grandmawrinkle

Never heard of it until I started using this site. I've seen it referred to a bunch of times on here. My facility doesn't use this, so I have no clue. I googled it -- apparently it is some sort of QA/QI company that sends out surveys to patient po...

Are you one of them? What is your story? Me: dysthymic disorder, likely depressive sx from the age of 10-12. Major depressive episodes: 2. Other psychiatric comorbidities: anorexia nervosa (currently, in longstanding remission.) Hospitalizations...

Is it even possible? I have been looking around for something different and it appears (from what my co-workers have told me) that I have some natural management ability. I have 10 years of clinical experience and am working on an MSN. I'm certifie...

This is not really true everywhere and it certainly hasn't been true in the past. ADN programs have gotten competitive because they are generally inexpensive (community college tuition) and the payoff at the end is a decent sized paycheck, so they a...

Are you admitted to an LPN to RN program? If you are, then don't drop out. The sciences are the hardest part of any ADN program. As an LPN, I would imagine you would breeze through clinicals. Just put your head down and keep plowing through. Y...

I don't think anybody does this or it is even reasonable. Our eMARs are signed off by the pharmacist, then the administering RN. After that, the next shift signs it off as well, so it essentially a double-check. After that, nobody looks at the orig...

We have no EtCO2 monitors either. We are behind the times IMO on a few things like that. That will hopefully be my next project.

Do you work for the VA? ...because a lot of the stuff you said is not true. Health insurance is not free. It's inexpensive as opposed to the private sector, but not free. The old pension program that allowed those types of retirements was cut about ...

I don't understand this statement. A baccalaureate degree in nursing does not have one enroll in the science prerequisites that are required for application to medical school (although one could probably squeeze them into one's electives if one was ...

TO CLB -- That is all well and good and likely not an isolated situation with the way things are going in healthcare. It is also a management problem. OP did not say that the staff on her ward (unless I missed it somewhere else in this thread) weren'...

IMO, I don't think being professional/unprofessional has anything to do with your age. I have known plenty of horribly unprofessional nurses that are 50+. However, I do think, in some ways, professionalism comes with experience. If you make enough ...

You know, it's really not obvious. It looks like you have two really excellent offers. My personal bias is the VA position. Federal jobs are the bomb (I have one.) You will not get better benefits anywhere, or more vacation. The thing is your sch...

There are exactly two nursing theories I give two seconds of thought -- Orem -- if I had to choose a theory that aligned with my own practice, it would be hers. To refresh your memory, she says (more or less) that nurses do for the patient what the ...

Your drug book says 25g needle (thin) and 3/8 inch (short) because it is referring to the type of NEEDLE that is recommended when giving a SQ heparin injection. That is a typical SQ needle size. Typically heparin SQ comes in a 1cc vial, so you could...

I don't think so. If you take monitors on your floor, you need to know ACLS and what to do in an emergency or ACLS situation. 4 nurses standing around the bed is just plain dumb. Cracking jokes, however, was uncalled for. It's always the best th...

Whoa.....girlfriend! I know all about husbands that aren't perfect (have had two, still married to one that I love very much) but that is not cool. Can you say divorce?

You know, I don't think this is an entirely horrible idea but don't think they are going to pay you what you are worth as an LPN. You'll make about what a hospital NA makes -- maybe a tiny bit more. You will get to learn telemetry (really well, I ...

I so wish we didn't isolate for MRSA ---- We were one of the last hospitals in my area to get on board with isolation precautions. I don't know what the point is. I am about 98% sure that I would come up MRSA+ if I had a nares swab done. But to OP, ...

This is such an old debate and honestly, I don't think that these types of feelings are going to really go away much. I think the reality is that, albeit slowly (VERY slowly), the nursing workforce is getting more educated. When I started practicin...

First Q -- I don't know what you mean by "downwards." Second Q -- Yes, that is correct, for all the systems I have ever worked with. Third Q -- No. To flush the whole line it can't be off to the patient (to the right.) You need to put the stopcock...

We don't allow visitors to mill around in the hallways either. If they aren't in the patient room, they need to leave and go to the waiting room. We have a lot of open bays so we do that for privacy reasons.

Grandmawrinkle was a bad girl today. Was in charge (ICU), they floated away one of my nurses away for the afternoon. The radiology suite calls saying that they need to give report and drop off a patient NOW that we were not expecting for another 3-...

Depends. I definitely wouldn't ask for it first line....I am assuming they tried narcotics first. I don't usually worry about kidney function too much with toradol with young, generally healthy patients that are only going to get it for a limited ...

IDK what you mean by your "image" -- do you mean a photo of you? Like, a model? I don't know what any nursing board could say if you did some modeling on the side for any product as long as you don't claim to endorse it, health related or not.

I don't have much to add to what the previous two posters did but this sounds normal, normal, normal. Being new to ICU practice is tough for nurses with some experience under their belt. Being a new grad makes it at least twice as hard (you did rea...