metabolicfrolic

I love, love, love these posts from floor RN's who come down to the dark side, the ER. I wish most floor nurses could work a shift or two down here, just to see what it's really like. Over the years, my favorite "new" nurses are floor nurses who'v...

Time away from work is always helpful. Use that time wisely to do the things that nurture you, whatever they are: painting, exercise, yoga, church, family time, going to the movies, a cooking class. You get the idea. Taking care of other people a...

New Balance 927's are the best. They will definitely exceed your budget (about $109 or so), but good shoes are worth the investment. I cannot stress that enough. I bought some $50 clogs on sale and started clinicals with them, but one year in real...

You all should be hearing any day now. The committee met last week. The spring semester begins Jan. 3rd.

I find the color safe bleach (Clorox 2) to be fantastic at getting the color to stay. I primarily wear Cherokee and Urbane scrubs, and the color looks stays brighter.

Here's a don't - The watches made by NurseMates get water in them! While water resistant is printed on the back, this may be referring to the "guts" of the watch and not the face. I'm the type to wash my hands and forearms THOROUGHLY after a run i...

Hey there, it's no wonder you're frustrated with the team nursing approach. I don't blame you one bit for feeling the way you do; for it to work, the group must function as a team! Do you have a good relationship with the unit manager?

I came from management in a medical practice. My frist degree is a related healthcare degree, not a nursing degree, and the powers that be decided to eliminate my job. During my years there I was constantly amazed at how much more $$$ the nursing s...

During lecture note-taking, I'm a pen snob. My handwriting is better when I use gel pens, anyway. Love me some Pilot G-2 0.5 or 0.7, or the uniball vision 0.6. Once you buy the pens you'll only need to purchase more refills (read= cheaper)! I do ...

I took over my husband's desk! (This is but one of the many things he has sacrificed so I can go to school full-time!) Not only is his desk bigger, his computer monitor is too, which is so much better than using my tiny netbook for practice NCLEX q...

I am a total believer in compression hose. 10 - 20 feels best to me. They make a big difference in how my legs feel after a long shift. Over the years I've purchased all different kinds: the white nursing hose, knee highs, socks. For the most support...

Second! Potter and Perry was pretty craptastic. At my school they find a way to make this course (unbelievably) hard. We had two classes, Fundamentals and Pharm, and the majority of people who failed had issues with Fundamentals and not Pharm. We...

Good question! A thick pair for sure. One with reinforced, padded toe toe is best. (Champion socks work great for me.) I have several different types of socks depending on which shoe I wear, and when I make this mistake of wearing my thin, cool,...

It is a very good program, but can be very hard at times. We are down to 30some folks after the spring semester. They had a 100% first time NCLEX pass rate last year!

Aromatherapy works for me. Peppermint is so stimulating. I burn peppermint essential oil or light a peppermint candle. Peppermint herbal tea is also a refreshing pick-me-up. Redbull is awesome, but I don't drink it every day. It's a great mid-a...

Nursing school without RedBull, coffee, etc?! I shudder at the thought. As someone else posted, nursing school isn't hard per se; the challenge is learning the outrageous amounts of material in a very short time. While I try and get in bed no lat...

Good luck! We have about 47 students in this year's class. One dropped out last week.

Our RN program has bedmaking included as well. I got one of the more... critical instructors. My mitred corners are usually beyond perfect, but her comments to me were such that I couldn't stay on my game. As soon as I left the room I cried. I l...

I'm having trouble with several of the tricky Fundamentals of Nursing questions. There are students in my class who seem to just "get it." In talking with them, they seem to rarely struggle when choosing between the best and second best answer. I'...

Occasionally I iron - it depends on how my scrubs look when the dryer is finished. The cool down setting on my dryer is AWESOME! Now I almost always iron my scrub jacket (higher cotton content, so it wrinkles easily). At a previous job, the youn...

I made the mistake of buying 100% cotton scrubs that fit fine at the store, but didn't take into account the shrinkage after putting them in the dryer. I was only able to squeeze into them for a little bit before I ended up donating them to Goodwill...

You are such my role model! I, too, hate Fundamentals with a passion. The questions we have to test on are about semantics to me. I read the book, always go to class, am perched pen in hand taking notes, highlight the book (yes, I broke my rule fo...

I wish our school tested on just the powerpoints/lecture! After my first 2 tests I've found they get a lot of questions from information in the chapters. (In fact, our Director prefers the faculty to NOT post powerpoints to keep us actively taking ...

I feel you! I'm also back in school, haven't sat this much in years, and as a result am gaining weight. I'm such a mover and a shaker that all this sitting is killing me! I do exercise at least 5 days a week. No excuses. I switch things around ...

I find Eastbay helpful. There were two SHOX I had my eye on... Nike Shox NZ SL SI - Women's - Sport Inspired - Shoes - White/White/Metallic Silver Nike Shox Turbo +11 - Women's - Running - Shoes - White/Cool Grey/Neutral Grey/Metallic Silver