some general ed courses back in the day lol) and to also take one or two biology courses concurrently without killing myself. Thanks again and good luck in your career!

Hi ladies and gents! I am a new grad on a surgical/tele/stepdown unit. It's been about 2 months since I've been working as an RN, been working on this unit before as a PCT/UC, so I already knew months ago what I was getting myself into. Anywho, to the point. I got my ADN, loved nursing school. They painted a pretty picture for us, nothing like what I have to deal with on a daily basis. My favorite part about school was going through pathophysiological processes and pharm. Anytime I tried to further understand these concepts I was told "you're in nursing school, not med school". I feel like I got into nursing because of my equal love for patient care and for science. But right now, I feel like I am just dealing with patient satisfaction scores and trying to meet impossible outcomes. I genuinely love my patients, my coworkers, and what nursing is supposed to be about, but I am disillusioned and constantly fear for my license. I am not the only one. All my coworkers feel the same way. Unfortunately, I know this is the case not just in my hospital. Furthermore, I just wished to be more involved in the medical/surgical decisions of patient's care. So this brings me to where I am at now. I was debating months ago if nursing was for me. But now I know. I have several plan B's and C's, but they all require a bachelor's degree, which I don't have (I'm 22 and my ADN was my first degree). I always loved biology and want to enroll for my Bachelor's in Bio in order to meet the requirements for the Master's P.A. program in the same school. My concern is that I have to work full-time. I live with my elderly family, and I am the primary bread-winner. Paying for school, however, is not an issue at all. I've got that solved, thank God. I am debating if taking two to three courses is doable while working as an RN. Courses such as orgo, stats, physics. And later on, biochem, genetics, etc. I could also on the other hand complete my RN-BSN online and complete as many biology classes as possible and minor in bio. I would have a bachelor's in nursing and still have a strong application by having various biology courses. This route would be a lot faster, as I could complete my BSN online in about a year, and extra bio classes would take me just 2 or 3 semesters. But the thought of taking more nursing classes really drives me up a wall!! Anywho, my other plan if I do not get into the PA program is to go the CRNA route. I could transfer to ICU in about a year and a half while taking classes. I would love anyone's advice and thoughts. I have 2 years until I complete my contract with my hospital, and I plan on keeping that contract, as I do not want to burn any bridges. Plus, my school uses my hospital for clinical rotations for all its healthcare programs and I would be an idiot to look bad infront of HR right now, lol. THANKS! and sorry for the rambling )

wish you the best

I don't think it would be a problem. And if I am not mistaken, he is getting a degree in anesthesia, not biology.... Who cares what you know or don't know about the Cambrian explosion lol