GinaCat

i looked through the first several pages w/ no finds. i will look further. thanks.

Hi, I hope no one minds that I am not a nurse practitioner. I am just very interested and I thought this is the place to find you :) Where do you work? Doc's Office, ED, clinic? I wonder how everyone likes their current position? Have you been able to choose your ideal setting? How's the job market? My fear (in becoming an NP) is that I can no longer do bedside nursing (due to the added liability). And I wonder if I could find a good fit elsewhere. I need to know what opportunities are out there! Thanks all!

i really doubt that. i think it would be a positive thing that you have specialized in psych for a long span of time. My psych professor in college was a psychiatric NP and she did not do "staff" nursing. Psych all the way. I would consult a program that you like and ask them what the requirements for admission are, and then consult your board of nursing to make sure there are no requirements to practice. I doubt it though. Good luck!

oh thank you both so much!! extremely helpful answers. I tried to find the NJ BON laws on this, but I thought maybe they didn't have any. Now I know that they must and I will contact them if I can't find it online. That's an exciting possibility. Annaiya, also very helpful. You're right, I have looked into CNS and CNL. I did read some descriptions about them being very educated "bedside nurses", sometimes in an educator/supervisor role, but each MSN program describes the role differently! And I'm worried about them becoming "dead" fields because half of the schools I look at don't offer it. I will continue to research. It's hard making a decision. But I definitely appreciate the info. Thanks!!

Alright, sorry if this is dumb but I have googled and searched many times w/ no definitive results. I am dying to go to grad school because I loved it and did very well for undergrad- but I can't pick a major! On my cardiac floor I constantly read the charts and my goal is to really understand each clinical case. I'm fascinated w/ the disease process side of things. Basically I'm a nerd. I love it and I would love a challenging education. I am very attracted to the education that NPs get. I want the knowledge but idk about the job itself. I just don't know if I want to leave bedside nursing forever. I am worried that if allowed- I would be liable for a physician error that went unnoticed. Can I become a staff nurse and continue working as a floor RN?

is it finding the vein that's the problem, or physically starting the IV? maybe we can give you some advice

hello again to everybody on here. I just want to say that I took it today and I passed w/ 86 correct. I used david woodruff's cds which were shockingly close to the test format. I also did a practice test on the aacn website, which was expensive ($50 for 50 questions) but worth it. Very similar content. I studied exact topics from that and they showed up again on the actual test. Another thing that helped me a lot was I read the research on their website, especially the "practice alerts" which were on the exam too. lastly, I just followed their test outline and made sure I could check off everything that they said would be on it. With complete disregard to GI and some other things that I didn't care about lol. And it was fine. Focus on cardiovascular (esp. hemodynamics and EKGs), pulmonary, and ethics, just like they say. Remember their emphasis on research and being independent and a leader. thought this may help others who are searching the internet for advice, as I did for weeks prior to my test date. good luck!

Thank you both so much !! Very good info. I am gathering my paperwork to see if I am eligible due to a migraine history and I am going to proceed from there. Thanks for your time and thank you for your service !

This is really interesting. I'm a BSN nurse, but I work w/ mostly ADN nurses. And they are great! They have to learn the same things that we do and take the same NCLEX. I think it's just a preference of learning styles, in my opinion. and theprincessbride, you are right- in my state I'm already seeing it- you need to become a doctor of nursing to work as an NP (Rutgers for example).

Thank you so much. You're right I have seen it on 12-leads. I'm going to look up more about it. Thanks !

Just keep in mind the QT varies w the rate. I always use this formula. R to R divided by 2. That value must be less than or equal to the QT. I'm not familiar w QTc- what's that one ? A ratio? Thanks :)

@BorgQueen1701 I've been looking into this a lot lately. Here is your answer: http://www.ocs.navy.mil/pt.asp GoNavy up there describes DCO school. and this is the website for it. Includes- 60 minutes of PT daily, weighing in on arrival, passing some physical fitness tests. If not passed, the 2 week officer school adds on an additional 3 weeks. I got this all from the website. I found the website via the navy reserve website. Very useful info to find out what we would do those initial two weeks in Rhode Island. GoNavy, thanks for your extremely helpful post. I actually bookmarked it

This is an amazing post. I skimmed through all of it just now. But navyman7, I noticed that you had said that RNs in the navy reserve are deployed more often than active-duty nurses. I am more interested in the reserves b/c I assumed they were deployed LESS. I don't mind up to 3 months/year, but I'm sure you understand why I would prefer to limit time away from my family and full time job. I know you are active-duty, but I wonder if you have any insight on how much time a nurse in the reserves could expect to be on active-duty. Thanks so much in advance!

