acgemt

In my experience, it can be done...listening to two people at once, or doing two different tasks at once. Should it always happen? No. I truly believe that is how mistakes hppen. When I get really bogged down at work, I literally stop what I am doing...take a breath, and think to myself. Okay, I can only be in one place at a time. I only have two hands. Relax. It helps me out and allows me to reorganize my time.

How about the most embarassing?? My cute as a button 81 year old came in for falure to thrive and alzheimer's/dementia issues. I chose not to secure her belongings (after all what could an 81 year old do???) When it was time to tell her she was being transferred to another facility, she wan't too happy. When it was ativan time, she whipped out her can of pepper spray from her pants pocket. With so many people in the room, I just dove right on top of her trying to get it out of her hand. My eyes got the brunt of the spray. Oh, those 81 year olds. Never trust a cute face!! Needless to say, yes pepper spray hurts, The nurses were all squirting me with saline...and milk. Oh the embarassment.

You do bring up a good point about confidentiality. I would imagine that non-nursing citizens would easily be able to look up this site, and view the contents. I feel though that the information we provide for one another is a means of education. We are all able to learn from everyones' experiences. We are not using patient identifiers such as name and birthdate.

Amen! The longest I have gone is 9 hours without peeing. I am sure this will have repercussions later on in life :-) No Mandatory overtime! A well-staffed ER!

I am not sure what words of encouragement I can give for someone failing the exam for a 4th time. I will offer some suggestions though... Maybe she is studying a little too hard. One thing that I have learned is that sometimes it helps to take a break...relax...take some time off...and then go back to it. When you study something for so long, everything tends to mesh together making it difficult to sort through the information. Is there a particular area your sister is not as strong in? When she is taking the NCLEX, is she getting enough sleep the night before...is she eatting a good breakfast before the exam? Is she rushing through the questions or does she take time to read, reread, and then answer the question? Does she take breaks during the exam or go straight through? These are some questions for her to think about. I am sure after that many questions that she definitely has the knowledge. I am a firm believer that if you make it through nursing school, you can make it through the NCLEX. I think it just depends on the type of test taker she is. She will get through it. If she wants it bad enough, she will.

I will say that normally it does not bother me to be called dear or honey. I say sweetie or handsome sometimes to the more elderly population. They seem to like it. I will say that on a particular evening, for whatever reason, this was not the case for me. I remember a patient who was very rude to begin with (in the ER for shortness of breath...and wound up signing out AMA anyway) had called me baby. For some reason, it struck a nerve that night. I corrected her, stating that my name was ______, and that I was the nurse taking care of her. Yeah...that didn't go over well. Very irrate, telling me to "Back your @ss on outta this room!!" (Yes, everyone heard that one!). Needless to say, it does get to me on occasion, but usually it doesn't. I would rather be called dear than the B word.

Ask the things that are important to you...the nurse to patient ratio is always an important question because you get to see exactly what you are going to be dealing with. Ask at the end of the interview if you can do a share day for a couple hours to shadow a nurse there. That gives you the opportunity to see exactly what it is like. I will say this. I am not sure if you have had any interviews yet, or what questions you have been asked but I will give you the question I was asked at one of my interviews - and babbled/flubbed my way through...needless to say I didn't get that job. Here it is...keep in mind this is the first question. "Okay, I have interviews a lot of applicants. Why are you more qualified for the job than anyone else...wow me! Go."

I was in Best Buy today doing some shopping. At the counter were three sales clerks in their late teens, maybe 20s, talking about the simplest things of life. I had to stop and think to myself...god, I wish my job was that easy...no lives at stake, so stress, everything is simple. But then I had to wonder how quickly it would take for me to get bored...I would be pretty broke too, I can imagine. My fantasy job would be working in an animal shelter, playing with cats all day long.

I am curious what the clinical situation is like? How do you have to contact different places to see if you can "work" there for clinicals? I agree the advisors are pretty worthless...they aren't telling us much:nono: My next class is a clinical, and I am pretty much in the dark

Hello, I am currently enrolled in the RN-BSN program at the University of Phoenix. I have to say that I absolutely love the program. I am in m 5th class (I think I have 8 or 9 to go). I enjoy the program because it is from the convenience of your own home. You have the luxury of logging in at any time to complete your assignments (by their due date of course). The time passes by so quickly. Some things I don't like: It is a little pricey compared to other programs out there...but you are paying for convenience and flexibility. It was very easy for me to get a full tuition loan through my FAFSA...I think the only out of pocket expenses you are left with is about 300 dollars for the year. Your schedule is based on the presumption that you will not take any breaks. Keep in mind holidays, vacations, etc. Me personally, I am going straight through to graduation without requesting time off. Just get it done and over with.

I don't see anything wrong with this. Think of it as an annual update or a refresher course. I always thought I was proficient in inserting foley cathethers...then I got two females back to back that I just couldn't find any easy way to insert the cathether. The second patient was so contracted, I wasn't even about to move her legs to get in there. I think that if a urologist gave an inservice on the proper ways of inserting foley cathethers and special tricks of the trade, then the incidences of UTIs and trauma to the perineal area will subside.

In a perfect world, nurse to patient ratios would be perfect. No patient would get ignored. Nurses would not feel overwhelmed. If you are looking for ways to get involved, I wouldsuggest joining your state nursing association, or a nursing association involving your specialty. The American Nurses Association is a great place to start as well. You will be able to learn information about the more political side of nursing, what organizations are doing to address the issues of our fellow nurses. In addition, look up congress and senate on a search engine...I can't think of the specific web addresses for you. You can look up all of the information about specific bills which are in the works already. You can find information about your local and state representatives for senate and congress. You can write letters. There is an ample amount of information available to you. I wish you the best of luck in your search.:wink2:

I remember I was driving home after a night shift when I was working as a tech....the drive was 40 miles...even with the coffee, scrambled eggs in the passenger seat, loud music, windows open, etc, my eyes were still crossing because I was so tired. I will never forget it...it was a Sunday morning, no cars on the road, and I was half asleep driving who knows how fast. All I could think was "is that a deer?" There was something standing in my lane but I couldn't figure out what it was...WELL!!!! Sure enough it was a cop standing in my lane with his hand out signalling me to stop! Yikes!! Luckliy he wrote the wrong state on the ticket (I had out of state tags) so I just had to pay a fine. But it goes to show that you have to watch out and be careful when driving home...if you don't think you can make it, then pullover!

Mandatory overtime is one of my biggest pet peeves in nursing. :angryfire I currently work in an ER (3pm-330am). There are multiple times each week when i am faced with staying late, and not by choice. Mandatory overtime is not only unsafe for patients, but nurses as well. Nurses who are fatigued are at an increasd risk of performing a medication error. Patients are at risk because their nurses are not performing at their optimal level. I am not sure about any specific laws in your state, but I will say that the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2005 has some very valuabl information. It was specifically created to address mandatory overtime issues. In addition, so to your nursing association websites. I know that AACN, ANA, and ENA specifically have position letters stating they do not agree with mandatory overtime. If you work in a critical care area, the ENA and AACN letters will definitely help you. In addition, you can't go wrong with the ANA as well. You can print it out from your computer and use that as information to make your case to your manager. You do not need to be a member to receive that information. I hope this helps.

I am a nurse that smokes...with that said, I completely agree with what you are saying. I choose not to smoke while I'm at work (for many reasons...among others, I don't have time!!:chuckle ) Anyway, I cna't see how anything good could come from walking into a room and leaning over a patient or just being close to them and smelling like cigarettes. It just doesn't seem right.