Sparrow23

Hey everyone. My friend just finished med school and will be starting her residency soon. I'm putting together a little gift for her and one of the things I wanted to do is give her a list of "survival tips" from the nursing point of view. What thing...

Keep a little vial of peppermint oil (or mint extract used for baking) with you. Place a few drops in a mask and wear that for extra-smelly tasks.

I had the same thing happen to me. Had never fainted in my life and never had a problem with any bodily fluids/surgeries/etc. Then one day boom: fainted and threw up, and then passed out again. Came to and was given juice, threw up again as soon as I...

One lil old lady (quoting a goodness-knows-how-old book): "Salt water cures cancer." So THAT'S why we give most everyone NS, eh? If only...

Am I the only one who's confused as to why the OP is passing meds as a CNA? Does this happen often?? eep... (To the OP, everyone else has summed it up nicely: nursing is hard (and dirty) but yes, rewarding in it's own way. If you are not 100% in it, ...

I really like it. When random people come up to me and ask what's going on with my pt, I can actually tell them pertinent information instead of... oh say telling the dietitian how well the pt is ambulating after mistaking them for PT, or mistaking t...

My advice: Be the bigger person. If you feel you cannot work there, then find another place and leave with your head held high. Don't prove her right by making a big scene. You can handle this in a professional manner and still let her know that you ...

For my area, yeah, it matters. Very few of the hospitals are hiring ADNs here, and the ones that are... well, they are definitely not the nicest places to work. A friend of mine has her ADN and she is having such a hard time finding a decent place to...

Don't get rid of my self-scheduling! Ever! I love it :) Granted, out system is computerized and we can see as we schedule ourselves which days are filled up and which are understaffed, so we all try to be flexible and fill in. Works perfectly. And we...

Never has happened to me but happens to a friend quite often where she works. They usually disappear and then are brought back to the ER later on in the shift, drunk. They're A&O so more of just an extreme annoyance than anything.

8 in a row once (though one was an 8 and one a double). Wanted to die. Now I even dread going in for a 3rd day.

And I kinda wanted to smack Octo-mom upside the head for not making this choice.

I just learned this. Apparently the CHG can actually go into the bottle and kill some of the potential bacterial cultures giving false results. I can't point you in the direction of any particular studies; I was just told that some studies were showi...

Definitely different in different places! First med-surg job was a h*!! hole of pure insanity (but loved my coworkers at least). Love the place I'm at now and it is the exact same type of med-surg floor I was on before.

And to ICUenthusiast, no offense meant with my previous post as I see you do have this disorder. I am happy that those meds have worked for you. I just really really hate those ads!

Sorry, but first thing that popped into my head when I read this was those stupid radio ads that play constantly: "Do you suffer from shift-work disorder? Try Nuvigil!" Note: I am NOT suggesting this!!! This awful ad is just always on and it's stuc...

Take the day shift. I had the same dilemma... loved my night shift team and was less than thrilled about those on days. It's been ok though! I still see my night shifters at change of shift and they day shifters haven't been all that bad. Less teamwo...

Don't wear white under white! Nude/flesh color only. Everything else will show through. Bring a spare pair of white ones just in case you have some psycho inspecting your undies (I doubt that can or will ever happen). And why the heck can't you wear ...

If you had a pharmacist giving a general presentation (to you and other nurses) on how drugs work in the body, what information would you want to learn or have a mini-refresher course on? What would be most useful to you? Any other pharmacology topic...

It is a very bizarre interview process. They do "performance based interviews." The link below tells you all about it. Good luck! http://www.va.gov/pbi/

Yeah, 7 months out at my last job they had me charge and precepting the newer-than-me-grads. That was because most shifts, there wasn't anyone else that had more experience than me b/c they were all smart enough to get the h*!! out! One shift I had a...

Take some of the pressure off of yourself. Whenever you have an IV or foley to start, just tell yourself that you are gonna give yourself 2 shots at it. Best case senario - you get it! yaaayyy!! Worst case - you grab someone else to give it a shot. Y...

Thank you for those responses Tyvin, ShayRN and FLArn! I don't take care of hospice pts that often and I guess like anything else, it's going to take time for me to develop these skills... Looking back on some of the pts though, I am glad I went with...

I have a question related to this. For hospice pts with morphine drips, if they become lethargic do you turn it down? Obviously I wouldn't want to decrease their pain meds if they were still in pain, but where do you draw the line in hospice pts betw...

Yeah, the pres of the last hospital I was at told everyone the hospital was failing because of the nurses. Riiight. One of the many many reasons I left that h*ll-hole excuse of a hospital... I say start applying elsewhere, the sooner you get out the ...