flightnursetaylor

My comments on how having a Bachelors Degree doesn't make a better nurse.

Based on Anecdotal evidence. I have seen nurses before and after they complete their BSN. Their patient care is always excellent and doesn't change one bit after they get that piece of paper. I went to work one day, found out I successfully completed my degree when I got home the next day. When I went back to work, I continued to give the best care that I could possibly give. I continue to do critical thinking and I have never once thought to myself, "I couldn't do this critical thinking without the help of that Bachelors degree".

This may have been pointed out already but I haven't had the chance to read through all 5 pages of the comments. BSN does not make you a better bedside nurse. It makes you look good on paper. Hospitals are encouraging their nurses to complete their BSNs in order to either achieve magnet status or to make the Board of Directors impressed with how many nurses they have on staff that have higher degrees. This results in better chances at getting grants, education money, etc. I have been a nurse for 17 years and just finished my BSN last year. Mostly because I wanted to get it done. I am only 40 and have another 20 years of employment left. Another reason was that the hospital that I work for offered tuition assistance and an additional dollar more per hour to any nurse with their BSN.

excellent point! I will make sure and avoid the DON'T pictures. That really is great advice.

EMS folks are very visual with a lot of ADD/ADHD thrown into the mix. thanks for the feedback. I did contact the Bard representative and she is supposed to be calling me back. I do have some comics for relief but I think pictures of what NOT to do is an excellent idea. thanks! Keep the suggestions coming!

thank you so much! I am traveling out of state to do this class but if I can get to a supermarket nearby, I think I will go ahead and try it.

I am an instructor for a Paramedic Education program as well as an educator for our Air Medical Team and I am a prn national speaker for critical care in EMS. I would really love to get my own inventory of vascular access: central lines, PICCs, Port-a-caths, Quinton catheters, IO accessetc. I have my requests in to the area hospital supply departments, etc but I was going to try on this site. I am willing pay out of pocket for expired vascular access of all kinds. I am also in charge of giving a presentation on EZ IO with which I was given a 4 hour time slot. I can do EZ IO instruction in 30 minutes so I am in need of filler for the extra time. Anyone have any insider tips that they could contribute to my presentation? Full credit will be given.

I have been a nurse for 13 years and I hardly remember anything. I learned more in my first year on a busy med-surg unit that I ever did in nursing school. but of course, I had some great preceptors and an awesome general surgeon who showed me stuff on patient's who weren't even assigned to me. I had just enough knowledge to pass the NCLEX the first time. Now that I have been out of school for a while, I enjoy reading pathophysiology books. (yes, I am a big nerd) But it makes so much more sense now that I have had some real hands on application.

I was in the same boat you were. I have been an RN for over 13 years and just got my EMT-B by taking a weekend course and challenging the state (Missouri). I was an ER nurse for several years before becoming a flight nurse. It is awesome being in EMS but it is different working on an ambulance versus a helicopter. There are a few (very few) programs available to bridge over. I can't remember right off hand of any of them except for the one at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. All online, no clinical and a few trips to Joplin to test out of skills/etc. Check out MSSU EMT RN Paramedic Bridge to give you an idea. I recommend finishing your RN and work in a busy ER for a year to get your clinical judgement and skills honed. This will also let the ER doctors see what you are made of. Then check into the above website or type in RN to Paramedic Bridge Courses into your search engine. The agency that I work at is going to let me work as an RN on an ambulance using RN scope of Care. We are currently working with Human Resources to see what kind of wages I will be getting. Most likely RN wages but you know what? I wouldn't care if I made Paramedic wages, the important thing is.... I am having a blast working in the trenches. Don't worry about the questions... "Why would you want to do that?!" Just smile and go on. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do in your career, as long as you are HAPPY!

While I am a drip rearranger and a disinfector also, I HATED it when my relief nurse would be doing this while I was trying to give her a bedside report. I felt like she wasn't listening to a word I said and she always acted like each patient bay was completely trashed and she couldn't do anything unless she cleaned the mess up. (It wasn't messy, she re arranged stuff to where SHE thought it should be)

I would go to the local public health clinic. They a lot of literature available and you can get the name of the publisher on the back of the pamphlet to order more for yourself and your classes. You can get a lot of great used books from half.com to order for parents to browse through before class and at breaks so they can see what kind of books that would help them best before they buy it themselves. There are sooo many books out there with different philosophies on parenting and baby care it can be overwhelming. Also, contact the diaper, formula, baby wipes companies and ask for some sample products, literature, etc. When they find out that you are teaching prospective parents ("future customers") most of them will jump on the chance to send out their wares. As long as you make a disclaiming statement at the beginning of the class that you are not loyal to any particular company you should be set.

I will find myself dreaming of call lights going off and will get up to search the house in order to shut them off. Only after I have gone up and down my hall do I wake up enough to realize it was all a dream. Yes, I admire veins all the time. Being a flight nurse, we used to wear a radio that toned us out with the same tone that was once featured on a Nextel commercial. So naturally, every time that commercial would come on and those distinctive "beep beeps" would come on and my ears would perk up thinking, "Ooo We are getting called out!" Whenever my kids would get hurt (a skinned knee, a busted lip) I would assess the damage and give them the appropriate treatment and some love but if they would keep whining, I would respond, "Oh I have seen a lot worse than that so you need to buck up!" The same thing happens when my hypochondriac family members would call with a snot or a sniffle and ask if they needed to go to the ER. I would always respond, "You aren't dying, I have seen a lot worse than that, and you don't go to the ER unless you are DYING. " I have used superglue to fix a simple laceration on my son's forehead, all the while he is sitting at the kitchen counter. Why pay for an urgent care visit when $1 tube of Super Glue Gel will do the trick?

I am an RN and also a fill-in paramedic student instructor. I am working on a lesson regarding diabetes and recognizing DKA versus HHNK. I am must curious as to how high you have seen blood glucose get while a pt is in HHNK. I remember seeing 1100 once. I thought it would be cool if I could help the students better relate at just how high a blood glucose can get. How high have you seen a blood glucose?

I agree with the palpating. If your computer prompts you for position and height, you cannot legally chart in those spaces until you have done a palpation. So many postpartums can have trouble with a boggy uterus but no one knows until they have bled out and passed out and then it is a rush to try and get that uterus firm again. By then she has lost a lot of blood and could have been avoided had her nurse assessed that fundus often.