LuckyinKY

Where at in Cincinatti? I am striking out here in central Kentucky and broadening my range. I would to be at Cincinnati Children's but I am a new grad with an ADN and a non-nursing BS.

I managed to work full time through nursing school. I did nights on a behavioral health unit which worked better than I expected. On slow nights there was plenty of time to study. I did often cheat myself out of sleep and slept through many classes, but I graduated with pretty decent grades.Having a calendar is essential to track your assignments and due dates. Be prepared to study any time. I had my laptop with me almost everywhere. I could pull out study outlines while I was at the park with kids or waiting at the doctor's office. Don't forget to eat and sleep, it isn't pretty if you do.

1. Do not buy the required texts at the bookstore, buy the older edition for $5 on Amazon, Barely anything has changed and depending on the program you may never open your book. For that matter wait 2 weeks before buying anything to make sure if it is really necessary. We bought all of this expensive software for our iphones when free software would have worked almost as well. 2. Skip printing Powerpoint lectures and lugging a 4" thick binder to class. Bring a laptop and type notes in Powerpoint directly. 3. If you want to work full time and go to school, night shift is where its at. Lots of study time on night shift. 4. Work as a tech while in school, the job market is super competitive and techs will have an advantage since you can network with hiring managers and possibly have a job waiting for you. Plus you gain invaluable experience and become much more comfortable working with patients. 5. Never stop doing NCLEX questions.

Great article. I tech on an acute psych unit and I love where I work. Most of my patients are people who you would never pass on the street and know they are a "psych patient." These are people who are willing to recognize that they need help, they are depressed, they are down on their luck, fighting personal demons or are fighting substance abuse. It can be frustrating yet the small victories are savored. I also remind my classmates that psych patients are everywhere, not just on a psych unit, so it is good to understand some basics of psych nursing and to have some compassion.

I am doing it and after a month of adjustment and finding the right schedule, it is working out pretty well. I have classes in the morning on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and clinicals all day Wednesday. I work 3-12 hour shifts a week from 7p-7:30a. I work Tuesday night since I have no class Wednesday and Saturday and Sunday nights. That way I only have to go class on Monday after work. I prefer night shift because it allows more study time and is not as exhausting as day shift.

Second year nursing student working full time as a psych tech. Night shift. Thankfully there are often quiet nights where I can get some studying done while my patients are sleeping.

I work full time nights, have 2 kids and I am attending nursing school full time. I work on an acute psych unit which works out well since my patients usually sleep through the night. After 11pm, I just need to do q 15 patient checks which I usually have another tech helping with. I have plenty of study time on night shift. My husband works near my work and our 4 year old goes to preschool on campus, so my husband just picks me up and I drop my son and him off before either going to class or home. Right now I have class every weekday but Wednesday, so I work Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday nights, so I only have to class one morning after work from 8-10am and can just go to bed the other days. I also have my mom helping out until I graduate in May which helps some, but we were juggling it pretty well even without her help.

One thing I would point out is that it is best to get your non-nursing coursework done before starting a nursing program. I would start knocking out the A&P, Micro, nutrition classes now, that way you can focus on doing well in your nursing classes. I did this and it has payed off. I see so many nursing classmates struggling through anatomy and micro. You can start taking classes until you get accepted into a program at a community college or the school you want to attend for nursing.

Agree! I am always asking if they need a break or a blanket.

I work on an acute behavioral health unit and appreciate our sitters very much. They help keep our patients safe since we cannot watch them constantly. It depends on the sitter of course, but most have been very helpful. We do have some that have acted inappropriately (asking a detoxing patient where to buy drugs) or fallen asleep, and these sitters tend to give the position a bad name. The one thing I wish is that the agencies would screen their employees a little better, apparently they do not even drug test.

