christyness

Hi there! I am an MICU nurse and moving to Fishers soon. I'm wondering how the profession has been affected in the last few years in Indy. Are there crazy patient ratios? Have they given good raises? What hospitals would you recommend?

Weird, I always wonder the same thing about most of the ER nurses I take report from - why don't they just take five minutes to read the chart before they call me to give a "report" on a critically ill pt they apparently know next to nothing about? Honestly, I've grown tired of it. I just deal with the train wreck when it pulls into the station these days, because I figure if they know so little about the pt, I don't want the pt there one minute longer than necessary.

1. A little humor - "Now, Mr. So-and-so, you know there's no politics and religion at work! Are you tryin' to get me in trouble?" This approach depends a lot on the patient's personality, the situation, etc. 2. Redirect - make it about the patient again. "I am not religious, though I can see your faith is important to you and helps you. What can we do facilitate your religious practice while you are in the hospital?" Except maybe not so officious sounding, lol. 3. Find some common ground (which is my favorite, personally, as I think it nearly always exists). For instance, I had a patient say the other day, "I can tell you're a believer, aren't you?" She was reading the Bible, so I just said with a smile, "I'm not religious, but I do love Ecclesiastes chapter 3. What's your favorite passage?" We talked for a few minutes, I did my assessment, and there was no problem at all between us.

Absolutely! Best online resource: index Best books (imo) - AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing, AACN Advanced Critical Care Nursing, The ICU Book (geared toward doctors, but still full of information that is valuable to nurses). I also really like Critical Care Nursing Secrets, a book that uses question-and-answer format. I find that I can get the essential information quickly from this book.

If it were any old patient saying this, I would just chuckle, take a moment to feel sorry for that patient's loss of a kick-ass nurse, and then move on. I didn't become a nurse to make patients like or accept me, I became a nurse to help people because I care about people. But you are not any old patient, because I see from your other posts that you are in a position of power over other nurses. If your little statement at the end there is accurate and not a joke, then you are a bigot, and you have no business in the profession, let alone in management.

Yes, it is likely you will deal with death and emergency situations, so the qualities and skills needed by nurses in that area would be similar.

You will come across nurses like this. Sometimes they are people who should never have been nurses. Many times, they are human beings who have run out of emotional resources. You have to try to understand what the nurse may be going through whole also advocating for the patient. As a student, you should speak with your instructor first. In the future as an RN, you should speak with your coworker, then your charge nurse, and so on up the ladder. And one more thing - I can't tell from your description exactly how oriented your pt was. But if you have a pt who is able to make his/her own decisions and that pt does not want to be bathed, it would be assault to bathe that person anyway. If that were the case, you would have to refuse to comply with your supervising RN's instruction.

I am speaking as a new nurse (I have been working for 7 months) but I'll give you my observations so far: Skills: •Strong assessment skills •Time mgmt and organization •Ability to work with several lines, drips, etc. (I find this takes a ton of patience for constant untangling) •Strong therapeutic communication - lots of family and pts going through the most difficult time of their lives. Qualities: •Excellent judgment, ability to think critically •Strong knowledge of diseases, pathophysiology, medications, and treatments •Assertiveness and strong patient advocacy •Ability to cope with high stress situations and with death •A sense of humor - but I find this to be a general requirement for life, really. •Mental focus - ICU nurses have to constantly assess and reassess

I went straight into the ICU. It is possible. Good luck!

You can join the AACN, subscribe to critical care nursing journals, and read books. I just got the AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing and The ICU Book by Paul Marino. I like them both. Icufaqs.org is a great site as well. You can also search the web for videos of procedures and lectures, go to conferences, and pick the brains of the experienced nurses you work with. And, of course, you can learn things here at allnurses.

I'm a new grad in an ICU. I currently have been working for a little over six months, and o my own for a little over two months. I'm starting to get more comfortable in some ways. The beeps and the noises are beginning to get to me though I have been told it takes about one year to be comfortable and about two years to become fully competent in everything an ICU nurse knows and does. I have however realized that nursing involves always being, on some level, uncomfortable. And, now that I have realized that, I'm less stressed.

There are a lot of new grads who go straight into ICU, including myself. It depends on the hospital and whether they have the resources to train and mentor new RNs.

Pts on my unit are 1:1 if they are very unstable, on an oscillator vent, or receiving CVVH. Otherwise, they are 2:1, never 3. If they are well enough to be 3:1, they go to the IMC.

I like the AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing. For quick reference, I like a book I have called Critical Care Secrets. If you decide you want something more in-depth at some point, The ICU Book by Paul Marino is a staple. Also - a great online resource is http://www.icufaqs.org

Awesome, thank you!

Try this: https://www.employflorida.com/ There are programs in many parts of the state that will help pay for NCLEX and licensing fees. However, the process does tend to take several weeks. If you plan to use one of these programs, DO NOT pay for your license or NCLEX fees before checking with them - the program my classmates used would cut the checks and send them in themselves, and would NOT reimburse students who had already paid. If you do not live in Bradford or Alachua county, contact your local Department of Labor and see if there are any similar programs available in your area.

