roma4204

Just to follow up we made the move. I’m not working because of the cost of living difference. Ridiculously cheap here compared to SoCal.

Have you heard back yet? The admissions advisor told me 10 weeks but then she said mid March? My application is competitive but not a sure thing so I could see it going either way. Glad you posted!

We have had some issues with transport of patients. Recently they want an RN to go with ALL patients not just ICU, pts with PCA's, etc. This causes us to leave our "more fresh" post op pt to go with our stable one to the floor, wait for the nurse to show up, takes forever. We have a NA that helps us but they want an RN to do a check of neurovascular, dressing, drains with the oncoming nurse. It is supposed to reduce RRTs and I think the only reason it does is because it gets the floor nurse's ass in the room sooner because I'm calling them while my new patient is down in the pacu with god knows what going on while non primary nurses care for them. Thoughts? Solutions?

I am currently a nurse in San Diego. My fiancé wants to move back to CDA where he is from. I love it there but I am concerned about working. Ideally the lower cost of living would allow me to work less, right now in socal I am the primary money maker and I love my job so it would be a big shift. I worked in CA after working in FL, and I do NOT want to go back to a poorly managed environment. I work in PACU now and have great hours and great pay. I have experience in ICU and tele as well. What are some websites to look at jobs just to get an idea of what I may be agreeing myself into? What are thoughts on working in the area, esp from nurses who came from Cali or other areas with mandatory ratios. Any Idaho PACU nurses out there? What are your ratios?

Had a patient with a teratoma - basically one organ tissue growing somewhere else. He had TEETH growing in a pressure ulcer on his bottom. Not sure what came first. I looked it up and it turns out these tumor like tissues can grow hair or any other organ. HOLY stem cell potential!!!

Thank you for all the advice! It eased my anxiety about my decision of jeans and a t shirt. First day jitters done!

My first day is tomorrow and I'm trying to decide what to wear into the hospital because we use the OR scrubs in my new department...what do other nurses do???!

It sounds like the ICU is not a good place for you. As a pre-nursing student I encourage you to not be so naive to the realities of nursing if that is what you aspire to become in the future. Very often nurses have to yell at confused or just plain combative patients so that the patient does not harm themselves. Some patients simply do not respond to asking nicely. Have you ever heard a patient yelling at a nurse? Or seen one kick and severely hurt a nurse? These situations are reality and the difference between you and that nurse is that she IS a nurse. You cannot judge the situation whatsoever because you are in no way a qualified professional.

I worked here as a new grad. I now work in CA and in critical care, so I'm not sure what makes the biggest difference now, but let me give you some advice. Lakeland was not a good fit for me. I read an article about how uneducated the area is and I think that had a lot to do with it. It was hard for me to make close friends. The patient population has a sense of entitlement without care compliance. This was frustrating. I worked on a medsurg floor and sometimes had 6 patients on telemetry. It was sink or swim. I shutter at the shortcuts that were acceptable working there. Thankfully I never had a huge error but I caught many very, very scary ones. Looking back it worked out very well career wise for me, but it really is not a good hospital to start out in and if you have good experience then I think you'll be horrified to work there. I would look at tampa general or orlando hospitals. From what I've heard, it's best to get out of the south. In CA I get adequate staffing, enforced mandatory covered lunches, breaks and education. If this is where you have to start off and have no other choice, then go in with caution.

I oriented this horrible but experienced nurse. He could not remember if he had given the patient metoprolol or not. We always pulled meds together, but you would think giving a PO medication to a patient would be okay for an experienced nurse to do on their own. I forget if he lost it or what his excuse was, but he was awful at everything including his communication. Unfortunately he was the brother of one of our nurses who I loved. I just told my supervisor that I thought he was horrible and a few examples of what had happened. Apparently many sounded identical to what he had been fired for in his past job. So whyyyyy did we hire him?!

Lab calling to make sure they have to actually do their job. This person was admitted for DKA...yes they need q4h BMPs!

OH MY GOD THE PHARMACY/Pharmacy techs... I am a freaking ICU nurse, I have critical thinking skills coming out of my ass...don't you think I checked both pyxis machines, tube stations and patient cubbies before calling you???

State to Seek Court Order Preventing UCSD Hospital Strike - Top News - La Jolla, CA Patch Just an update, the union has declared the dates they're going to strike. I don't work there, I just was curious

So is the strike on or what?!

why would they not transfer this pt to ICU??

