PghRN30

In my facility it is housekeeping as well. We do not even have access to the spare empties or the keys to remove the full from the wall/our carts. Ours do have the flip tops on them, but one time i told housekeeper standing next to me that mine on my med cart was full and needed changed when she had the chance, she reached over and flipped the flip lid and said, it still swings freely, it doesnt need changed. I told her no, it was full, we dont fill them til the swing lid cant swing. now I just lock the lids then tell them.

I think the easiest thing to say is "i have my adn/bsn (whichever is the case) and I WILL BE an RN as soon as I pass boards" Outside of nursing most dont understand..."graduated, but not an RN yet" or even what a GN is. And yes you are not an RN until you pass. My son (so my sister) gave me an RN charm for my charm bracelet for graduation. I accepteded it, but told my son that I wasn't an RN til I passed my test, so I wasn't going to add it to my bracelet til the day I passed....and he would be first I told. So day I passed I added it to my bracelet, and showed him when he came home from school. Maybe a little silly, but wasnt an RN until I actually held an RN license

Dysphoric manic for me sucks......Its like a TON of energy that I just cant get out...just want to scream to let it out but know it wont help....I pace am very easily frustrated, very easily ticked off, yell. I broke my laptop harddrive once because my laptop wasnt putting words on the screan as fast as I was typing....still not sure if my laptop was being sluggish at that moment or my mind was just going too fast...but slammed the top down hard....when calmed down and opened it it didnt work any more. Its not like mixed.....no depression...just irritable aggitated and mind going too fast For me the thing that sucks is my mixed episodes are never like its euphoric mania and depression stired together. Mine are bad dysphoric mania with depression. Am agitated and have too much eneregy that i want to DO something with....and im depressed and hate myself and constant negative self talk rotating through my head so all that agitation is directed at myself. Very potentially dangerous time. Fortunately I am stable on meds.....never would have made it through nursing school if i wasnt

Think of it this way (also a UPMC school grad) .....that money is yours....it is still 100% yours. They are just forcing you to have a savings plan. When you hit 2 years, your pay check that pay period will have that almost $19,000 on ONE PAY CHECK as income (that you were already paid, but is written off on that pay as TAXABLE income). The goverment will want their chunk of that....and it would KILL your finaces to owe that all at once. In that same pay check, UPMC will also release that money they have been putting asside for you out of your pays. So your pay check will cover the tax due on that. It was estemated of what they expect we will need to cover the taxes, and hopefully will be a little over....anything over what you need for taxes will be on your pay if its a little under we may have to pay a little more into taxes. Also, this way makes it only taxed once when we are paid out in 2 years. If you set up a savings account yourself you would be paying tax on the money you are putting into savings, and then in 2 years when you went to file taxes that year, you would owe all the taxes, and be writting a check to pay the IRS with money you already were taxed on.

Yep...and really its one of the few antidotes that ANY nurse should know. Peak rate I guessed because what I thought it was overlapped 2 of the choices they gave so I guessed the one that made more sence and it was right. Really its a very fair test. Any nurse competent to pass meds should be able to pass it

Not that I know of. Many had jobs at graduation. Only a couple im not sure where they are or what they are doing. I took a while...started my job Jan 2nd....and I know one girl started last week.

COMPLETELY agree. They are TOUGH but you come out the other end knowing what you are doing. Ask an experienced nurse. ANY I have heard an opinon from on that would rather work with a new diploma grad then a new bsn grad or associates grad(in general). People can get through associates and bsn programs being book smart and cliniclly clueless. Diploma program will kick your ass if you are clinically clueless....and will do so until you learn...and you will either learn or not make it. I have even had an aid comment on the difference after I told her where I went. And I was one that was clinically clueless and got my ass kicked by the program for a while....but I got it eventually. I probably would have graduated still clinically clueless from a bsn or associates program. And my point is its in general. Someone who is more adapted to the clinical end and devotes them self to learning how to clinically be a nurse can be a good nurse from any program. Diploma school would give them more clinical hours though. But really....rather get my ass kicked by my nursing program for being clinically clueless then to land in a job and have my ass kicked by my job because im still cliniclly clueless. Its rough enough starting a nursing job having a clue and having the other nurses respecting you and telling you that you are doing really well....there is just a lot to learn that you did not deal with in school.

So until Nov 1 2013 your ceu s do not matter. After nov 1 keep a folder with proof of your ceus in case you get audited....aparently it does happen. Like nov 1 13- oct 31 15.....need 30. I think when you renew you just say you have them and if they audit you you better have proof. Acls does give ceu ONLY for initial certification not renewal....forget how many...got them....but dont matter for me But they are easy to get. I probably already have 15-20 with the trainings ive done starting my job and taking acls prior to landing a job. Many online training are available. Make a Medscape account if you dont already. I know many of the nurses that work nights if the night is slow and pts are actually sleeping will spend some of the dead time of night on medscspe working on ceu. One thing medscape is good for. Many times in services are offered that you go and listen to and get a couple.

