nursing04

Hi! I'm new to this website and wanted to see if anyone could offer any advice. I graduate in September w/ my BSN and live near Phila. Wanted to see if anyone could tell me anything good or bad about some SJ hospitals, like: Cooper, Kennedy, Virtu...

One of my coworkers had a patient on telemetry. During a crazy day shift her beepers starts going off- I glance at the screen and it reads "leads off". We both head to the room where we found this pleasantly confused older gentleman with the tele lea...

I too have never had an IV program or certification. I didn't learn it in nursing school and when I was hired it was mentioned for like 5 minutes.

That is ridiculous! Did she forget that if you wear gloves you are ok? And that's selfish. She won't do it because she worries for herself but she's not worried about the other nurses being exposed. I would tell her to do it herself.

Starting IV's is much more of a practiced skill then cleaning up poop. Anyone can clean a patient. IV's are harder. It's all teamwork. I happen to be good with starting IV's but when I can't feel a vein, or aren't confident, I don't stick my patient....

Hello. I am thinking of switching from Med/Surg oncology to HH. How far are your patients from each other? How are you reimbursed for mileage and/or expenses? What are the big differences from hospital nursing? Anything you can tell me would be grea...

Can you also tell me the differences between Home Health and hospital nursing? How do you get orders? How are you trained? What different things do you have to do? How are you reimbursed for travel? I've read most of the blurbs but don't have a full ...

Hello. I am a med/surg/oncology/ everything RN at a city hospital and have been thinking on HH nursing. My concern is safety. Have you every been sent to very unsafe places where you were scared/concerned?? Thanks.

Hello. I feel very bad for you and your fiancee. Your concern is legitamit and this is not the way her nursing career should be. I work on a very busy oncology floor which a lot of times seems like a critical care/hospice unit. We have pts with trac...

Hello. I'm new to practice and have a question on blood transfusions. My pt last night had a temp of 100.8- the doc still wanted her to get the blood- so I gave her tylenol, her temp went too 100.4 and then back to 100.8 within a half hour, I ordere...

Calling docs as a new nurse was also one of those things I was fearful of. But, then I realized right away that they are interns and they are learning too. I found it amazing when they ask me which medicine to prescribe. It's very intimidating but al...

Welcome and congrats in deciding to enter the rewarding field of nursing. Here's some tips: 1. Know why the pt is taking each medicine, if you don't know feel free to ask the pt- they will teach you so much. 2. Practice doing history's!- we didn't d...

Congrats- that's great! Yes, Hesi is an indicator of how you'll do on the boards. The questions are similar, and so is the format. But, I would still keep studying and focussing on the sections you maybe weak in. Mine was maternity and mental health....

Well said. I work in the city on a medical floor. I chose this because I knew I would get a lot of experience I wouldn't get on a specialized floor or in the suburbs. I have all kinds of patients. Patients with trachs, feeding tubes, isolations, uret...

Thank you very much everyone. I get nervous w/ these temps and its such a pain to keep calling the doc- can't wait till I have some experience under me.

Hi, to answer your question, I just took the NCLEX in December-- you don't get an actual score, only that you passed which in PA can be checked on the internet, then you just get your license in the mail about 2 weeks later. And, for med questions, t...

Hello. At the hospital I work for they do not do blood draws through the pts central line whether it be a Picc, portacath, whatever. This is to reduce the risk of infection. To me I would think a pt is more at risk for an infection by being stuck 2...

Thanks a lot! Makes sence.

Hello- I graduated in 9/04 and we had a group of 3 to study just b4 midterms and finals. I know others who used to split up the chapter readings and everyone made notes of their chapters and then gave it to their group. That didn't work for me- I h...

Hello fellow nurses. I'm a new nurse on a medical floor- listening to so many patient's lungs now, I still have a hard time distinguishing between rales and rhonchi. I get crackles though. My many research efforts only confuse the two and me- can ...

I think you are right I found a website that said crackles and rales are the same but crackles are high pitched, and fine, whereas rales are low pitches and course. So, it sounds like they are the same it just depends if you want to be more descripti...

Hi. My orientation is going well. I really like my floor and the ratio is 4-5 pts per nurse- I'm up to 4 and work w/ my preceptor and share the assignment- which is great. I like that I'm not getting thrown to the wolves. What is difficult is my p...

Thanks for the advice! Great idea- I'll ask one of the resp therapists. It gets very confusing b/c it seems to me that many nurses are describing what they hear differently then each other and myself. But, I definitely need and want to find out that...

I had to take the HESI each semester in nursing school and I have to say the questions were different then the NCLEX. I felt that the HESI asked more specific questions and knowledge recall, whereas the NCLEX was more prioritizing. But, regardless ...