Bed alarms have little use according to studies because of exactly what you described - it takes too long to get to the patient! This is a really hard situation. Maybe ask if you can go to these meetings with the higher ups and explain it from the direct source? I don't know what they could do - hire sitters? There's really no way around it - cameras? I don't know these are just ideas.

I get around 36 and hour in SD but I'm at the lowest paying hospital. That's just a base rate.

I am currently in ICU. I really think I would be interested in the role of the nurse who comes in and does our end of life consulting. I'm not on days right now and so I haven't been able to talk with our nurse about education, certs, etc. So I was curious if anyone knows (in CA) what you need to carry out this professional role. I don't think you need a masters but I could be wrong. thanks.

Reason 6495 why I work in the ICU - I know my patient's vital trends by heart

I am currently a critical care nurse, and while I love what I do I've always had a passion for public health nursing. Soon my school loans will FINALLY be paid off and I can afford to take the pay cut. What is it like being a PH nurse here in California? I live in SD and would like to stay close. I would want to keep hospital nursing PRN to keep up my skills. I'd like to know if I'm being naive by desiring this career change. What is the job market right now in so cal for PH? Is it pretty bad? If you are a PH nurse do you feel like your job is a constant burden of in terms of overhead control or do you feel like you work for your patients? I would be open to different scopes of PH but would really love community wellness type initiatives because it's related to my first career and degree. My time line is obviously flexible since I have a great job at the moment, but it's just not what I want in the long run. Thanks for your input.

The med name was on the bag itself for one of the meds, and the label was covering it

Recently we had a mix up of a nitroprusside drip bag being labeled with the UPC and label that is appropriate for neosynephrine. The patient's pressure started dropping and thankfully the RN thought to peel back the label on the bag and saw that it was actually having the opposite effect. Our hospital's stance on labeling meds is that they want all the same font, color etc because otherwise people will start to rely on the color system and then if things changes more mistakes will happen. This makes sense to me but it's frustrating that people regulating this system have no idea what it's like to have that gut wrenching feeling when a patient is in danger and under your care - whether or not you caused it. We only have one high risk med that is labeled huge and has a neon sticker and I wonder what it took to get that one pushed through. What does your unit do with labeling high risk meds like pressors, insulin, nitro etc? Not that this would have helped in this situation but I was curious.

decrease your number of unplanned extubations?! that statement should NOT be plural!!! that just should not be happening. if the patient is strong and awake enough to pull their ET tube they are either ready to have it out or need an intervention such as mittens, restraints or if that doesn't work, they need to be a 1:1. That is just unacceptable to me that your facility would try to be decreasing unplanned extubations...it's that big of an issue?! It just should not happen. but to answer your question: - depends on the vent mode and patient condition. just intubated? usually propofol or versed/fent drips after pushes - if they are on full controlled support like in ARDS we usually use the above plus a vec drip if the patient is really fighting the vent - we rarely use benzo drips because of the link to ICU delirium - if we are having trouble extubating because of agitation during SBT we will usually try to switch to precedex which I know is a really pricey med so not everywhere uses it. we use precedex for some alc withdrawal patients as well since they can be on it and not intubated of course there is a delicate balance with sedation but who is saying to use so little? the docs? the unit? it sounds really traumatizing to the patient but there are times they will be better in the long run. but self extubating is never good for anyone, patient or provider

What are the best hospitals to work for in north county SD? I love SHARP and Scripps is pretty good too. I've heard good things about UCSD. Not a lot of those are in north county unless you could La Jolla as north. What do they pay? Depends on experience. SD doesn't pay as much as the rest of the state. I've heard about 35-50 which is a huge range depending on your experience and the hospital Can you negotiate pay or is there a set pay scale? Strict pay scale thanks to unions Should I wait to get my CA RN (endorsement) license before applying? Why? Apply while you're waiting. You can get a temp within a day and it's not like you would lie and say you had it Do they hire out of state applicants or is it better to move and then apply? I'd like to get a job lined up before moving. Thanks for your help! I got a job before moving. It's all about how you market yourself and how well you interview. I love SD and I love SD nursing! Good luck to you!

I have a phenomenal manager, nothing like you describe. the one i had before was amazing as well