SHURN

same problems here. Actually, the entire health system is now "restructuring." Yeah, you all know what that really means.

As far as the botox, yes, I went to a derm. He also had prescribed robinul first. It worked ok, but man, I had some serious dry mouth and eyes! Remember, it's an anticholinergic med, so you get all the good things that go along with that. As far as the ETS, no idea. I sweat a lot on my back and underarms, so for me, botox was best. I can live with the back sweat (more easily managed and easier to cover.)

I don't know how much research you have done, but there are other procedures that help with hyperhidrosis. I myself get botox for underarm hyperhidrosis and it really changed my life! There is also Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS)for more severe forms, and that may be an option. A quick search on google says that that procedure is good for excessive facial sweating. I hope you find some relief! ETA: I have a family member who had ETS and she loved the results!

Still wondering what that meant too. I am guessing I can assume after the other post...

Excuse me?

No, I don't think you should worry. All areas of nursing involve skills that are important NO MATTER what area you work in: critical thinking, multi-tasking, patient education, etc. Sure, would you need orientation to a different specialized area? Yes. But the skills that come only with experience, well, hopefully you will have. Plus, you might love the mother/baby unit and never leave!

Looking at your example question, I will give some advice that many students in my program needed: stop reading into the questions so much!! Choose the most obvious answer. Sometimes you think, "wow, this question has such an OBVIOUS answer that they can't possibly be looking for something so simple. Hmmm...what could they really be asking?" STOP reading into it so much. The questions are usually very straight forward. I think you probably do have good critical thinking skills and a good understanding of disease processes, just by your reasoning. However, IMHO, half of the battle of test taking in NS, and really the NCLEX, was just knowing how to take the tests. My program was excellent at preparing us in that way.

I agree. I would rather buy my own lunch than have to spend my break thinking about work. Like you said, it's my time.

agreed with what others said. A few of your complaints are really facility related. It's not hard to use at all, in my opinion. In time, I'm sure you will be comfortable with it.

I agree with amarilla - we give report in our ICU like she described. Very detailed. Still, being that detailed I can give report on both of my patients in 10-12 minutes. Considering we can't clock out until 23 min after, that's fine. We are also required to go over all orders from the last two shifts and go over am labs and tests together. 5-6 min per patient is not very long for a sick ICU patient. However, there are some nurses that seriously want to talk about everything. It would take 45 minutes sometimes!! I have learned to just say, "that's ok, I have enough! I'll figure anything out in the next 12 hrs! SMILE" I try to be nice about it, but I'm sure they realize I am annoyed. I also hate people interrupting me. I just say, "sorry, I get sidetracked too easily and don't want to forget anything." I have most definitely resorted to "if you let me finish, I'll tell you that in a sec." Not recommended.

I learned very quickly that I just could not let the complainers bother me and I had to quit taking it personally. You learn a lot about your co workers in a short period of time. The fact of the matter is that there are great charge nurses just as often as there are horrible ones. But when it comes down to it, 99% of the complainers don't want to do charge even if it was offered. So someone has to do it. Just try to be fair and remember what it feels like on the other side. I find the least respected charge nurses are the ones that don't work staff anymore - they forget what it entails very quickly.

bump....me too

well, the admit I got tonight is a good example. I get in report that the pt is on a NRB, HGB 7, ? GI bleed. Was med surg, but pulmonary wanted ICU. No prob, It sounds warranted. So I get the pt. He is on 6 L NC, sats 100%, BP 120/60, HR NSR. A/O. I call the primary for a few things and ask (not rudely or in a presumptuous manner BTW) why this pt is ICU. I know the pulmonologist and totally trust him, but just curious what I am missing. Turns out he got a call from our bed management that they felt the pt needed ICU and a pulm consult. Well apparently bed management never talked to the ED nurse and the ED RN did not question this decision. So now, we have med surg orders again and yet another transfer for this poor man who has been sitting in ED all day. Obviously this is a problem on many levels, but inappropriate admissions are an issue when we have only 2 open ICU beds at that point.

It's funny because I was just saying this the other day. People need to stop picking up! When management sees we have NO ONE to fill in the holes, they will hire more nurses. Of course I got my head bit off for saying it - Gee aren't YOU so lucky that you don't need more money, blah, blah, blah. Yes, I understand that some people DO need the money. Many of the RNs on staff have spouses out of work, kids to feed, etc. So I do get it. It's just not fair to expect everyone to want to pick up. I don't have a magic solution. But seriously, as long as people do work OT, we will never be in a different situation.

well, I went from nights to days 2 yrs ago. I was on nights for 3 yrs. I felt the same way as you about, well, everything. I finally decided that my health and family life was more important. I think one misconception about day RNs (in my unit at least) is that they are not helpful and do not really have the same teamwork. This is true, but only because of circumstances. It is toooo dang busy on days. Between docs, PT/OT, speech, RT, very time consuming families,and going to tests for hours sometimes, it is not uncommon to not even see one of your co-workers until almost 2 pm. When people CAN help, they do. I am NOT saying nights are not busy, but in reality, it is a different busy. After two years, sometimes I wish I could go back to nights. Days are exhausting. BUT, exhausting in a way that once the day is done, you recover. For me, it took a whole day to recover, sometimes more. That is my opinion, for what it is worth. Also, if your unit is anything like mine, most needs are on nights, so if you go to days and don't like it, Ill bet they let you go back to nights.