Hi Navy Nurses :) Would anyone be willing to take a few minutes to tell me about their experience as a nurse in the navy reserve? I have been interested in joining the navy for a few years, and I still feel the call. Now I think the reserve may suit me better. I have several questions, but the most important to me is this- what do you DO when you drill one weekend a month? When I report for duty each month, I haven't been able to determine what my roles would be. Is it physical training, classroom training? Filling in at a VA clinic for an active-duty RN? I am waiting to hear back from a recruiter, but I would love to get more insight. Thank you all!

if she knew it was on for ten minutes she could have done something about it. she could have asked anyone for help. especially if there were onlookers while she was rude to you. i have never made my PCTs feel that way, in fact im often throwing the sheets in the hamper before they even notice what's going on. people are crazy. sorry she made you feel small, i hope she regretted it later.

it's very hard learning breath sounds because I noticed that many people call the same things different names. I think she is describing rhonchi. You've probably heard that term? Rhonchi is a term (also called "course breath sounds") that usually refers to upper airway congestion. the sound of air passing through secretions, which is best heard in the upper airways. but if it's bad i have heard it described as "scattered rhonchi" which just means you can hear it throughout the lung fields, not necessarily that it exists all the way to the bases. I believe it's heard w/ inspiration AND expiration. kind of a rattling sound. Crackles are heard just at the end of expiration (as the lungs expand enough to open up the alveoli). Yes, there are course crackles and fine crackles depending on how much fluid you are hearing. and are typically heard at the bases. obviously the higher you are hearing them, the bigger the problem. i hope that helps! i have spent a lot of time studying breath sounds. i was a new grad about a year ago and the vocabulary used among my coworkers was different from what i learned in school. so i understand where you are coming from!

AOx3, walkie-talkie: "you know that suppository they gave me before? If I put my finger in there, I can still feel it."

very well written. brought tears to my eyes. we all have a story like that. i won't tell mine, because I want to keep the focus on your great post. really makes us think. i wonder what can be done, as we all have come across similar situations.

I'm sure other places of work are similar- day shift has a LOT more paperwork. MDs in all day long entering new orders to be done, family members with many questions, and insulin/revela w/ every meal for some patients. so! with that said, i like night shift. cut all that out, and I have time to really focus on care, charting, and reading the progress notes. i give day nurses a ton of credit. i also wouldn't give up having time to do CNA work. I used to be an aid and I feel like night shift allows more time w/ the patients.

hi there! sorry i just saw your post now. i honestly can't tell you if it's working because I have no way of measuring my progress. The program that i purchased has a required "practice test" that i scored 84% on, but I really don't know how it compares to the real test. I will be taking it by November 1st because the program i bought has a "90 day guarantee." so if I take it and don't pass, supposedly i will be reimbursed for a retest. i will absolutely let you know how it goes. right now i'm not very confident at all! I just feel like I don't know enough, and I wish there was one comprehensive THOROUGH source to study from. i may have to buy that book, but the $ I am spending to prepare is adding up. i live in NJ btw or else i'd love a study buddy! are you studying yet?

Sorry sent it too soon. It's like 12 hours of audio which is excellent, well explained and keeps my interest. But I know I have to do reading besides it. Because I want to know at a greater depth. It's good for me personally because I needed the motivation/ guidance. If you're doing well on your own save your $. You can check out ed4nurses on YouTube and get a good idea of what the discs are like.

Hey ! I think they are good but I don't see them as being my only means o studying.

thank you so much for the reply! i nearly ordered that book actually. I ended up getting the david woodruff lectures on MP3 because i really like his youtube videos. liking them a lot so far. but thank you so much for the insight, if i need more material i will go for that book.

Hi all, for those who are unfamiliar, PCCN is the equivalent of CCRN certification but it is geared towards step-down and tele nurses. (Adult Progressive Care Nursing Certification.) It's an AACN cert that you test for, and something I would be very proud to achieve. Are there any PCCN nurses here? What did you think of the test? I am looking into the study materials available on the website- has anyone purchased any of it? I'm particularly interested in the DVD material, if anyone has anything to say about it. This is a link to the available materials for anyone else who is interested: http://www.aacn.org/wd/certifications/content/pccnstudyresources.pcms?menu=certification

i feel your pain. you know i was recently saying to somebody how no matter what I do, I end up charting til 8 AM. (im a night nurse.) and they said "you just have to prioritize." I realized that throughout my 1 year as a nurse-I have built a lot of things into my routine that are above the bare minimum. I worked into my routine all kinds of things, from refilling pitchers, fluffing pillows, checking charts, reading old consults to beef up my AM report- what the heck have i been doing. I'm a very thorough person and it sounds like you are too- but think of where to cut the fat. Start by doing EXACTLY what is required- meds, assessments, checking labs, calling MDs. and then you will be surprised what time you have, you can take that time to do the second tier requirements- like calling discharged pts at home etc. trying to do it all at once is just so frazzling. (if that's a word ) do that first most important tier of things, THEN move along to the lesser important. Trying to work it all into a routine isn't as practical- because if somebody goes down the tubes (as they do on tele!) you will be on schedule, and all of the CRITICAL stuff will be out of the way. I also started being honest with my patients. I will tell them "I have to go see everybody else now so I will check on you as soon as that is done." then they get the idea we aren't lounging. for the pacing patient and family awaiting their discharge education- tell them "i am helping someone else right now- if you were that sick, I promise I would be with you- and I'll be with you as soon as I can." Don't let anybody pull you off your path! i don't even know if i should be giving advice, being that I have only 11 months experience, BUT i can relate to you, and this recent tactic has helped me a lot! hope it also helps you- good luck!