studystudy

I would like these same prayers, please! :bby: :heartbeat :redbeathe Sounds like your preceptor is working well with you! I agree that 6 weeks seems short. Don't be afraid to ask for an extended orientation if you feel like you need it. :)

Well, I am a NICU nurse now.... after 3 different hospital NICU interviews! I guess sometimes the third time really is a charm. I should also say showing passion and enthusiasm is very important in NICU interviews, too. Check out the NICU forum under the specialty tab, it's under critical care. It's a pretty good resource. :)

Are you a new grad? I ask because of your username, but maybe you completed a bridge program and have been working in tele. Either way, NICU is very specialized, and if you haven't worked in NICU before, you won't be expected to answer any clinical scenario type questions. Your best prep would be basic interview questions: why NICU?, strengths/weaknesses, how do you deal with conflict, tell me about a time when.... There is also some information in the NICU forum too. Good luck! :)

i know! how do they hand out a study guide with just these formulas?? no examples for some of them, no practice problems...

I know it's confusing! It's straight out of our study guide. I almost wonder if I'm missing a page somewhere. I've been trying to contact the education department because I'm totally stumped with the insulin equation. Thanks anyway.

I have a math test coming up and I have some questions on the study guide we were given. I have been looking in my Math for Meds book for more help but can't find what I'm specifically looking for. I hope someone can help me out with these, there's only 1 example for some of these things, and it takes me a lot of practice to get comfortable with new calculations and formulas. Fentanyl: 25 (??) x dose mcg/kg/hr x weight kg = C (concentration?) (mcg/25mL) rate mL/hr Is the 25 standard? Even in the order example given, the Fentanyl dose is in 25mL. Or is it a dilution concentration of Fentanyl per 25ml? Everything else I get where to plug in info to get the correct calcuation. Insulin: units/kg/hr x weight (kg) x volume to prepare (mL) = units of insulin to dilute in 20mL volume rate of infusion (mL/hr) There's a simplified version of the formula which is 4 x kg = units of insulin to dilute in 20mL volume. So let's say my baby is 0.9kg: 4 x 0.9kg = 3.6 units of insulin to dilute in 20mL volume. Then there's a list to titrate the dose, like 0.02 unit/kg/hr = 0.1mL/hr etc. So what do I do with that? I'm so confused and there is no example to work with. Where do I plug that in when I already have my units to dilute? I don't know where to go from here. Thanks!

A trick I use sometimes is putting a second tourniquet 2 inches above the first tourniquet. It can really make the veins pop. The other day I saw another nurse do a different variation of this, and she put one tourniquet above the AC (like usual), and another 2 inches below the AC. She hit the vein on the first try.

Congratulations on getting your first interview!! In my experience, a new grad interviewing for NICU would not get NICU scenario questions because like you said, NICU is very specialized. They know you don't have working NICU experience and you would not be expected to know the answers. When I interviewed for a NICU job, they asked me questions like: Why NICU? Describe a time you had a miscommunication and how you resolved it. Describe a time you had an angry patient (customer) and how you resolved it. What skills do you think a nurse needs to work in this unit? Strengths/weaknesses. Things like that. And because NICU is so specialized, if you do float, I'd think you would float to MAYBE post-partum, or newborn nursery, or if you went to regular peds or PICU, you would probably only be allowed to be assigned to a child no more than 1 year, and no weigh no more than however many kgs. Hope this helps! Good luck! :)

Wow, never heard that one! What a good question. I've been sitting here for 5 minutes trying to think of my answer to that one LOL Good luck, OP! You sound well-prepared! Keep us updated. :)

Congratulations on your first job. You might be more excited about it if it had taken you twice as long to get hired. Take it, learn from it, do your best, and keep looking for the dream job.

About 45 of those blue rubber stoppers on bags of NS! And I never notice until they show up in the dryer LOL

I work downtown, and downtown areas always charge for parking. There is no employee parking at my job, AND I have to walk 1/2 mile to get from the parking garage to the front door. Kind of a pain in the butt, but we do get reimbursed $5/day for parking on our checks.

Good luck! Keep us updated! :)

Thank you for all your input! I am also planning on presenting a portfolio. Like I said, we have been in touch, so she does have some old information of mine, but I wanted to leave her with updated resume and things like that. I know in an "informational interview" that "asking for a job" is totally taboo. However, I think this would be okay because it's not an informational interview, and she already knows I've been wanting this job. I'm thinking I should present it to her at the end, unless she asks for it earlier. Thoughts?

