dalilama

BP 85/50 low HR 120 fast, possibly to "make up" for the low blood pressure....

I went into the Nursing Program right after highschool.....

I am being taught that cleaning a patient/ changing the bed is a veyr important task it nursing.... its not nursing assistant work. If you think about it.... when you give your patient a bed bath... you can pretty much complete your head to toe assessment at the same time! For the phsyco-social aspect.... I find it really hard when I (as a student) are learning new skills every day and thinking about what I have to do that..... but the person emotional needs are so important to their health and healing! Depression etc. needs just as much medical attention as an infected hip replacement. Its hard, and someof it is gross (like changeing the bed pan) but I absolultly hate it when my fellow nursing students are like "OH yaa went the whole term without touching poop". Umm... its a part of life and a nurse should attend to a patients needs no matter what it is!

I felt the same way for a while... I worked on-to-ones by sitting for hours upon hours with a patient and never go a break too..... I know that once i am done, there are always going to be things that i don't agree with.... like working holidays and such.... but you do get paid more on those days so that is a positive....??? Also, another idea would be to work causual, that way you have the power to say when you do or dont want to work and there is nothing they can do about it... you do lack benefits like dentil and such, but you get more freedom before you are ready to settle down etc... its a stressful job, medication errors scare me too... but I find that if I go slowly and do my med research before administering and my 7 checks, I feel much better. Its good to be a little OCD when dealing with things that can potentially harm others.... but I am sure that it will come sometime (for me).... its like in any job if you really think about it... takes time to get comfortable!

Sometimes I wish there was an extra week so I wouldnt have to procrastinate.

The patient pretty much answered her own quesiton.... she doensn't want the opposite sex to feel betrayed.... thus when she develops a comfortable relationship with someone, it would be ideal in her situation to come clean. I would also tell her to join support groups like that.... even if it is web based! There is support out there, there are other people in the same boat as her and i belive that should be brought to her attention.

I tried to get "ahead" and it really didn't help me. The best thing I could suggest is organize everything so you are ready for the begining, and get other stressors that are non nursing related out of the way (ie. finances... so work while you have the freedom because I can asure you that your free time will be limited once you start.)

I have a cell phone and make sure that I have it in the locker room and not on the floor when I am at clinical. This way I am not distracted and I can check my messages and such when I have break. However, if I were to have an iphone, i would find it more of a benefit than a distraction, as you can get apps on it. download search tools/ books so you can quickly search diagnostic findings/medications. I would not have a problem with that and think that is an excellent idea....as long as whoever is using this tool doent use the messaging or look at anything unprofessional.