I'm a brand new registered nurse. Currently, my home address is listed when you look me up. I noticed that a lot of nurses I know have their work address listed instead. Does anyone know how I can do the same once I get a job? I'm hoping I don't have to wait until I renew my license in a few years?

when i first started studying for the nclex, i didn't know where to begin or how to organize myself - should i read saunders cover to cover and then do questions? should i re-read all of my lecture notes from school? i couldn't come up with a way to review that would be both comprehensive and efficient. but i finally did. here's how i studied: 1. kaplan: i had the kaplan review course in person, and then had access to kaplan's online nclex prep (question trainers, qbank, all that). in my opinion, the kaplan questions were very similar to nclex questions. i took the question trainer tests and qbank tests with two items beside me - a dry-erase board and a notebook. 2. dry erase board: i used it to organize my thought process while taking the tests. i numbered the board 1 through 4 to correspond to the answers of a multiple choice question. as i eliminated answers, i would make a mark next to its number on the dry-erase board. this kept me from waffling between answers or getting confused. 3. notebook: as i took the tests, i would write down anything i came across that i struggled with, even if it was something i didn't need to answer the question. for example, if there was a lab value thrown in that i couldn't remember the ranges for, i would write that down, even if i knew the answer. i would also write down any information i came across in the answer choices that i wasn't clear on. i would typically write these review points down in the form of questions, i.e., if the test question was about grave's disease, i might write, "what labs are important in grave's disease?", "what are the meds used in grave's disease?", "what are the possible complications with grave's disease?" and so on. 4. reviewing test questions and all rationales: when i finished a test, i would review every question - not just the ones i got wrong. i did this for a few reasons - sometimes i knew the answer, but when i reviewed, there would be information about the other answers that i didn't know or remember. also, sometimes my reasoning was different from theirs. 5. back to the notebook: as i reviewed tests, i referred back to my notebook with the list of questions/notes on things i struggled with during the test. as i came across these items again, i looked them up right then and there - for this, i used either saunder's comprehensive review or the internet. or both. whatever helped me understand it best. i would then answer the question i had written down. the notebook became a sort of study guide, and the process of making it and reviewing it really helped me review and retain information. hope this helps someone :)

I'm sorry to hear that Do you know what the rules are in your state about how many times you can take it? Here in Florida, you can take it three times, and then you have to take more classes before you can take it a fourth time. I'm not sure if that's a common rule or not. I took it on Thursday. I found the questions and the way they were worded to be very close to the Kaplan QBank, and I did use their decision tree on a few questions. So, if you are able, do as many Kaplan QBank questions as you can, and do the question trainer tests, too. What I did to study was this: 1. I kept a dry-erase board beside me as I did QBank tests. I numbered the board 1 through 4. When I eliminated answers, I would put a little slash next to that answer's number. This helped me not get different answers confused and helped me to organize my thought process. I also did this throughout the NCLEX whenever an answer wasn't obvious to me, which was often. 2. I kept a notebook beside me as well. If I struggled - AT ALL - with a question or any of the answers, I wrote down what I struggled with in question format. So, for example, if it was a question about Grave's Disease, I might have written, "What are the s/s of Grave's Disease?", "What labs are important in Grave's Disease", "What meds are used for Grave's disease?", and so on. 3. When I finished a test, I would review EVERY question - not just the ones I got wrong. This is for a few reasons - sometimes I knew the answer, but when I reviewed, there would be information about the other answers that I didn't know, so it was a good refresher. Also, sometimes my reasoning was different from theirs. With the questions I got wrong, reading the rationales is obviously important. As I reviewed the questions, I referred back to my list of questions/notes on things I struggled with during the test. As I came across those items again, I looked them up right then and there - for this, I used either Saunder's Comprehensive Review book or the internet. Or both. Whatever helped me understand it best. I would then go to my notebook and write down the answers to my questions. It became a sort of study guide, and it really helped me review and retain information. I hope this helps you. Best of luck!

That college's website set off my anti-virus software. Viruses were detected.

A year and the rest of this semester, yeah :) Classes are going well. NP2 is really tough and stressful, but I'm learning a lot and I have a good grade so far. It's great that you could find such convenient volunteer work. I hope you (and everyone else) make it in and make it through with flying colors! The experience has been truly amazing for me, and just keeps getting more so as time passes.

This reminded me... I was so lost when I went to look for places to volunteer, and didn't even know where to look at first. I found this site, and got a lot of great ideas through it. I ended up volunteering as a dog walker at the Humane Society, which was pretty awesome. If anyone is having trouble finding a place to volunteer, I hope this will help you as it helped me: http://gainesvillevolunteer.com/Where-to-Volunteer.html

If the woman says, "I made her sick," you can respond with: "What makes you think that you made her sick?" Then narrow it down. For instance, if she responds with, "I didn't do what I was supposed to do," you would then say, "What were you supposed to do". Let's say she then says, "I was supposed to keep her safe." She's being vague. You want her to be specific. So you say, "What do you think you could have done to keep her safe?" And so on until she says something specific. If she's just sitting there crying, you can say: Tell me what you are feeling right now. Tell me what you are thinking right now. You want her to keep talking, and not just clam up and cry on her own. You may need to be silent for a few moments and let her collect herself. Your body positioning is highly important here. You should be sitting down, facing her, at conversational distance. You can try to incorporate touch as well. You can put a hand on her shoulder to let her know you're there for her, for instance. Touch is very powerful, but you should be careful - if there are any cultural or personal reasons why she wouldn't want to be touched, then don't touch her. Avoid closed-ended questions (questions that can be answered with one word) and "Why" questions, which tend to make people feel like they must defend themselves.

You can print out a membership card on the NSA website and turn that in with your application.

I study at home, in my room, usually at my computer. I read in bed or in the living room on the couch, and I do my flashcards online (StudyStacks) while watching Netflix. The flashcards are a good lecture review, and I don't feel like I'm being tortured because I'm getting to watch seasons of LOST the entire time. The reading is done without distractions, and serves to bring everything together for me.