jlwerley

ill add that there was no decompression surgery, nor is she scheduled for one. to me, in my developing nursing judgement, it seems that our version of pain control is inadequate if q2 dilaudid leaves the pt with a continuous 10/10 pain. it seems to me she is in need of a pain specialist or the drs need to consider other treatments for the pain (as in surgery). she also has other pain meds ordered, so why not try toradol or something else for a bit to see how that treats the pain instead of just always giving dilaudid. also, at what point do we decide not to advocate for pts who may be addicted and voice our concern to the dr, who may then order further help for their addiction (psych consults, social work, whatever addiction therapy there is, etc). also, again in my developing nursing judgement, i try to take in the whole picture when i see pts asking for pain meds and describing the pain they have to our nurses. for example, i saw said pt describing her pain as beyond 10 out of 10 and that it was killing her meanwhile she is texting on her phone, eating ice cream etc. when ive seen other pts describe pain like that, they can barely verbalize, doubled over etc. i know you have to take pain at what pts say, but again at what point do you start to advocate for the pt these are just ramblings of a tech and student who felt something was off about the situation. thank you all for your responses, they have helped me learn more about dealing with difficult pt scenarios!

I am a PCT at a hospital and i just got home from work and experienced a situation that I would like the opinion of outside parties on. A patient has been in our care for several days for pain control of a type I chiari malformation. The pt has orders for 2mg dilaudid q2 which she receives constantly (literally 24mg in a days time) as her pain is always a 10/10, etc. I mean the kind of pt that will set a timer on their phone to go off every two hours so that they may ask for pain meds. Essentially this pt has not slept for the three days she has been with us because she is always, always asking for (and receiving) dilaudid day and night. Her vitals are fine every time they are checked (which, by our policy, is 30 min after every admin of dilaudid; pt also kept on continuous pulse ox) but is clearly "high" off the meds. Slurred speech, stumbling gait, can hardly keep her eyes open, cant recall her last med time. what really drove me to write all of this, however, was what happened this past evening. The pt wandered out of her room topless (no gown, no shirt, no bra) and just in pants looking for the RN. Upon discovery she was immediately helped back to her room and attempted to be reoriented. I believe (but am not 100% sure) the nurse then held her next dose of dilaudid. at the next scheduled time the RN definitely administered it. The way this case has been handled does not seem right to me at all. It seems we are clearly encouraging what appears to be drug abuse and not considering any other options nor treating current problems properly. Please advice and opinions, because as a future nurse, I would not be simply following the others and continuing to give the drug to please the pt. Thank you!

http://factcheck.org/2010/03/a-final-weekend-of-whoppers/ this website seems to clear up many of the confusing topics about healthcare and the healthcare bill. helped clear some things up for me, including the fact that since there is no government option, insurance will remain private and dissimilar to healthcare in places like the UK or canada

someone asked for a breakdown of the bill, and this was on the home page of comcast: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-finance/20100320/US.Health.Overhaul.Glance/ now, i am only 21 years old and know nothing about insurance, as all of that is still taken care of by my parents (thanks mom and dad!). however, one thing i have gained from reading posts on here and the bits of news that i catch here and there is that something needs to change because the way things are going now certainly arent working. hopefully this is the right change thats needed, but if nothing else its a step towards making that needed change. whatever bill gets passed or signed, not everyone will be happy, its just inevitable.

wow thank you everyone for all your help! i guess i shouldnt get ahead of myself either and assume that i will get a caregiver job either, but i do have a few interviews lined up with them so its a start :) with the jobs i have applied to, they are non-medical caregiver positions so thats why i posted this in the first place. i will be getting a CNA certificate in the future, hopefully by december of this year, depending on if i can get in the class or not. the job im hoping will be over the summer, when i will also have time to volunteer. to Annaiya, what is an ED and a student tech job? thanks again all!

Hello everyone. I am pre-nursing student looking for employment within the spectrum of health care. I have applied to several hospital jobs but have not yet heard back from any. In the mean time, I began looking into home caregiver jobs in my area. My question is, would this be good experience for nursing? Does it look good on a resume? I have no CNA certification nor any other medically related experience so I really just want to get my foot in the door. Is this a good starting point or just not really that related and/or helpful experience? Please, anyone any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you all :)

wow, thank you everyone for your responses! they all shed light on a subject i know little about. i guess one of my bottom line questions is, how will this effect nurses' salaries and job availability/security? i am not yet a nursing student but will be in the near future (and then eventually a nurse!), so i am curious as to how this will effect my future, that is if there is any way to know at this point. thanks again everyone!

So as of yesterday the Senate passed Obama's healthcare bill; what does this mean for nurses and future nurses? I know there are other threads on this but they are older so I'm just wondering what will change

ive taken most gen eds already, just a couple left but i hope to complete them before even applying to the program so that i can focus solely on nursing. how would you rate the program overall, compared to other nursing programs (such as oakton, which i heard is pretty good)

thanks for the reply, johnny b! as you can see i am in the midst of a big decision (as i am sure many others are here) so any little bit of information helps! 20 hours of reading a week sounds like a lot! i guess its all time management though. whats the course load like in a semester? is it like a traditional 15 hours or is it done differently with nursing? ah so many questions! thanks everyone for any help you can offer :)

so does anyone know about the quality of CLC's program compared to others?

hi everyone, im a new member here and have a new interest in nursing! currently i am physical education teacher education student at illinois state university but am seriously considering moving back home and completing a degree in nursing. i am interested in getting my ADN through CLC but i want to make the best choice. they are my number one because of cost (community college is obviously much cheaper than other schools and living at home is free! lol) and proximity to home. my question is, how good is CLC in comparison to other schools in the area (such as UIC, etc). my main concern, along with lots of others, is getting a job after graduating and i want to make sure my education gives me the best chance. so what has everyone heard about CLC's overall quality of the program compared to others AND what kind of job placement rate do they have for their graduates? thanks for all your help! PS- im sorry if this has already been discussed somewhere on here, there are lots of pages to look through. i also posted this same post in another clc discussion thread but i wanted to expand my net a little bit by creating a new thread

hi everyone, im a new member here and have a new interest in nursing! currently i am physical education teacher education student at illinois state university but am seriously considering moving back home and completing a degree in nursing. i am interested in getting my ADN through CLC but i want to make the best choice. they are my number one because of cost (community college is obviously much cheaper than other schools and living at home is free! lol) and proximity to home. my question is, how good is CLC in comparison to other schools in the area (such as UIC, etc). my main concern, along with lots of others, is getting a job after graduating and i want to make sure my education gives me the best chance. so what has everyone heard about CLC's overall quality of the program compared to others AND what kind of job placement rate do they have for their graduates? thanks for all your help and congrats to the newly admitted students! PS- im sorry if this has already been discussed somewhere on here, there are lots of pages to look through