mslove

I used to be fulltime, now per diem but about to leave. 40 bed unit, 4 nurses on day and evening (10 pt), 2-3 on nights. Very acute conditions, most are really just used as overflow from med-surg. They send over the difficult patients, the ones who need an extra day or 2 to recover due to comobidities, age, etc. The things they try to pass off as "rehab" is hilarious. Understaffed, poor management, etc. It's really not LTC.

In the past - Teachers have never seemed to report. They always call me or the counselor to "deal with it" basically after the student confides something in them. The AP told the medical director she shouldn't have gone back to class because "what if she left our office, texted her dad that we were calling CPS, and he came to the school and signed her out and killed her." I also later found out that CPS, the police, and her dad were in the principals office... at what point they all got there I'm not sure, but I don't think they wanted her crossing paths with her dad. 1) she left with the counselor 2) she said the dad had told her when he dropped her off at school: have the school call CPS so that I am rid of you (how freaken sad) 3) the police had left her with the dad They also brought her to my office a 2nd time to just wait, basically. She sat here for 40 minutes doing nothing (it was her lunch) and another AP went and got a lunch for her in the cafeteria, then brought her back to her office to eat it. Seemed weird to me

Elementay school - early-mid 90s, I loved the nurse's office. She always had the radio on softly and was momish, and just made me feel better. I loved laying there and listening to her bustle around. I didn't go often though, I wasn't a frequent flier, but I went occasionally MS - I have no memory of going, although I might have HS - I never went, except for a sports physical and to get my work permit I am the school nurse at my old high school now! lol

Do you have a set protocol at your school? Background: Yesterday a counselor brought a 9th grade student to my office who had been attacked by her father the night before. police had been called, she filed a police report but apparently they left her with him because he drove her to school. She had told a teacher, who brought her to the counselor, who then brought her to me to assess. She had no visible injuries. I asked the counselor who was reporting this to CPS (teacher, him, or me) - so that there weren't duplicate reports. He said he was going to let the grade-level principal know but I didn't have to do it, he would. He left with the student. A few minutes later, grade level principal comes in, somewhat flustered, asking where student is. I say she left with counselor, and I think she was going back to class. He asked why she wasn't in my office anymore (because the counselor took her...) and why I didn't take photos of the injuries (there were no injuries to take photos of, plus I am uncomfortable taking photos of students on my personal cell phone). He later went to the medical director and said he was unsure the health office understood they were mandated reporters and we shouldn't have let the student leave. Medical director (who is an NP and also one of my best friends at work) discussed with me and she also clarified with him what happened after speaking to me. He was more calm and seemed to understand better. Questions: Who calls in and fills out the CPS report in your school? It is my understanding duplicate reports don't need to be made (so the teacher, counselor, nurse, principal don't all need to call it in, just 1 of us). What do you do with the student? Do you hold them in your office, another office? Call police? We have a meeting on Monday to create procedures. Principal also asked for any "resources" we have that will assist in drawing up the plan.

Librarian. I even got into an MS in Library Science program, but couldn't attend due to logistics right away (in another city) and then got the nursing bug in the meantime

i remembered it as soon as i thought about it for a couple mins. Just been awhile since I've done these type.The DA method just works best for my brain that's why i use it. I've taken algebra, stats, all that fun stuff. I just had a brain fart and was hoping to have my memory jogged.

I've done these before but for some reason I'm blanking out on how to complete this problem. I usually use dimensional analysis and I can't remember how to set it up. 1. The order is to infuse 1000 units heparin per hour from an available solution strength of 25,000 units in 500 ml D5W. Calculate the ml/hr rate. 2. A solution of 25,000 units heparin in 500 ml D5W to infuse at a rate of 1200 units per hour. Calculate the ml/hr rate. 3. A 500 ml D5W with 20,000 units heparin infusing at 1000 units/hour. An order states to increase by 240 units/hour. What is the new rate? (do you just add the 240 to the original 1000 units?) Thanks for any help!

