lesleyg

Thanks Jill, I meant it.....I do think nursing is a tough industry and I myself have had difficulty dealing with the way nurses treat each other. I actually have ADD (which is why I was on the site-looking for advice from other nurses regarding time management) and so I've had my share of struggles in this profession. But I do try to remind myself often that I am a good nurse and that I have changed the lives of many patients. The negative comments that we all are bound to recieve should just go in one ear and out the other! Don't let it get you down....

I'm glad the assignment worked out for you. Don't be afraid to ask for help just because of one experience.....nursing school can be very competative and as long as you know you are doing your best that is all that matters. Sounds like you are doing excellent in school and will be a wonderful nurse someday!

Are you taking medication for it? Do you have any particular techniques for dealing with it? I've met nurses who have ADHD and they seem to do okay, especially if they have the hyperactivity componant. My type is more the "inattentive" type, so I have to really pull report out of people, write everything down, and develop systems to get around it. My biggest downfall is being on time for my shift; it seems like at times I have no concept of time. Like right now I'm on the internet and ignoring my loud alarm clock....and I have a job interview to get ready for!

You could try googling Isis Maternity. It is a business for new and expecting parents and has all sorts of resources in one retail location, such as lactation consultants, classes, mom and infant care products. It's pricey but endorced and recommended to new mothers by Beth Isreal Hospital and the other major teaching hospitals in Boston. Good luck and don't listen to negative comments.......that is the last thing you need while you are in nursing school trying to get all your work done!

Babylady......maybe you are unfairly judging others? We need to remember not to eat our young. Seriously.