I am a new grad, with a whopping 2 months of RN experience under my belt (no acute care). On a whim, I decided to ask a nurse manager I have been in touch with for a meeting and tour of the unit. To my surprise, she agreed! Currently, this hospital is not hiring new grads. This is not a true interview, but I'm taking it very seriously because it's my chance to make a great face-to-face impression and... well, why would this busy nurse manager waste her time chit chatting with me just to get away from paperwork? Now, I have to think of something to ask her that will make me stand out and be a great fit to the team!! I don't want to ask questions I would ask during an interview, like, "How much orientation will I receive?" because it's not a true interview... if it somehow turns into one, I'll go ahead and pull those questions out. But for now, what should I ask? What are the biggest challenges for nurses working in this unit? What are the goals for the unit in the next 5 years? I want to keep her interest, but really I'm not interested in HER position, I'm interested in the one I want. Any great questions out there to help me make a great impression?? Thanks!!

I took a job at one of the jails in town (I do not live in California), specifically because I'm totally honed in on CA Prison Healthcare now. My next chance to retake my assessment for the prisons will be in December, and I'll definitely score higher now that I'm actually working as a RN. Do you think that having some corrections experience will be beneficial when I retake my assessment and continue to apply at the prisons I'm interested in? I'm hoping it gives me an advantage since "the most competitive candidates will be contacted for interviews."

I feel like in this economy, as a new grad (or old grad!), you can't sit and wait around for an acute care hospital job. The new grad spots in acute care are so few and far between, there just aren't enough to go around. Take any nursing job you can, it at least shows that you are an employable RN, rather than someone who graduated over a year ago and still has NO nursing experience whatsoever. While working in your clinic, nursing home, or SNF, keep looking for that acute care dream job. Some experience is better than none.

No, they haven't contacted me for an actual interview yet. I'm still excited about it though! I hope your first day went well!! :)

My questions is: Is there a way to get the dressing off more easily without compromising the catheter? I do not have another set of sterile hands to help me.

Sorry, maybe I was unclear. I know that the slit on the Biopatch should line up with the catheter to make it easier to remove. I am by myself changing these dressings, and TOO MANY are coming in with the slit somewhere else, making it really difficult to remove the dressing easily. I was hoping somebody would have some tips on how to remove it more easily, because it's really a pain (and kind of makes me nervous when I'm struggling), and like I said I am the ONLY one there, so I don't have the luxury of another set of hands. Hope that clears things up. Maybe there is no trick to easily removing a misplaced Biopatch during the dressing change, in which case... ugh.

I do a lot of PICC dressing changes at my job. I am doing these dressing changes by myself and have no trouble except for the Biopatch! The blue sticker on the Biopatch sticks to the tegaderm and then I have been trying to rip the tegaderm to get that blue sticker off. This makes me so nervous because when it rips, it's fast. No line has been pulled out or anything, I'm just hoping for some seasoned nurse tricks to make this easier, short of using scissors (kidding of course... no scissors!). Thanks.

WOW! I got a letter of interest today for one of the prisons I selected during my assessment! My rank/sequence is 4/131, but now I'm confused because of the whole Rule of 3 Ranks thing... why did they send me the inquiry if I'm not at 3 yet? I'm also wondering why this is the only inquiry I received even though I selected a few I was interested in (maybe it's more competitive at other facilities so therefor I'm ranked lower...?) I am definitely responding to it, though!

This is what I'm hoping, too! After becoming increasingly desperate, I accepted my first job at an infusion clinic in a medical office that is connected to a hospital. Literally connected by a long hallway, and I'll even be wearing the hospital's badge. The hospital offers services in some specialties I really, really want to work in. When I go to HR to get my badge, etc, I'm planning on talking to HR and putting a face to my name and applications that I have filled out. I am hoping (praying!!!) that this will work out in a few months, and I can finally have my "dream job." And even though people are turning their noses up at me once I say I took my first job in a clinic, I can't imagine people really truly holding it against me when nurses are the only people in the world that truly understand this rough job market for new grads right now! I'm thankful to finally have a RN job, but I'm not giving up on my dream. Good luck on your interview and your future in acute care!

Thanks for this! I just accepted my first job at a doctor's office infusion clinic. I will be administering IV meds, doing dressing changes, blood draws. I am relieved to finally have something, but will still be looking for a part-time or full-time hospital job to get my acute care in. I've been kind of nervous starting out in an office, but some RN experience is better than none... and it's not like people are knocking down my door as a new grad wanting to hire me! During my interview, the doctor even said, "You graduated in December? It's now June, and still no job?" What, like I didn't just break down last week after about the 700th rejection? Ouch!! I feel fortunate, though, there were some new (old) grads also interviewed that had graduated in 2008 and still no nurse job! Beggars can't really be choosers right now.

I'm sorry you are going through this. From this forum alone, it seems to me that nurses that work in corrections really like it there, and that what you're experiencing is not the norm in every prison. I don't really have any advice for you, but have you tried speaking with your charge nurse or going up the chain of command to get a straight answer? Have you asked for a straight answer? Having said that, you seem like an excellent nurse and have your priorities straight and will probably be the only one there to not be taken to the board of nursing! I applaud your integrity and ethics and I hope you get things worked out!