KelRN215 BSN, RN

Pedi

Member

All Content by KelRN215

  1. KelRN215

    Pay per visit

    Yes I'm also trying to wrap my head around that... that's an average of 4 patients/hr without factoring in driving time. I'm having a hard time believing that every visit done could be a 15 minute...
  2. I don't think you should do either. You just applied a week ago. Weeding through new grad applications is not the only thing managers do all day long. Plus, if the listing said something like "no...
  3. KelRN215

    Keeping Old Report Sheets

    Keeping protected patient information in your personal home is a bad idea. The only documentation that will hold up in court is the official documentation from the hospital. If you were deposed, how...
  4. KelRN215

    Elective courses for nursing programs

    I did a traditional pre-licensure BSN program. The way the program was set up, we got 3 electives over 4 years. I tested out of my core math requirement with AP Calculus in High School which gave me...
  5. KelRN215

    Medication Dosing question

    Well yes, but you can't program a pump to give 8 grams/hr. The 1000 mL LR definitely DOES factor into this equation. If you have 20g/1000 mL, how many mL for 4g? Double that and that's your mL/hr...
  6. KelRN215

    Side effects "normal" to medications

    As everyone has said, making complete a list is not possible. Many antibiotics cause nausea and/or diarrhea. You wouldn't stop doxycycline for nausea when your patient needs it to treat Lyme...
  7. KelRN215

    Prescription drugs, brand name vs generic

    This is true. When I worked in the hospital, generic names were preferred but most patients knew the brand names of their drugs. If you asked a parent "what dose of Phenytoin does your child take?"...
  8. Most pill bottles do say something like "this is a round, orange tablet with M325 imprinted on one side and X454 imprinted on the other" or something to that effect. So if the bottle says that and...
  9. KelRN215

    "More" than Just a Nurse?

    I had strangers- not my own family but random people like my mother's colleagues and a doctor who gave me a scholarship my senior year of high school- tell me that I was "too smart to be a nurse."...
  10. KelRN215

    Elective courses for nursing programs

    I took a class on Human Sexuality and another on Alcohol/Drugs that were offered through the School of Education because I knew they'd be easy classes. I also took Adolescent Psych, a Spanish class...
  11. KelRN215

    How to handle a verbally abusive MD

    JCAHO requires all accredited facilities to have a zero tolerance policy for disruptive doctors and administrators. Being an LTC facility, I'm not sure if you have JCAHO accreditation but you should...
  12. No. A year is a year. If you have worked there for a year, you have a year's experience. Years of experience does not equal years of full-time experience. It's not like someone who's been a nurse...
  13. KelRN215

    lab values

    How "low" were the H&H? Labs flag a Hematocrit of 35 as low when, in reality, it's a perfectly fine hematocrit for a woman, especially a premenopausal woman. Please give us numbers and more...
  14. KelRN215

    Staffing per unit question

    As far as I know, California is the only state in the nation with mandated staffing ratios. I don't imagine any states have laws about the presence (or lack thereof) of aides and housekeeping staff....
  15. KelRN215

    Student Nurse Preceptorship Help

    I would go with ED, it will give you more diverse experience. OR is very specialized. Though if you have the opportunity to precept in the OR, you are very fortunate. That was not offered as a...
  16. Layoffs most definitely happen in the for-profit world when units or, in an upcoming case in my state, entire hospitals are closed: AG's office questions closing of Quincy Medical Center | Health -...
  17. KelRN215

    patient advocacy

    Patient less than 24 hours post VP shunt replacement (not revision, full on removal of an old calcified shunt and placement of an entirely new system)- had required a TON of IV pain meds overnight....
  18. KelRN215

    Fluids with + KCl

    That's interesting because when I worked in the hospital, they always said we couldn't run D5 NS on infants at all and that they had to get either D5 1/2 NS or D5 1/4 NS. They only got NS if they...
  19. KelRN215

    Attendance

    Write a review of your employer on glassdoor.com. That's a great site to anonymously rate your employer. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you aside from that you should unionize. This...
  20. KelRN215

    home health as new grad or wait it out?

    My opinion is no. I think of the situations I've walked into in home health- taking one glance at the patient and knowing 911 needed to be called, going in for a simple med compliance visit and...
  21. KelRN215

    Houston... We have a situation here

    Well now you learned the lesson I learned (through experience when it happened to me) as a new grad- NEVER take scissors anywhere near a
  22. They look at a lot of things School/Program- in my area, many hospitals will toss any non-BSN new grads as most of the new grad programs are for BSN prepared nurses only Clinical/Preceptorship...
  23. KelRN215

    Calling/Walking into HR while job searching?

    Yes that is exactly what you do. Harassing HR is not going to benefit you and may harm you. Some jobs you apply to will never call you. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. There are MANY...
  24. KelRN215

    Practice on each other?

    How is it a liability? Everyone in the program is an adult and agrees to participate. We practiced injections on each other but not IVs. We gave each other IM Normal Saline. When we all needed TDAP...
  25. Yes, this. Nothing earth shattering needs to be said. "Hi Nurse Manager, I would like to drop my hours from 36 to 24 for the next schedule." That's it. ETA: None of us can say how your manager will...