Megsd

My starting salary was $22, which seems to be about average for Dayton, unless you're looking for peds (which pays less)

When I did psych clinicals my friend had a pt who had been in ICU for an attempted OD before being sent to psych. One day he told the nurses he was going home to have dinner with his wife because it was their 40th wedding anniversary. They all smiled and nodded. Suddenly, the patient was gone. They searched all over. Then he came back about 4 hours later. When interrogated, they found out he had actually gotten dressed, taken out his IV, rode the bus home, ate dinner with his wife as promised, and then came back. And my last quarter of school I helped take care of a very troubled 18 year old who was admitted for a possible head/spinal injury. He was brought to the hospital after falling off the roof of a house he was breaking into. During the course of his stay, he escaped the hospital twice. One time he was found a mile away in nothing but his hospital gown. The second time, he was found a few blocks away trying to break into another house.

Can you chart in the control room periodically? That's where I computer chart when I travel with pts to MRI.

While I think a year of med/surg can be valuable, post-partum jobs can be hard to new grads to snag, so that's awesome that it was offered to you. If that is your passion, I would take that position. You would still get experience with juggling multiple patients, and many new moms have underlying health issues you'd be dealing with as well. If that's not what you really and truly want to do, though, perhaps a more general floor would be a good place for you. Try to think if there is a certain body system or patient population you found particularly interesting (I love hearts and brains, but HATE GI stuff, so I took a job on a Neuro unit) that would help you find a good fit.

One other tip, take the tourniquet off the arm before you flush the IV, otherwise you might blow the vein. Been there done that.

My first week of working an a RN I was participating in an internship and my preceptor and I had this fellow who was postop. She and I were both in the room when he started to vomit. I don't even know what happened next, but somehow I ended up WAY in the far corner of the room, by the window, a good 10 feet from my patient, and my sweet preceptor just looked at me and said "Uh, this.. is your patient. You might want to get over here." I was super embarrassed! For me it's a sound thing, and a smell thing. I'm a sympathy puker. I just try not to think about it and focus on the task at hand. And I'm pretty good at avoiding breathing in and smelling things when I have to.

Ha. Heaven forbid she has to assess her patient!

LIST IT. I don't know about the issue of pulling your license and seeing your jobs, but the nursing community is smaller than you think, and they will find out. I would just say, when asked, that your current job isn't a good fit, that you've decided you'd rather work with X patient population, etc. A friend I graduated with went to work at a hospital, stayed about 3 months and quit. He then applied at another hospital (in the same hospital system, at that) as a "new grad". He didn't mention the old job at the interview, figuring since he had only been there a few months it didn't really matter. He was publically removed from his orientation at the new job and fired on the spot because he lied on his employment application about not working as a nurse at the other hospital. He had a very hard time getting another hospital job after that, and ended up in LTC.

Priming them isn't too bad. Just remember to "wedgie" the tubing into where the air indicator is, and make sure the tubing isn't stretched out so it will infuse properly. I find the guardrails very easy to use, not as much math involved for me. We started using the PCA module recently as well, and the pt button lights up green when the medication is available, so patients like it better as well.

I think alcoholism is many things. I have many alcoholics in my family, but my mom is the current active alcoholic. While the initial drink was certainly a choice of some sort, alcohol is so embedded into my mom's life that she can't even tell what damage it has caused. My mother has chosen to buy bottles of wine instead of food, for weeks at a time. She needs a drink to be comfortable in social settings. She needs a drink to fly on an airplane. She needs a drink to "tell me how she really feels." My mother cannot function without alcohol because she doesn't know how to. It is her friend, her crutch. Alcohol participated in my parents' divorce (partly because my dad quit drinking and she didn't), and permanently damaged my relationship with her due to her inappropriate outbursts. People have talked about the rock bottom thing -- "Oh, when things get real bad, then they'll see, and then they'll quit." I'm waiting for rock bottom. I thought it would happen when she got evicted from her condo and declared bankruptcy, but then she just stayed with friends and drank their booze. Her friends pity her and feed her, so she still has the money to buy alcohol. She tried to work an 8 hour job but the withdrawal was too painful for her to go that long without drinking. I don't know what's going to happen to her, but my mom is a very smart woman, and I doubt she chooses to live this way.