NO. Thankfully the lady at orientation to my job explained this to us. First licence renewal is the end oct or april that is closest to 1 year out without being less then a year. I was licenced nov so april 2014 I renew. That renewal requires no ceu s. After that renewal is 2 years....and in that 2 years you need 30. So for me april 2016. AND one thing that stinks is it is only ceu from may1 2014-april 30 2016 (for me) that count. Just starting new job so many trainings and certifications woud give you ceu and they dont count now. I think they f igure you are fresh out of school and have to learn so much first year there is no chance for stagnation. Afterwards is when the have to force you to work at staying up to date on things

First week of orientation is all nurses orienting to hospital....all more genaric not unit specific type stuff. How to use charting system, different policy and equipment type things that are hospital or even UPMC wide that may not be same as where you went to school. As important as knowing psych meds will be that is more something you will learn on your unit. This med test is entry into the job....are you safe to pass meds as a nurse. If dose is 500mg and you have 1g tablet do you know how much to give (if that is a calculation on the test that is just by chance.....I do not remeber the exact questions) It is a very generic med calculation test

I just started at st margaret in jan. The test I think is same across hospitals. Basic calculation. Drip rates. Do you understand insulin.....like difference between basal and prandial coverage and what you would and would not give for npo pt type understanding. And knowing 5 rights of med administration

PVT WORKS!!!! you passed........i know i did the same thing doing the PVT a hundred times until my license posted. Congrats to both of you. I know when I came out of mine, 75 questions in an hour I felt like I didnt know HALF of the questions they were so HARD. And SO many SATA (didnt count)............But you have to remeber if it is giving you HARD questions, you were doing well and making it have to keep going harder. You cant fail in 75 unless you are making the test resort to more basic questions because the moderatly hard questions you are getting wrong. With the adaptive testing everyone statisticly misses about half.....It just matters the difficulty level the test has to adjust to before it stumps you.

I should have mine in 2 or 3 weeks depending on how pay periods fall. (Start and find out tomorrow) First pay check will be to fill my gas tank and start paying my credit cards down. (and have them completely paid off in 2-3 pay checks. Once direct deposit gets set up I will have at least 20% going straight into savings....and then once I get caught up on debt, likly incease that. After 3 or 4 pay checks I am taking my family out to dinner and get some game cards for Dave and Busters. Spluge a little bit as a thank you to them for all their support through school (especially my son....he loves D&Bs). That will be my main spluge. Second will be replacing my POS phone that badly needs replaced.

Shoes, anything as long as mostly white. Athletic are ok. I got Danskos and love them. Just one thing to keep in mind when you are looking at shoes, especially athletic shoes, is you will be emptying containers of and cleaning every bodily fluid imaginable....at some point something WILL end up on your shoes. Get shoes that can be easily cleaned. Athletic shoes that are all leather are good. Ones that have fabric/mesh/any material you can not clean fluids off of will be destroyed once you have an accident end up on your shoes. Also you will be on your feet for 8 hours....and in PNR/once you are working, sometimes 12....figure out if you get enough support from you shoes. Even the most comfy athletic shoes for me only give me good enough support to last about 4-6 hours on feet non stop. Add really good insoles can maybe get it to 8 hours. Reason I like Danskos is they have better support for me. But that is me....everyone is different...and everyone's feet are different. Better to spend a little extra money for whatever is going to work best for your feet.

The meet and greet day is nice to go to, but it really isnt super important unless you are still deciding on if you are really sure this is for you, or if are deciding between schools. You dont really spend the whole day with a student. Only an hour or a little longer. It is good time to ask questions of what thier experience has been like and such, but you really do not see how the whole day is, maybe a few tasks. The staff goes over some of the same stuff that will be covered on admissions day. You get the shadowing experience, and then you discuss and ask questions. Clinicals do start first semester. It is only one day a week, half day. (usually half the class on thursday, other half on friday....so you get the opposite day of the last 5 weeks) More just to get your feet wet, get you in, used to giving morning care, taking vitals, doing an assessment and charting. It starts the 3rd week, so you have 5 days total. In Basic 2, adult 1, and adult 2 you have pre clinical(meet your pt/get info) Monday, and clinical tue and wed. In growing family you generally have clinical thursday and friday, but that sometimes gets changed. Through those 4 terms, you typically have a test just about every other monday. Then class all 3 days you do not have clinical. You get some off days scheduled in, but not many

If I remeber correctly they gave you a list with 2 tops on it (one is mens, other womens), several options for pants(just giving options). Lab coat(required). and warm up jacket(optional). You have to have scrub pants and top. And lab jacket. They recomend you have 2 uniforms....so 2 pants and 2 tops. In Basic 1 you only have clinical once a week, the rest of the way through you have it 2 days a week back to back. When I went to meet and greet day and spoke to a student that was in Adult 1 she recomended only getting one set, as she had only ever worn one set. That does mean wearing the same scrubs back to back days and so laundering them (or not). I got 2 sets and used both. Warm up jacket is optional. I got one and liked having it. I am right now getting scrubs for my job and am getting a warm up jacket too. Liked having it for warmth when needed it...plus love more pockets. so pretty much.....required lab coat, at least 1 uniform top and 1 uniform pant (I do recomend 2). Warm up jacket if you want it. I am not sure if they still do the same, but for us they had try on/ordering on orientation day, but you could go ahead of time to one of the stores and do it there. I did that. At orientation day the only place to change is the bathroom. Was nice to relax and eat lunch while everyone did that.