Re-posting my study guide with some minor changes: Fluids and Electrolytes Study Guide.doc

The role of nutrition in treating psychiatric illness? I am trying to find articles but having a heck of a time. We have all of these constipated opiate detoxers on my unit and the hospital food is certainly not helping. Also I was thinking with my methadone mothers, most have poor nutritional status, so I wonder if some nutritional counseling and improved diet could at least help improve neonatal outcomes. I know that food is the one thing we consistently get dinged on during patient satisfaction surveys, yet we keep getting yelled at for being over our patient snack budget. I know that my patients certainly appreciate an extra snack or more choices during meals.

I am a Psych tech and tend to wear cargo khaki pants and comfortable shirts like polos or cotton fitted shirts along with sneakers. I am on the move constantly and needs lots of pockets. I would not feel comfortable wearing a skirt. I prefer to be more casual but not sloppy.

Tech working 36-48 hours a week while in school. I have bills to pay, kids to feed and a mortgage. I work mostly nights so I can study while my patients are sleeping.

I am a nursing student, have worked as a pharm tech and now I am a psych tech. Like the others have said your best bet is to be a nursing tech on a med-surg unit. You will learn alot. Working as a pharmacy tech did help with pharmacology, working as a psych tech is helping with therapeutic communication. I love my psych job, but I also have a interest in psych nursing.

Buy an older edition of the text books you need. You will pay $1-$10 for a nearly identical book. I rarely use my books and use my notes and Google more than anything. But for classes that did require alot of reading, older editions worked fine. The only book, you may want the newest edition for would be drug guides since they change yearly. Our drug guides are on our phone (Skyscape) though instead of a printed book.

I work. Full time. With kids. Not working is not an option for me. So far I have stayed on the Dean's List and I am halfway through. I would look at PRN nurse tech jobs, better than minimum wage pay plus you are gaining valuable experience. You can pick up extra hours when school is out and cut them back when you are busy at school.

The veterans are wonderful patients and very tolerant of the student nurses. Watch them though, they can be mischievous. The VA itself can be a hassle, they have people whose sole job is to make sure you follow protocol. Be sure to always wash hands entering and leaving a room and follow contact precautions when posted.

I would physically go to the nurse recruitment office at UK, introduce yourself and give them a resume. I was called by them for an interview for a clerk position which I didn't really want, but the person who interviewed me was very quick to also understand that I need a tech position and even introduced me to the nurse manager for peds. She called me back this week to make sure I had applied for a ped tech position that was posted. I have worked at UK for 4 years in research, and I am losing my research position. I am prn in psych right now but I am worried I am not going to get enough hours and I really need a second prn tech position to make me feel more secure. I was really impressed by how kind they were in nurse recruitment. She said they get so many applications it is so hard to stand out. They are looking at ways to improve the application process.

Really? I hope he was not a nursing student.

This thread is epic, I am cracking up and getting weird looks from my family members.

I am a nursing student working as a tech. I would never try to administer a medication like that, but I do ask to be allowed to observe anything interesting. I am very respectful of the nurses I work with and they have been wonderful about sharing their knowledge and experiences with me. I am always quick to keep their water pitchers filled, supplies stocked, and report on anything unusual with patients.

I used it for both the mouth and nipple. It was messy, and my baby definitely gave me some funny looks the first few times he went to nurse and my nipples were bright purple. Here is a site with directions: http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php?pagename=doc-UGV I also used topical Gentian Violet when my son had ringworm. You can get it from the pharmacy at Walmart, you just have to ask for it.

Oh these people were trashy, they had trash everywhere in their house, went almost 3 months with no running water and had social services visiting after several calls from neighbors. They had money for beer and cigarettes but not diapers or food. Thankfully they moved. Gentian Violet is great stuff. When I was nursing my son, we both kept getting thrush since he was on antibiotics constantly. Gentian violet would clear it up in no time compared to Nystatin.

I have had a chronically dry itchy scalp, made worse by lice and subsequent RID treatment (long story involving trashy neighbor's kids playing with my kids). I mixed tea tree oil with my shampoo and then after my shower I used a dropper and put the tea tree oil right on my scalp. It did wonders. I now use tea tree oil directly on my scalp 1-2 times a week and no more dry itchy, flaky scalp. I have had no more scalp issues since doing this. I had tried several other dandruff treatments with no help.