Teaching jobs are even harder to find...that was my first career choice. I live in western NY state and there is NOTHING for teachers. 75% of my college friends (we went to the #1 teacher's college in the state) have had to move south to get teaching jobs. And they make about 1/2 as much salary wise down there too. My one friend was actually my little brother's 1st grade teacher this year... they let her go at the end of the school year telling her she *may* be hired back but probably not. And well, she wasn't. So now she has to substitute teach there this year, for $10/hour and no benefits. Luckily she kept her high school grocery store job making subs...which she is having to do part time. My ex bf is from Long Island and he had to go teach English in Korea because it was 3 years and he still hadn't found a teaching job! Also, here in NY you need a Master's degree to teach. Do you know how much student loan debt these people have?? How can you pay that back when you're unemployed or only making $10/hr subbing? The city school district fires 90% of its teachers (literally, it was just in the newspaper) EVERY school year and then only rehire back about half of those people. Horrible horrible; I can't imagine constantly losing my job like that. And those are just the one's "lucky" enough to find work. So no thank you, the education field has it MUCH worse right now, in this area at least. I'm really sorry you can't find a nursing job. Here, the local nursing schools just feed their new grad's straight to the area hospitals. Everyone i know in my program ahead of me who's graduated had a job lined up before graduation. I think a lot of it really is just where you live...I've heard the NYC and NJ area is hard. Are you going in to apply? I know it may feel awkward but you have to stand out somehow. GO in and ask; it's also harder to reject someone when they're standing in front of you and it's more likely you'll be hired when there's a face and voice to the resume. Have you looked for jobs outside of hospitals? More importantly, are you willing to move? I think if you ARE then you will find a job quickly. Like I said, up here there are still plenty of nursing jobs and new grads are hired easily.

there are terrible bosses/supervisors in every job, place, and field. The best advice is just to do what they want, or look for a different position so that she won't be your boss anymore. She does sound like a witch, I don't blame you for being frustrated. I don't think it really matters who's "higher" on the professional ladder. But in my short life experience, there's little that can ever be done about a bad boss other than moving on out of there!

Thanks for your response. I went to a couple local stores the ones there were packaged and they wouldn't let me open them. I don't know anyone with either; a friend of mine has a littman but not either of those 2. Classes haven't started back up yet so I'm not surrounded by stethoscopes at the moment to test out. And unfortunately i need one ASAP, if I'm going to order online (which I've found seems to be a lot cheaper than the local stores) I need to do it soon.

I'm about to begin my 2nd semester in nursing school and my beloved stethoscope recently broke because of my own fault (i got it free from someone, there wasn't even a brand name on it!) and so I'm in the market for a new one. I don't know if I should get a cheapy or invest and get a better one. I really don't want to spend more than $50 though as I am broke and I fear it'll grow legs at clinical. It looks like the Littman Lightweight and the Littman Select are both around $45 online, are they worth the money? If so which one is better? Any other good ones out there that are not super expensive? Thanks!

thank you so much for that info! I was confused on what that title actually was because you don't see it very often.

I'm only 5'2 as well and get CHerokee petite's. They fit pretty well!

whenever I go to my doctor's office I see the NP. I rarely see the MD anymore. I think they play a good role as a doctor substitute in the PCP or office setting.

Well I agree with you. And as someone who has lived abroad (spent much of my teen years living in Asia, and I also have a Chinese stepmother now, who just came over to America this past May, and a 7 yr old half brother who lived in China until he was 6) I can say that the way they teach "culture" in schools is still just sweeping generalizations that don't even apply to many of the cultural groups they say they do. It's like this corny American interpretation of "cultures" because Americans like to think they're being culturally sensitive and diverse. When we learn about Asian culture things half the time I roll my eyes because I know they're wrong! I'll go back and report to my stepmother what we learned about Asians today and then she'll laugh. Yes it is important to know some big things with certain groups, DO NOT GET ME WRONG, but I don't think you need all the (many times incorrect or too sterotypical) details; people are all different and not defined by their race, ethnicity, etc. Luckily my nursing course doesn't beat this topic to death, it was just 1 main unit in fundamentals and then little sprinklings of it throughout.

yea i would understand if every other day they were using that excuse (and if they really WERE having them that often then I think they need to start on the road to disability!) That would be ridiculous! But if it really was only 1x a month then that's a "normal" frequency for them and I'd be understanding towards that. Some people really can pinpoint things like migraines to 1x a month (like if they get them when their period is coming.) I tend to be sympathetic though in general.

Congrats on the new job! I think that is fine. Do you contractually have to give a certain amount of notice? Here you don't have to technically give any; they can fire you at any time but you can quit at any time too.

I think the migraine is a legitimate excuse. I've never had one but they can be extremely debilitating. It's not the same as calling off because you have to pick someone up from the airport. It's a legit medical excuse. Some people can work through them but everyone's is different and some people truly cannot function!