I have a mood disorder (I am somewhere on the spectrum but have really only had major depressive episodes as well as some hypomania.......I think If you had to pinpoint my diagnoses it would be a combination of PTSD, Cyclothymic mood disorder, ADD (not ADHD), and major depressive disorder.) I've been followed by a psychiatrist since I was 15 and diagnosed with depression. I am now almost 28 and have been an R.N for five years. I have to say that school was actually easier for me than being a nurse in the "real world". I actually have very good study skills and excellent reading comprehension so I was able to graduate from Northeastern University with a 3.5 GPA. My nursing class voted me "Most likely to be Late for the Boards" because of my reputation for either skipping lectures that I found boring or always showing up late for class and clinicals. A lot of times if they didn't take attendance in class I found it more beneficial to read the text and study on my own because I could not tolerate sitting still........I am a huge daydreamer but could at times super-focus and absorb large amounts of info in a sitting (especially if I was involved in class dialogue). Anyways, I got through school with the help of my roomates waking me up for class, following classmates to class and having friends who always reminded me of deadlines, schedules, etc. It was like my nursing school friends acted as personal assistants- they accepted me for who I am and I actually had a friend in school who also had ADD- he is an AWESOME nurse and has done well in the nursing world. Me, on the other hand, have gone from job to job trying to "find my niche". It's like I'm a job Who** and am always looking for the next best thing. I started in Labor and Delivery and that was very intense as a new grad.....I then left the hospital after a year and did travel nursing. Went to Hawaii and N.H (LOVE TO TRAVEL!). I had a back injury in N.H and was out of work for five months d/t an assaultive patient. After that, I decided travel nursing was not safe and my confidence as a nurse was shaken to say the least. I was diagnosed with PTSD from the assault and fell into a major depression. I was in physical therapy for five months until I could break the pain cycle from my neck injury. I also had back surgery at age 22 right after I took my boards (on Time!- first person in my class to pass with flying colors....), so getting injured again really took it's toll. During all this, My dad was diagnosed with Bipolar I and anyone who has lived with someone with that diagnoses knows how painful it can be for a family member. I was able to get him treatment and he has been stable for four years on his meds. At one point (again, while I was studying for those boards that I was determined to be on time for!), he was so suicidal that we decided to go ahead with ECT and I carried the brunt of caring for him as an outpatient. So you can see why I ran away to Hawaii after all that I went through....after less than a year I had to take a short leave of abscence from my job and fought my nurse manager with the help of my union rep (and Won!) for discrimination. She was bullying me and giving me a hard time about taking the time off I needed to get my depression under control, despite the fact that I had a valid letter from my MD ordering a reduction in hours and no night shifts until further notice. The letter also stated I was competent and safe to work part-time. My advice would be NEVER to disclose to an employer the reason you are taking an Leave of Absence. Having to defend myself and fight with administration for my right to stay healthy was a nightmare. And legally they have no right to know any of your health information. The only time I would ever disclose that I have depression or ADD is if I was well-established in a job. I was very naive to think that this particular management would be understanding about any illness, never mind a mental one! Anyways, back to my career path.....after getting assaulted by a patient on a travel assignment I was reluctant to work in a hospital setting so I got a job working as an IV infusion nurse in an outpatient facility. I started per diem working with a world-renowned physician who specializes in occular immunology. However, I found the job repetative and boring and always wanted to go back to working in maternal child health. So I refused a permenent position because it simply wasn't "my passion". It is like I need instant gratification at work....and was either overwhelmed or bored- never inbetween. I still work per diem for this company, which is great.......they were always very understanding about my chronic lateness because I did a great job when I was there and connected well with the doctor, who has written 50 textbooks and is a pioneer in his field. (I find that ironic because I feel so dumb sometimes.....) Last fall I decided to move and start a new job- continued to work per diem at the infusion site and then took a 16 week position in Maternity at a local hospital. I couldn't juggle the change, was late for several shifts and did not learn the charting fast enough since I was only there once or twice a week. I was also on Lamictal at the time, which made me very foggy. Turns out I couldn't tolerate even the tiniest dose and am now considered allergic to it. Too bad because it really helped my moods. However, I am now more stable without it....I've done better mood-wise the past year or so and worse with the ADD. So I was fired for the first time in my life. On to the next job.....pedi home care and MCH home visits. The driving was a nightmare because I have no sense of direction and the pay was terrible. The little boy I took care of was constantly in and out of the hospital so I had no job security. I made the painful decision to "break up" with my little patient and do what I thought was best for me....get back on the horse and go back to my first love- Labor and Delivery. Well, I got some confidence back because I ended up picking it up quickly this time since I was full time. My preceptor also had ADD and seemed to understand the way I thought. Not to mention I am great one-on-one and L&D is usually 1:1 ratio. Unfortunately, I called in sick twice and overslept for my shift twice. It was slow in Dec. so my manager made the decision to let me go. She said it had nothing to do with my nursing ability or how I was doing in my job. I know there were also budget cuts and we were overstaffed, but if I hadn't given them a reason they probably would have kept me on staff. The staff members were shocked and all said they would recommend me and that this never would have happened if it wasn't slow on the unit; that I was being made an example out of, and that I was a great nurse. Still didn't help the devestation and failure that I felt when I was let go from a place where I finally felt like I belonged. Reliability, getting to work on time, and keeping my schedule strait is a HUGE challenge for me. I do not have any substance abuse issues (Thank the LORD!), it is just how I've always been. Early mornings are very tough for me....it's like my brain and body sometimes don't wake up until around 1pm. I can sleep through three or four alarms when I am in a deep sleep and "normal" people don't understand this. I've been this way since I was a little kid and my dad is the same way. It doesn't help that I live alone and don't have a husband or roomates to help wake me up (it's not an easy job to get me out of bed in the morning). Anyways, I am not a quitter.....I did consider getting my teaching certificate as I am very good with children. I may take the MTELS but I feel that there has got to be some way that I can manage my ADD and time management issue and be successful in my career for now. I have an interview at McLean hospital tomorrow (a harvard-affiliated psych hospital) and think this would be a good job since I am very knowledgable in psych. Not to mention the job market is TERRIBLE right now. I also have had the depression under control for quite a while now so I feel I am okay to help others. It's a risk doing this but life is all about risk taking. My parents are not happy with me considering psych nursing since it was a psych patient that I was assaulted by, but I told them that is in the past and that this can happen in any area of nursing, especially ER. I feel it would be a shame to waste my talent and interest in psychiatric nursing just because I am afraid of having a repeat of what happened to me before. I don't want to go through life afraid, and feel that I have learned so much from my experiences and can only consider myself a work in progress. Thanks to everyone for reading.....comments and/or advice are welcome. Especially regarding being on time. It is easier said than done for me, and I think that is a common trait for people with ADD. I am also anticipating having trouble multitasking since I am used to having a lower nurse/patient ratio. Then again, I can run 7 IV infusions in the infusion suite at once......It's just a matter of having a routine. Has anyone else had similar experiences? I would love to hear from you. P.S My current meds are Effexor XR, Klonopin PRN at bedtime, and Adderall XR. I only take the Adderall on a very limited basis because of my family history of BPD. It can cause mania and where I am on the mood disorder spectrum I am very careful about taking anything that could cause an extreme mood of any kind. Every "episode" of depression or hypomania can alter the brain in such a way that future episodes are harder to avoid. The Adderall XR works great but makes me a little anxious and then when it wears off I am EXHAUSTED and irritable.

