ScreamBoxDolly

Thanks for replying back! I am actually looking at frontier for my schooling :-)

Alrighty, so I have been now doing L and D for 2 years and have found it to be my calling. Originally I thought I would be med-surg certified by now, but holy crap after 5 years I have finally realized what I want to do :) And never in a million years would I think L and D lol (in nursing school I was like 'never will be a labor nurse!!!!', boy did I eat those words). But ever since last year, I know that I would like to advance my degree and do either CNM or WHNP. My dilemma is that I don't know which one to go for. I have heard go for CNM vs WHNP. In Michigan, I feel there is more of a push towards Family NP instead of WHNP.....but I don't want to do FNP at all, no desire whatsoever. But I do want to make the best decision. Do I really want to be in control of deliveries.... no not really, that is why I am more inclined to do WHNP, but I am hearing there is more of a want for CNM. Ladies and gentleman I need your guidance. Also school recommendations that seem reasonably priced/good education within this convo would be more than welcome too!

alright, so i have some experience behind me (newbie here), but i will admit having half a year of med surg isn't enough (for me) to start traveling. from what i see you need to have at least 2 years to be safe! i want to hear from everyone who knows about, knows another rn doing it, etc. what should i be prepared for, what agencies are good to work with, reading materials to read? (i have already bought [color=#003399]highway hypodermics: on the road again (2009) by epstein larue; just waiting for it arrive) ever since i have been in nursing school, i have wanted to travel. i don't mind change, i like meeting new people, and med-surg i do like (and yes it has its days ). so i would like to hear from everyone's exp...good and bad! deep down in my heart i really want to try it out, i think the "waiting" till i have enough exp is the hardest part!

alright, so i have some experience behind me (newbie here), but i will admit having half a year of med surg isn't enough (for me) to start traveling. from what i see you need to have at least 2 years to be safe! i want to hear from everyone who knows about, knows another rn doing it, etc. what should i be prepared for, what agencies are good to work with, reading materials to read? (i have already bought [color=#003399]highway hypodermics: on the road again (2009) by epstein larue; just waiting for it arrive) ever since i have been in nursing school, i have wanted to travel. i don't mind change, i like meeting new people, and med-surg i do like (and yes it has its days ). so i would like to hear from everyone's exp...good and bad! deep down in my heart i really want to try it out, i think the "waiting" till i have enough exp is the hardest part!

what does op mean?

Manager wrote back....need to call in order to get it started. Thanks everyone!

My question though is that at the hospital I work at we have standing orders for the hospitalists (a sheet that states meds for bowel, bladder, blood cultures, etc), but they are not put on the chart when they come up. So in order for me to implement for every hospitalist pt, do I need to call the dr. Or can I just implement them since the hospitalists have standing orders? I am getting both answers yes and no. In the end I guess I will save my rear end and call. Not the first time I have been yelled at lol.

Thanks for everyone's replies!!! I appreciate it~ So basically in a nutshell standing orders are in place so I don't have to call the dr (bassed on my assessment of the situation and is not contraindicated), BUT I should write Per Standing Order/Dr so and so/AMillerRN. And that is legal right?

I have been a RN for about 5 months now and still have the feeling I am not getting the answer I want (so like always I need to ask!). We have hospitalists and not residents (I guess thats what they are called). I am really not familiar with the term "residents" because we don't have those at our hospital. (So if someone can key me in as to what "residents" do that would be awesome; I do love to gain knowledge ) Anyways the "hospitalists" have standing orders for certain things, does this mean I can just take it without calling them and sign off "telephone order dr......." Since they won't want to be called for tylenol at 4 am? Now I have not been doing this because in nursing school we were always told to call the dr before administering something, but is a standing order different. I had one hospitalist tell me "don't call me, just give the order of novolog if they are on it".....now my license is on the line, and I want to protect my license and my butt!!! That is why I am asking you guys for your advice. I asked my manager and he really didn't help me out. I have seen other nurses just sign it off "telephone order dr....." without calling, but when it comes down to it, I am a very honest person and can't lie about anything. Help!!!! So please tell me experience nurses what would you do?

Alright so yesterday I had someone call up at the nurses desk to talk to someone. He seemed very distressed and needed to talk to lets say bed 245-1. I tried to transfer him to the bedroom, (not giving out any names or anything), and I must have not transferred him right because 10 minutes later the phone kept ringing. I then asked someone to help me out, and they said "I dont think we can transfer them to the room, but we can give them the room number". I was about to tell this person the number, but.....the man went on a rant, gave me his number to give to the patient, and was drunk, and was yelling at me. After he hung up on me, I went down to the patient and asked if they knew him...they did and said "oh thats normal, I will call him later". Well when I went into the patient's room an hour later, I found the patient crying on the phone with this man. I asked the patient if they didn't want to speak to him again, and they replied "yes". So I told everyone on my floor who this person, that they were drunk and that if he wanted to speak to the patient, he couldn't (pt request) and the last person he could talk to was me, since I was the pt RN and pt advocate. Since I am new to nursing, after looking back, I should have first asked this guys name, got his number then went to the pt first to see if they knew him. My reason for writing is: 1. What should I do in the future to protect pt confidentiality...for example you know how when you get busy, family calls wants to find out how their mom or dad is and you say "oh they are fine"....(what if that person shouldn't be calling, and I just think they are family)----how can I stop myself before I blurt out something? 2. If I ever find myself in that predicament with a drunk belligerent family member or spouse over the phone, how could I go about a better way protecting the client and keeping them from calling? Thanks guys for your help and advice.

Thank you guys :)

Okay, I have been registered for about 2 weeks (new nurse) have been on my unit for three months and in a week I will be cut from the umbilical cord (scary yes....but I know I must do this in order to gain more confidence!). My question for everyone is when can I look into getting actually certified in Med-Surg and how did you go about it? What are the qualifications for it? Thanks again guys! :redbeathe

Thank you guys for your input! :) I am going to see how that DATAS format works for me tonight. I am doing 3 12's in a row startin' today!

I am a GN and now am orienting on midnights (which surprisingly I like lol since I have never worked midnights). I guess I am nervous about a lot of things, but I try not to show it. One area I feel like I am lacking in is report. Usually my preceptors do it, but I try to say comments in between report (so it looks like I am trying). I just get so nervous and frustrated inside because I feel so incompetent. I am still trying to remember what the nurse before us said about the whole patient (which I do write things down), but sometimes I feel like more is said than needed. I guess I want to be more like "here are the facts that are important" and I don't want say stuff that isn't important. So any suggestions / stories of starting out please?

You are an inspiration. Thank-you for your story :)