aprilfresh

Hey there, I am currently taking some general MSN courses in preparation for starting my anesthesia courses in January. Something that has been keeping me up at night is being able to pay for myself to eat/live/have a vehicle. I was not the best at saving money while working as an RN because I was paying off my student loan debt, etc. I obviously have received my Stafford and PLUS loans. I just feel like I will be barely making ends meet (if I'm lucky) by the end of first semester, waiting for summer loan disbursement, and I didn't know what your experiences are with private loans. I have been researching some private loans and I maybe just don't understand - they all say that you can apply for up to 100% of your cost of attendance, but my school's cost of attendance doesn't cover my rent and car payment. I'm just wondering if anyone else is in the same boat as me out there, as in single, 24 year olds, limited savings, with parents that can't afford to help too much, and how you are managing.

I guess more specific questions might help. We currently do sterile dressing changes q 7 days unless moist/soiled with a standardized kit. Chloraprep for those greater than 2 months old, alcohol and betadine for those less than 2 months. We change our caps q 4 days in a sterile fashion (lipids are daily). What are other facilities doing? We do return our blood waste to our patients, do other units do this? When drawing labs from central lines do you have a standard procedure? If so, do you mind sharing it? Do you utilize stopcocks for lab draws?

We've had a recent increase in the number of BSI's in our CTICU and I was wondering what protocols/procedures other facilities have in place for BSI prevention?

Hi everyone! I'm 22 years old, been working currently in a pediatric cardiac ICU in Ohio for about a year and I am strongly considering moving to Seattle next year. I would be moving by myself, know absolutely no one that lives there or even within 2000 miles. It is such a beautiful city and I have looked into Seattle Children's from time to time. Does anyone have any experience working there? Or moving across the country by yourself? Am I crazy? Lol thanks for any input you have to offer.

Typically precedex + an analgesic and midazolam. I've read about precedex drips having a 24 hr limit at other facilities but our facility sometimes has patients on precedex for weeks.

I have hypothyroidism, I was diagnosed in 2010 after I gained 50 pounds in 2 months. (21 year old female) I graduated in 2011, never had any problems with schoolwork just generally tired and depressed about my body being forever ruined but hey it could be worse! :)

21 year old RN. I haven't had anyone mention my age - if you act like a professional people will treat you like a professional. :)

Hi guys! I actually have accepted a position at a smaller local hospital on a med-surg unit, started last week. Definitely not my dream job but hey it's good enough for me! I am also in the process of being interviewed for a NICU in Columbus which IS my dream job! Fingers crossed! The market is very saturated with nurses in all of Ohio's major cities so I would start applying in October, churchsgirl. For example the hospital I got hired at has 240 beds and is receiving 800 applications a week, the pediatric facility I worked at as a student nurse is receiving over 2000. It's ridiculous, but it is possible! A lot of things seem to open up in September-November it seems like and not many graduate during that time. Good luck, I'll pray for you!

You don't need to know the full extent of the story to expect every patient to be treated with dignity and respect, living or dead. Abuse of a corpse is a crime that is committed whenever someone performs an action on a corpse that would outrage a reasonable family. I would be outraged if someone ripped an ET tube out of my mother's mouth or pulled off her skin when removing a dressing.

I have been offered two interviews for RN positions, one for NICU, one for Urgent Care, at a leading Pediatric hospital in my area that I currently work at as a tech. The problem is I have absolutely no desire to work in the Urgent Care and I am wondering a polite way to cancel the interview without screwing my chances with the NICU? I have been offered a position at another facility that pays $7/hr more than the Urgent Care position and I simply cannot afford the pay cut whereas the NICU pay is slightly higher than the position I have been offered. I am just so stressed because my heart yearns to work in the NICU and I don't know what to do. To make matters worse the position I have been offered starts at the end of next week and my interviews are scheduled for next week. I am just stuck between a rock and a hard place. I know the facility that has offered me a job also has an orientation in August so do you think it would be bad on my part to request to change my orientation to August? I just do not want to miss out on the job of my dreams because I am stuck in orientation for an adult med-surg position.

We're color coded - Nursing is navy. Techs are OR green. Unit clerks are purple. Dietary = black. Xray = red. Formula room = pink.

BSN only is becoming the a new Magnet status requirement. I am starting my BSN in September and am getting rejection after rejection - should I put I am 40K in debt and willing to kiss your butt all day in my resume? haha

I'm confused as to how meeting your patients' needs takes away from Nursing. Complaining about bringing people something to drink - what is that preventing you from accomplishing? It's an act of caring and kindness.

Patients are customers. There is a lot of truth in this post - if you hate your life/job/whatever so much that you make patients cry with your derogatory and insulting words, which I've seen, it is time for you to lose your job.

Hi everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has ever worked for an Extendicare facility? I am a new grad and like thousands of others in Central Ohio cannot find a job. I am thinking about applying to Extendicare but I would rather be unemployed than hate my job. Feel free to PM me!