luvbug9956

I had a patient in my care yesterday who was a pretty interesting case. I had never seen anything like it (I am relatively new to nursing...still in new grad orientation). This patient had a history of skin cancer, lung cancer, and was admitted for p...

It is lonely at the top! I have to say though, although this seems like a weak answer, sometimes it is time to move on. My first career in management was very difficult - I managed a group of unusually dysfunctional nurses and other staff. My direct...

I get up at 5:15 on work days and I tend to wake up around that time on my off days...but try to get back to sleep until at least 7:00. I am one of those who feel like crap if I sleep past 8:00 or so.

I draw back to check for blood return anytime I access a port. When I do that, I just go ahead and waste 3-5 cc's. I want to know that I am flushing into a patent line!

Telemetry units are notoriously difficult. I floated to tele one day from my med/surg unit and was flabbergasted. I had a new-found respect for all you tele nurses I work in oncology, but really wasn't happy on the inpatient side. I moved to outpati...

I am a recent (5 years ago) grad, and I struggled with the same issue. Do I go and work for awhile, or go straight to grad school? I decided to work, and I am really glad I did! I have already moved into a leadership position with my BSN and am now i...

I worked there for about 2 years as a student, and then 2 years as an RN. There are positives and negatives and I think it depends on which unit you work. I worked newborn nursery/postpartum as a student and it was great. GBMC is known for their OB p...

I have to say, my facility received Magnet status about a year ago. And honestly?? The staff nurses hate it. They don't feel that they are receiving any benefits from it. And they are required to do a LOT more work. They must be members of committees...

I will be starting my grad program in August, and I am currently enrolled in the NP/CS/Oncology program at UMB. I am going to start with one online core course this fall to ease myself in. I work 40+ hours per week (5 8-hour shifts) as a clinical lea...

Nurses in pediatric oncology tend to be quite loyal...less turnaround time. It would probably be very difficult for a new grad to obtain a position in that field. I would suggest starting in adult. This way, you could start on an inpatient oncology f...

I agree with the above posters. We did not institute CBI unless our patients showed initial signs of hemorrhagic cystitis (first sign of blood in the urine). I would think that infection rates would increase drastically with prophylactic CBI...

Taxanes are always given before carboplatin, or severe pancytopenia can occur. We actually give the Avastin FIRST in our clinic. We do this for convenience, as we do not wait for the patient's lab results and can start the drug immediately, then giv...

Sorry....this is long! I am a nurse 3 years out of a BSN program. For two years I worked inpatient oncology and for the past year I have been working in an outpatient infusion clinic. I had a difficult time at first "proving myself" to these nurses...

I am a new grad nurse beginning a 36-hour a week position (3 12hour shifts). When I began nursing school I got a VERY nasty case of Epstein Barr (mono) -in the hospital for a few days, developed myocarditis, the whole bit. I have subsequently develop...

There is a big difference between chemotherapy and biotherapy in regard to both toxicities and method of action. I am 26 and have worked oncology for 3 years. There is no definitive data on whether nurses working with chemotherapy have a higher risk ...

We usually give chemo with ANC of 1.5 or above. Often times we will treat with a lower ANC with filgrastim or pegfilgrastim support. It also depends on the patient's regimen. If you are a member of ONS, there is a great online lecture through their w...

I had an interesting discussion with my husband this evening about the differences between nursing and other professions. My husband is a contractor and has had a lot of experience with "bad employees". I was talking about how HARD it is for someone ...

I work in an outpatient oncology clinic infusing chemotherapy. In the years that I have worked in oncology, Phenergen is rarely given. With the new alternatives out there that have FAR fewer side effects and increased efficacy, it's just kinda fallen...

In one of the hospitals that I had been previously employeed, an LPN program was piloted, as they had previously not employed any LPN's at all. The program was piloted on one of the medical-surgical units and I think that it has since dissolved. The ...

I totally agree that most of us are VERY hard-working and I am sorry if it came off that way that I was putting down the rest of us hard workers, but don't you find that the few that are not seem to have a very poor influence over the rest of the tea...

I did my senior year practicum on the MultiTrauma unit. I learned a lot, but I do have to agree...a bit much for a new grad. They offered me a position when I left, and I politely declined! Plus, the rotating shifts were draining...sometimes the nurs...

I live in northern Baltimore county (cockeysville, near Timonium and Hunt Valley) and work at Sinai, in the city. To answer your question, Angel75, my husband and I make a very good living (he is a contractor) and are still renting an apartment. The ...

I have become quite concerned recently about the work ethic of our nursing tech. More concerning, however, is the way that the problem is being dealt with. I work at an ambulatory infusion clinic. Most of the patient care is done by RN's, and we hav...

I currently work in a pretty intense outpatient infusion center (we see about 80 patients per day); recently we have had some disagreements re: protocols for administering certain drugs; i.e. how often to take vitals with certain drugs like Taxol and...

One of our unit's staff nurses is a very poor nurse and we have no support from the management about this subject. This nurse has NO bedside manner at all (and we work on an oncology/inpt chemo floor) and is verbally rude to patients and families (th...