Depends on the unit/hospital dress code....i have known of units where white shoes WERE required, so you would

Danskos....they are HARD shoes and take some getting used to, but they are COMFORTABLE. They provide really good support. Yes they 110 or so unless you find them on sale, but it is worth it to put the money into a good pair of shoes. Some people love dansko, some people hate them.....have never heard an in between. Try them on and see how you feel With how much time you spend on your feet YOUR BODY will pay the price if you just get a cheap pair to get through. (Whether you get dansko or not spend the money on a good pair of shoes.

Oh I definitly agree to get the non nursing classes out of the way before hand if you can.....especially A&P. A&P is the most time consuming. (both 1&2).....then micro, then nutrition. The rest I personally didnt find to be too time consuming, and could be taken online through CCAC, so would be easier to manage, however, having all done and focusing on just nursing is nice.

If you looked at St margarets and shadyside, and how the programs are different you can understand most of what is going to change. Pretty much they are changing shadyside, mercy and st margaret into a more unified program, working under the same curiculum. I do not know all the specifics of the program. I do know that part of it will be allowing for a schedual that works with intigrating the non nursing coorifices concurrently with the nursing program, and a colaboration with some university to host those courses. Up until now st margarets required those to obtained on your own prior, or some courses concurrently, however as the nursing program is 5 days a week , concurrent classes could only be taken weekends, evening or online. I also believe there are more broken down courses, like a pharm course, psych course, communications course and so on. At St margarets we had one course a term, and it was all intigrated. We had basic nursing 1, basic nursing 2, adult nursing 1, adult nursing 2 (critical care), growing family (maternaty and peds), and Professional Nursing Responsibilities (transitions course....mostly clinical with a preceptor). We had the relitive pharm, psych, communication, and so on intigrated into the course that it related to. That is the most I know of the curriculum. Also the time frame is changing a little. We were a 19 month program. Classes started end of Feb, and end of June, and graduated in Oct and Feb. I started 2/21/11, graduated 10/26/12. june of 2012 start class will graduate feb 2014. However the program will be a little longer....it is moving toward a more traditional school start/end cycle, starting January and August, graduating Dec and May. Also I have heard mention, that they will start this Aug 2013, that they may hold off on starting another class in until the classes working on the old curriculum are graduated. They are starting a class Feb 2013, so they will not graduate until Oct 2014. I have heard mention there will not be a Jan 2014 start just to prevent having too many classes running on different schedules. I would imagine Aug 2014 start would likely happen since the last class of old schedule would be in PNR and just about to graduate and the Aug 2013 start class would be moved on to upper level. Thats the basics I know of the changes. I hope they work out well for the school. But I will say I loved the school and curriculum as it was. As long as the instructors stay the same, I know they will work it out to be a good program....the instructors are wonderful. They may be hard on you sometimes when you need it, but as long as you are open to learn from them, they have a lot to teach.

Im a new RN myself, but having detailed e charting drilled in through school, I would say that I would have one further addition "pt educated on risks of continuted foley, communicated understanding of risks, still refused foley removal" and then under pt education charting charting the same education. More of a CYA situation, proof that you did associated teaching that should be done.

I started the other thread you posted on. I graduated 4 weeks ago.....took boards 2 weeks ago and passed. So now an RN (about to update the name). Can leave that thread go, I will keep an eye out for you here if you want.....any questions let me know.

Oh wow.......I started this thread. I graduated 4 weeks ago.....took boards 2 weeks ago and passed. So now an RN (about to update the name). You are going to be in the last class going through the program as it is. All classes after you will be more like shadysides program. I will say I loved the program. It is hard. It will kick your butt. May have times you doubt yourself or feel certain teachers hate you (they dont) But if you are not serious about it you wont make it. It is a lot of work and very fast paced. But if you do what you are supposed to do and work on getting through, you leave very well prepared to be a nurse.

Can it be done, yes. However, i would only attempt it if you are a relitivly strong science student (pick up science topics relitively easily, with good accurate retention), and in addition, if your other semester classes are relitively easy. Both are intense classes. If you are a low B/high C with moderate effort, or high B/barely an A with extreme effort in most science classes you have taken, I would not attempt both at the same time. Too high risk of it beeing too much. I would not take it with algebra if math is a struggle.

YAY....finally, License was posted on state board!!!! I am a RN!!!!! Now i just need a job