thinwildmercury

My patients are often shocked at my age. I am 24 but I have been a nurse since I was 22 and I don't usually wear make up so I look younger than that. I do realize that in my first 6 months as a nurse I was asked my age CONSTANTLY by patients. Now I am asked often but nowhere near as much as before. I think the confidence I have now in what I am doing makes it less relevant to most people. I get great reviews from my patients. I don't feel that any coworkers have had an issue with my age save for a couple of older CNAs.

ACLS is required to be a med surg RN at my hospital. Yes you can take it. I believe you have to complete a pre-test and do some studying beforehand.

Thank you for what you do! You reminded me of exactly why I became a nurse.

I did not have a plan B! Sounds kind of crazy considering how difficult it is to get into nursing schools in my area. I had many academic advisors tell me to pick a back up major or to change my major all together. Somehow, I never let that get to me. I knew I wouldn't enjoy any other career as crazy at it sounds. I wouldn't discourage having a back up though. I think it's pretty smart.

Ditto!

Our PICC RN tells us that this is a partial occlusion which puts pt at risk of clots if not corrected. If MD has not ordered alteplase prn we are to rrequest it. It has worked for me every time. ETA: This is after trying to change the cap and repositioning the pt's arm a million different ways. Every pt with a PICC has an order to never use anything other than a 10 ml syringe on the PICC as well.

I have been feeling bad lately for thinking the same thing. It's a relief to have someone else say it lol. I love my job but it's almost embarrassing the way people treat nurses like we're this holy breed. I usually go pee when I have to and when I don't it's my fault for not prioritizing correctly--I can always spare the two minutes. I have also never missed a lunch break. We have a great system in my facility for lunch breaks. Every nurse gets 1 hr each 8 hr shift. No exceptions. If you try to skip your lunch you will get everything short of physically forced off the floor. Yes my job is physically and emotionally demanding. I am expected to do 10 things at once. I am expected to mourn with my comfort care pts family and 2 minutes later celebrate with my pt who realized they don't have cancer. I feel stupid frequently (new nurse...). But, I get paid very well for what I do and I am grateful to have such a wonderful job. I don't think anyone needs to celebrate me. I would never do this job if it didn't pay well. My boyfriend does outside sales and he complains to me frequently about how he gets overbooked which causes him to skip lunch and go without the restroom for hours at a time. He is outside a lot of the time in the heat and cold. He has to go into peoples homes which are in all sorts of conditions that he and I may think are "unlivable". His wages are dependent on how much he sells. On a bad month he feels awful about himself. Makes my job seem pretty cushy until we remember all the vomit, blood, and feces I encountered on my shift. Hehe

Yep. Like I said, I'm aware of the rules of my facility. Thanks.

I, along with many of my coworkers come into work about half hour early to prepare and look up our pts. It's not about being nice to anyone but ourselves because it makes us feel more prepared. However, we would get a good talking to if we actually clocked in when we got to work. We clock in as soon as 5 minutes before the shift begins. We are late if we clock in one minute passed shift start time. So we are there before clocking in. We are not to open charts until we're clocked in but we can see a snapshot of a pts chart and meds without opening them up. Honestly, I do open them up a little early sometimes....

No advice, but just know it gets better!

on me i usually have several black pens, a permanent marker, bandage scissors, my "brain sheet", alcohol swabs, a couple of saline flushes, a carpujet, pen light, wrist watch, my cell phone, work phone, and chapstick or lip gloss. If my hair is not up, i have a hair tie around my wrist. In my work bag I keep my stethoscope (gets put away after initial assessments), advil, floss, gum, tampons, deodorant, and glasses (I wear contacts). Maybe a few other things I missed.

Good to know, thanks!

My least favorite nursing tasks have to be inserting ngs/dobhoffs and fingersticks. I don't know why but I haaate fingersticks.

I have to give them 4 days, including 2 weekend days per 4 week period. Also 2 holidays per year. They don't have to schedule me any of those days. I imagine it would be different depending on the facility.

I have never before even thought about my boyfriends member and a patients member at the same time. Two completely 100% separate things. You have nothing to worry about.

I wore business casual but no one told us anything about what to wear. When we had skills days they told us to wear scrubs. I would definitely wear scrubs if they said that's ok. Much more comfortable! lol

Lol, thank you but I see nothing wrong with my advice. It is ridiculous to be this concerned with leaving a 3 hr class 2 minutes early. OP is making her life unnecessarily difficult.

You really need to relax, college is not that serious. Leave early.

Why would that be the wrong reason to go into nursing? That's like the response you are supposed to give when someone asks you lol. I personally don't think there is a right or wrong reason. As long as you earn your degree and your license and you do your job, I couldn't care less WHY you're doing it. I feel like most days I am running around trying to complete all of my tasks and put out fires that come up along the way. I don't really feel like I'm giving anything back. And that's aside from the fact that I am being paid very good money to do this job.

City/State: SF Bay Area, CA Position: Inpatient RN Pay: New grad 70/hr, after one year, 78 (not including shift diff of 6-10/hr) Benefits: NONE Housing/Rent in area: 2000/mo for 2 bed 2 bath My pay is much greater than most but so is my rent :/ To be fair my rent is the average mortgage for my peers who own. I just don't have the money for a down payment yet. I don't have benefits but have been offered a benfitted position. I would lose my 30% increase in pay as well as my freedom so I choose not to for now.

Don't listen to your high school counselor! You don't have to go to a 4 year school straight out of high school. Go to the 2 year school first, then you can transfer. You are going to drive your parents broke paying for that. Also don't listen to everyone who says not to work during school. You are an adult now and you are responsible for your education. You can handle it.

Interesting. My hospital has no policy at all on bathing pts. Other than those with central lines get a CHG bath daily. Almost all pts I have given a CHG bath to have stated they felt very clean and refreshed. Never touched a wipe with bare hands so never noticed any stickiness or irritation personally either. I love to give a good bath but it is a time commitment I can rarely give, unfortunately.

We got to choose when we registered for classes. If you had a late registration date like myself, then you just got what was left. In retrospect I got a lot more experience from being stuck wherever there was still a spot open. I ended up in 5 different hospitals throughout nursing school and it was actually awesome to see the different policies/charting/staff moral, etc. in different places so when I got hired, I had a lot to compare my job to.

Omg! How awful!! I had a pt like this once but she was an elderly woman admitted for insomnia who hadn't slept for days and would ring incessantly and then state "I don't know" or something similar when asked what she needed. She was just absolutely nuts (who wouldnt be in her position?). Also pts who call frequently for small things "flush my pillow" "pull up my blanket" "can i have more ice in my water" etc but never for complete nonsense reasons like these. That does not sound like anxiety to me at all--if she was A&O sounds like a mental health problem, otherwise, dementia. And to those saying it is our job to answer call lights--obviously the OP answered lol.

I wanted a full time position as a new grad but all that was available was per diem. Best decision I ever made! I get paid subsatantially more money. I make my own schedule. There's plenty of work at my hospital so I work exactly as much as I want to. I have since been offered a benefitted position but declined. I say do it!