hisgeogal

I'm not a hospice nurse (or a nurse yet) but if it helps, you can add my comment to your paper. My mother had terminal colon cancer. We were blessed to be able to care for her at home while she passed. She was on TPN for a couple of weeks but then her hospice nurses noticed a crackling in her lungs and mom had a hard time breathing. No fluid coughed up, just difficulty breathing. The hospice nurse said that fluid was getting into her lungs due to the TPN. The nurse explained it to me first and then I gave her the green light to explain it to mom, it was her life after all. We then gave mom the choice whether or not to stay on the TPN. I told her it was her choice, I'd do whatever she wanted to. If she wanted to stay on the TPN, I'd be more than happy to continue ordering it for her. If she wanted to go off of it, I'd get the pharmacy on the phone the minute she changed her mind. She decided to go off the TPN, choosing instead to be able to breath freely during the majority of her last days. Sure enough, she was able to breath right again within a day or two. It was painful for me knowing she was going to, in effect, starve to death but she was going to die, there was no doubt, and knowing the majority of that time would be much more comfortable for her made it easier. She was still able to eat popsickles which helped ease her hunger until she finally did get to that point in her "transition" where she just didn't want to eat anymore. She said the smell of food didn't even phase her. I used to question whether or not we should have tried to encourage her to stay on the TPN but to see her suffocating the last few weeks before she passed would have been much worse and I felt deceitful on our part if we didn't tell her why she wasn't able to breath. She's in an infinately better place now!

I think the best way to study for the science section is to do lots of practice tests. There are a few websites that have free sample tests if you google. The book helped me immensely with math, english, etc., but did very little to help with the science, it's just all over the place. I did end up with a 90 on the TEAS overall but was in the 70's or 80's on the science.

Wow! I'm overwhelmed with all of the great feedback! Thanks SO much to you all for responding, it's really helping me to think things through!

Thanks so much for sharing that beautiful story and kudos to you for having such a compassionate perspective; I agree with one of the other posters, you're going to be a great nurse! Having the privilege to take care of my mom when she was passing is what lead me to nursing so I understand the uniqueness of that type of experience. It's profound and special!

Boog'sGirl724, classicdame, husker_rn, thanks so much to all for the input! This is the type of info that will help stear me. If anyone else reading this post has comments, please don't hesitate to share them, it's truly appreciated and will be conisdered thoughtfully classicdame, have there been issues at places where you've worked with nurses allowing CNAs and student nurses/interns to do work that's supposed to be done by licensed nurses?

For those of you who have had experience as both a nursing assistant (CNA) and/or student nurse OR for those of you who oversee/work with either position in a hospital setting, is there any advantage to being a CNA over a SNE or visa versa? After my first semester of clinicals, I want to apply for either a CNA or SNE position but was wondering if one position provides better experience over the other. (note that at the school I'm attending, I will be qualified to get a CNA certificate after the first semester of clinicals) Student nursing sounds attractive because some of the hospitals in my area offer scholarship money while still in school but I'm more concerned about being perpared as best as possible when I graduate and start looking for a job. Any input you have is greatly appreciated!

Hmm, you could be right about that. Thanks for bringing that up! My biggest concern is experience. I want to have as good of quality experience as I can get before graduating and taking the NCLEX, although it would be nice to hear some input regarding the other aspects, too, such as the flexibility, pay, benefits, etc. Experience is definitely the big concern, though, at least for me. I should probably post this in the general forum also but was hoping to keep it local since the CNA and SNE roles appear to vary some depending on the region of the country.

For those of you who have experience as both a CNA and SNE or for those of you who oversee/work with either position in a hospital setting, is there any advantage to being a CNA over a SNE or visa versa? After my first semester of clinicals, I want to apply for either a CNA or SNE position but was wondering if one position provides better experience, benefits, flexibility, pay, etc., over the other. (note that at the school I'm attending, I will be qualified to get a CNA certificate after the first semester of clinicals) Any input you have is greatly appreciated!

I agree! IvyTech has a 100% placement and the health care facilities actually come to them! The market in Indy is good