Hi, I Have been an OB nurse for my first year out of nursing school and now I have been offered a position at Tripler. It would be my first travel position. I am very nervous as my previous position was at a community hospital that took high-risk patients but send the REALLY high risk patients to boston. We only had a level I and II nursery, no NICU. Tripler does have a NICU and I really wonder if it would be too risky for a relatively new nurse to do a three month assignment there. Again, I have one year's experience in L&D and am a B.S.N. I worked hard to get my lisence and I don't want to put it in jeopardy! If anyone has worked there in L&D please let me know how safe the staffing is, how supportive the nurses are to travelers and new grads, etc. Thanks, Lesley

This is in response to the nursing student who is convinced that cytotec is a dangerous drug that should not be used during inductions. I practice as an RN in boston and did my student practicum at Mass General Hospital, which is one of the best hospitals in the country. They use cytotec all the time for inductions. If used correctly, it does not cause any more hyperstimulation than cervidil. Heres the rundown ( I did a research paper/case study on it): On August 23, 2000, the manufacturer of Misoprostol distributed a letter to clinicians in the U.S warning them about the use of misoprostol in pregnant women. The letter stated that the use of Cytotec in pregnancy is contraindicated because it can cause abortion. The letter also cited reports of uterine rupture and maternal and fetal deaths when Cytotec was used to induce labor. It also states that the effects of Cytotec on the later growth and development of the child has not been established. Many hospitals stopped using the drug and pregnant women lost access to the drug for any indication. (Goldberg and Wing, 2003) However, in a response issued in December of 2003, the American College of Obsetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) reaffirmed their previous position that substantial evidence supports the use of misoprostol for induction of labor. In a study done by Dr. Alisa B. Goldberg and Dr. Deborah A. Wing, 5400 women were given misoprostol for induction of labor and 9400 women were given other prostaglandins. The study showed that serious adverse outcomes are extremely rare and that any differences between agents are very small. Other studies have showed that compared to oxytocin, placebo and other prostaglandins, the use of Misoprostol resulted in shorter times to delivery and a lower C-section rate. This was achieved without an increase in the frequency of uterine hyperstimulation associated with fetal heart rate. The data also suggests that the best dose of misoprostol for induction of labor is 25 mcg lady partslly every 4-6 hours. (Goldberg, Greenberg, and Darney, 2001)

Hi I think that you got the triage question correct- I studied emergency stuff for the boards and there is a specific order that you treat patients in a disaster and the ones who have the least chance of surviving (I.e fixed pupils, "dead in the bed") are treated last. I passed at 75 questions and I was convinced that I failed so all of you guys hang in there cause you probably passed. Also, I was angry and depressed the day after and was mean to my family for no reason just the anxiety. Hang in there! Les

Did I mention that the Kaplan CD SUCKS?!!! I was getting scores of 60-65% and thought I was really in trouble but I guess it helped prepare me. My advise is take the tests but don't feel bad if you do bad because it doesn't mean you won't pass.

I was the same way and you are not going to feel better until you take the test and pass it. I took kaplan, scored borderline on the readiness test, and then studied for three weeks strait by doing questions and going through the content book and typing out "study sheets" on all the stuff that I couldn't remember from school. I studied a lot of stuff that I didn't have on the test, but I don't care because that was they only way I was going to feel like I had a general knowledge base cause my whole last year of school we didn't have any actual nursing content classes so I really had to review. When I took the test, I got a TON of priority questions, most stable patient, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, diabetes insipidus, diaster questions (like which patients to discharge). The strategies really did apply to a lot of the questions and I was able to answer a ton of questions using the ABC's. Also, I got a ton of med questions that I had no idea about but I still passed after 75 questions. I felt like the test was hard and that I was going to fail but obviously it wasn't as hard as I thought and all that intense studying paid off. I did about 2-4 hours a day and that was probably more than enough. Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great.:rotfl:

Hi, I also took kaplan and was scoring 60-65% on the practice tests. I studied for exactly three weeks by typing notes on the course book (I literally typed about 20 pages a day and then studied them). HOwever, I thought I was screwed big time when I couldn't get good grades on the practice tests. I took the NCLEX last monday and it shut off at 75 questions- I passed! So don't worry about the practice tests. Just answer as many questions as you can and study the content- thats what I did and even though I studied a lot of stuff that wasn't on the test. I obviously did something right so I would just cover your bases, study the book and do questions and you'll do fine!