stefanyjoy

I should clarify just for full disclosure - during the pre-op interview the circulating nurse told the patient he would have a safety strap. The patient expressed severe anxiety over this, as he had a big fear of being confined. He almost seemed like he wouldn't proceed with the surgery because of it. She eventually agreed to not strap him until after he had received anesthesia. I guess since this changed her normal routine, she forgot about the strap after he had been anesthetized until the incident occurred with the leg.

I think when your instructors say, "We cannot teach prioritization", they are more referring to the fact that they cannot teach critical thinking. They teach you your ABC's, Maslow, etc. and all the tools you need to prioritize, but they can't sit there and tell you every single little thing such as raising the HOB vs. giving O2 first. As far as instructors being inconsistent, teaching a vast amount of information in one lecture, etc. these are all common complaints in nursing school. My classmates and myself all whine and groan about the same exact stuff. I'm not saying that you should just accept it as-is, but either you deal with it or you don't. I have one more year of this god foresaken program and I'm praying my nursing preceptorship will help fill in the gaps.

It's been over a year since I posted this thread and I just wanted to give an update. I'm an NAII now and halfway finished with NS. I've only worked in hospitals since but I have a much better understanding of the daily grind of an NA. This was abuse, neglect. These details are not fabricated, this is not hyperbole. I'm so happy to say I've only seen patients in the 2 hospitals I've been at receive only the most respectful care from the NA's. I don't understand how anyone could defend the behaviors of these "healthcare" workers. I still think about that first patient I ever had and wonder what became of her. I hope her family got her out of there.

Thanks for the input. While observing a skin graft was a really exciting experience for me, some things just left me reeling. The sterilization (or lack thereof) of course, but also, the circulating nurse forgot to strap the patient on the OR table. During the procedure some equipment broke and she and the surgeon left the room. I forget where the scrub nurse went but she wasn't there either -it was just me and the CRNA. The patient began to cough and heave while under general and his leg fell off the table. He was over 300 lbs so it almost brought him down with it, had I not grabbed it while the CRNA was trying to handle things on her end. Also, something was wrong with the dermatome blade and the surgeons made quite a mess with his thigh. They got a new dermatome but then opted not to use it and just to make due with the raggedy pieces of skin they had. I don't mean this to be a dump on the OR team and I know things can go wrong in even the simplest of procedures, but it just all seemed like quite a big mess to me. This facility is home to the best burn unit in our region so it kind of left me a little surprised and disappointed.

I am a nursing student and I had an OR rotation last week. I observed a split autograft and xenograft. The procedure was "clean" and not sterile. I asked the resident as to why it wasn't a sterile procedure and he simply stated there was just "no point" in having it be sterile. The scrub nurse didn't really have a definitive answer for me either. I just wanted to ask - is this normal?

65 in my nursing program year (I think 2 of those dropped by mid term) 15 in my lab 32 in my lecture 8 in my clinical group

I'd probably go with a risk dx here since it looks like he's well underway with his care. Risk for Ineffective Airway Clearance would be my best guess, unless you're allowed to make a dx from the initial admission then it would be Ineffective Airway Clearance. Remember your ABC's...

I just finished my first semester. I'd say... just rest. Take naps. Watch TV. Spend time with your family, your friends, drink wine, enjoy yourself. Pretty soon you won't be able to enjoy that as much anymore :) Every nursing program is different, but for mine, I guess reading up on patho would have helped, especially on things like diabetes, congestive heart failure, COPD... maybe review medications that you'll see a ton in clinical, like morphine, dilaudid, lasix, lovenox, insulin... read nursing care plans, see what they are, what common nursing diagnoses are and their interventions. Good luck to you.

I don't think it's fair to your older children to have them assume parenting roles. My mother was a night shift nurse and I always had to hold down the fort, and yes, there were emergencies sometimes. I am in agreement with your husband, sorry.

Thank you for this post. I start nursing school tomorrow. I feel scared ******** and unprepared. I have to work 25-30 hrs a week and I'm a single parent. Hi to the General Nursing Student board though, feels nice to finally post in here...

Aside from studying a bunch, I also used Mr Ford's videos online Mr. Ford's Anatomy and Physiology -- worth the $5 per lesson. When my eyes were too tired I would just play his videos over and over, it stuck. I made a high A and didn't even have to take the final.

Curious as to why some people would think I would make something like this up. I work full time, am a part time student, was just accepted into NS for this fall, plus I am a single parent. I have a lot better things to do with my time than to troll a nursing message board. I come here for advice, feedback, information and a funny story after a long day. To those wondering, the unit I was doing my clinical on was for mainly Medicare/Medicaid recipients (they actually had a seperate hall for people with private insurance - in the front of the building - so it looked all plush at first glance). I'm guessing the little family I did see visit just didn't have any other options. I know a lot of them did complain about it smelling like poop all the time in the halls. Most of the residents I was assigned to did not have family that visited, which is why they stuck them with the CNA students.

Don't feed the trolls...

I'm so afraid I'll be so nervous I will forget everything! My CNA class really sucked, the instructors could never agree on anything and always gave conflicting information. I just feel so unprepared Do the evaluators do anything to try to get people to relax or is it going to be a really rough 30 minutes?

When I decided to go back to school full time, I also worked full time (still do). My then-advisor laughed in my face and told me it was impossible especially because I was a single parent. He said I was making a mistake because I'd end up with a bunch of W's or bad grades if I didn't drop. I switched advisors. I made straight A's with those 14 credit hours in that Fall semester. I also won several monetary awards at work for working on projects and making a "frequently exceeds" on my end of year evaluation. It wasn't easy, but I did it. My idiot advisor just didn't know me, what I was capable of, and how determined I was. Only you can decide if this is possible for you. You have to be willing to put the work in and not give up no matter how overwhelming it may seem sometimes. Good luck to you.