I'm kind of similar. I have no game face, my coworkers apparently think that I can't hold it together in stressful situations. I try to handle everything myself, perfectly, and before I know it I'm up to my eyeballs in stuff to do. My advice (that I am trying to work on myself, too): BREATHE. You are new, and you are only one person. Use your resources. On my unit we have a "buddy" who covers our lunch report and also acts as our first line of help. Ask them to help you with things, especially if they offer. Don't overwhelm them -- they're busy too, but they can certainly give someone a pain pill if you're stuck in an isolation room. EAT LUNCH. Most things can wait until after lunch. Leave work at work. Don't read P&P on your days off. Go do non work-related things. Read a novel, watch a movie, go for a walk. I still dream about work every night after I work, but that is improving. Relish your small victories. Did you finally remember the process to send a pt to surgery? Did you get a positive response from that usually cranky doctor? Did you get to lunch on time? Pat yourself on the back. :) Take a moment to realize all the things you learned today. These things will make tomorrow a little easier. And when stuff hits the fan and all you want to do is break down, sit down, alone, and breathe for a second and collect yourself. Go in the bathroom, go in the med room, think about what you need to do to be successful, and when you are calm and collected, you can emerge and do them.

Personally, I don't care about working weekends because I like the slower pace and the extra money. On my unit we finally have enough staff that people who have been there for two years or more have been switched to every third weekend. And you know what? I have heard a lot of them complain about it because they are missing that extra bit of money in their paychecks, and they don't have as many weekdays off. As for the point about whether we would have to work such horrendous hours if it were a male-dominated profession, I present to you: the fire service. My fiance is a firefighter, and his department (along with most departments I am familiar with) works a 24-48 schedule. So he got to work this morning at 7am, he will leave tomorrow at 7am, and he'll be back on Saturday morning at 7am. So only one out of every 3 weekends does he have the whole weekend off. With my schedule, if there's something going on while I'm at work, at least I can catch the tail end of it when I get off. He misses the whole day. Not to mention, he is on call all the time, 24/7. He has had to go into work suddenly while we were at a wedding, during our Valentine's Day date, during Christmas dinner, and at 2 in the morning. Sure he gets to sleep and get paid, but sometimes he's up all night, sometimes he gets home several hours late, and if he trades with someone to get time off, he may have to work 48 hours straight. Fortunately, our schedules work for us, because he always gets two days off in a row after he works, so it's always a "weekend." And sometimes our schedules match up and we have days off together. I'm not saying that a nurse's schedule is wonderful and works for everyone, but I'd sure as heck rather work my schedule than his. Perhaps male-dominated professions are not so progressive sometimes either?

One trick is to put your roll of tape on your hemostats, clip your hemostats to the bottom of your scrub top, and put your scissors/shears through the tape the other way. And yes, cargo pants rock.

1) How quickly did you take the NCLEX and get your license? I graduated 11/17, got my ATT 12/6, and took my NCLEX 12/26, and started working 1/21. I think I got my license in the mail the first week in January. 2) How quickly did you find a job? As your first nursing job, what kind of nursing did you do? I was hired by my hospital in October. I work on a step-down neuro unit 3) Did your employer help with school loans? How quickly were you able to pay off you student loans? My program was kind of different and my employer actually offered me a stipend in exchange for full time employment. I would STRONGLY urge you to ONLY accept a contract for loan repayment unless you are 100% positive you will LOVE working for that employer, because being stuck at a crummy facility bites. (I love mine, but I know people who have been very upset about contracts) 4) What kind of classes are you taking for your required credit hours? How many credit hours are you required to take once you get your license? In Ohio I need 24 credits every 2 years, but none in the first licensure period (only once I renew). As part of my hospital orientation I racked up just about 24. Every so often my employer offers credits, which is awesome because I get paid for doing them. :) 5) How often does an RN have to renew the license? Every 2 years 6) Has it been difficult to balance working full-time, taking classes, and managing your home life? The difficult thing for me has been being exhausted after a 12 hour shift and being unwilling or unable to do things like cook, clean, etc. The "classes" are really no biggie. There isn't usually anything to study (except ACLS) and sometimes not even a test. It's just sitting in a room learning about things that may or may not interest you. And to clarify your last question, while you can "get a job" before you take NCLEX, in most states, you can't actually WORK until you have your license. My employment was contingent upon me passing NCLEX by a certain point so I could attend orientation. I had to let them know when I passed so they could verify my license and then officially offer me the job.

The issue with lab draws only exists if the person has fluids running because of the risk of diluting the sample. So our lab people either draw in the other arm, or ask if we can pause the fluids for 5-10 minutes before they draw. I always start distally too, and we only use the AC as an emergency access if for no other reason than when they bend their elbow, the IV pump alarms and drives the patient and staff crazy!