I never considered medical school, I know I would hate it! Nursing is so much more holistic and "people oriented" than medicine is, and I am driven by that. I have had some family say "you're smart enough to be a doctor!" so yes i think in general people still consider doctors "better" somehow but nursing is where it's at!

I'm in NY too, in Rochester. I went to SUNY Geneseo for my first BA degree and now I'm at Monroe Community College for my nursing degree. Like I said it's ALL based on your quality points to get accepted there. So the better your grades in the "pre req" classes, the more likely that you'll get in. So they don't actually take you GPA into consideration there; you could have all A's in basket weaving and stress management which would bump your GPA; so they don't care about the GPA, just the pre-req grades. I also applied (and got accepted) to GCC (genesee community college) and they had a much easier process and didn't have a point system. They did however consider GPA but I don't think they considered the none pre=-req classes. A friend of mine is about to enter her last semester there, and her GPA going into the program was in the low-mid 3. range. Do you have a low GPA now? Yes it is competitive around here to get into the SUNY schools or CC's for nursing, BUT it's actually not really as hard as people think if you a) have all the pre-req's done and B) got A's and B's in them! A lot of people apply without having any of the pre-req's done and then cry that it's hard to get in. The key is the pre-reqs! ETA: Oh and the private schools around here were the same way with the pre-reqs. You have to have them done. And they were a lot more money to boot!

i already had a BA degree in another field when I entered nursing school (which is at a community college). They didn't take those grades into consideration for my GPA but they did include all the pre-req classes I took at the CC prior to getting accepted. I had a 3.8 GPA, after my first semester of nursing school it's now a 3.73. Here they give quality points based on the pre-req classes, so the ones I had carried over from my BA were counted. They take the grades you got on the pre-reqs, assign it a number and you basically get accepted just on the numbers alone. Micro - A- (missed getting an "A" by literally 1/10th of a point!!) Human Anatomy - B+ Human Physiology - A English 101 - was waived because of a class I took while getting my BA Stats - A (not a pre-req but a math class is now a co-req. I choose stats, even though we're allowed to take an "easier" math because I knew it'd be necessarily for a higher degree) Psych 101 - A Developmental Psych - A Soc 101 - A (this was a class that carried over from my BA degree)

anyone else have an experience?

that is crazy! Medical insurance through the schools here (in western NY state) is very cheap. My friend who works for a school was paying $20/month before she got married and now that she's married and has a baby it's still only $80/month!! That is so crazy cheap to me and another reason I would love to work at a school!

I'm still a student, but I would say take ANY job offered. Luckily the job market for new grads is still pretty good where I live, but I know in a lot of places it's tough. Take anything you're offered to get what seems to be the magic "1 year" of experience. Think of it as, if you turn down a job that you're not really interested in and then wait around for your dream job, you're going to waste time getting experience. I think a nurse that has *some* experience, even if not in the same specialty, will more often look better than one with absolutely zero experience. Good luck though, I hope you make it into what you want!

It's okay to be scared or scared that you'll be grossed out! Your whole life you've been conditioned to think that other people's poop is gross and now you're thrown into it (haha that's kinda a pun!) At my clinical at a long term care facility on a dementia floor last semester, I was a little nervous about the poop. Not about poop in general but about the smell and if I'd embarrass myself. I know I sometimes have a gag issue. Well the first time I had to change a diaper, I was fine! The second time...not so much. My resident had a BM while another student was helping me turn the res in bed. Thank god she was there! I was already feeling a little nauseous that morning (i have no idea why, just one of those things. I just was not feeling that well myself). Anyway, it was a VERY large BM and had a very strong odor. As I was wiping, I couldn't help it and started gagging. I had no control, it was just my body's automatic response. My fellow classmate works in a group home and has experience and said don't worry she'll help and she took over. I felt dumb and really embarrassed at the time but she was so nice about it, i felt better. I was so glad it happened in front of her though, and wasn't a public thing or I would have really felt embarrassed. About 1/2 hour later he had another BM and this time I was FINE! I wiped and changed him myself, in front of my clinical instructor too. I have no idea what the first time was about! I was fine any other time after that as well. And I don't know if it's just me, but changing an adult diaper is nothing like changing a baby's to me. It's like changing an adult diaper. What I mean by that is just a totally different experience!