halkogirl

They spent five years traveling through space only to find out there is no nursing shortage.

For those of you who are under twenty-one and are wondering how old you have to be to serve alcohol- in most states the age is eighteen. It does vary by state. However, as a nurse following doctor's orders I would assume that the rules are different. I will definitely want an order for a nice glass of Riesling at bedtime PRN. I would take that over pain meds any day.

If I had a dollar for every time I said that and a nurse rolled her eyes, and then had to stick me eight times before calling in a SWAT nurse to do it, I'd be retired.

Unfortunately, in this current economy, employers have much more power over their employees than in the past. There are a wealth of people in every field that are unemployed and willing to take a job. Companies are able to make demands of their employees today that they couldn't have gotten away with in 2005. If a nurse with 15 years experience and a family of five on a health insurance plan provided by the employer decides not to abide by the guidelines set forth by the facility, he or she can be replaced in a day by a 22 year old new grad BSN with starting pay and only one, young adult on a health care plan. Everyone is replaceable in this economy, like it or not, and often at a discount. My advice would be to get the flu shot and get used to getting it every year, because once the big facilities require it, all will in the next year or two. Also, I understand the need for autonomy, but there also is a need for the "greater good". If implementing required flu shots saves 50 lives in a year, isn't it worth it? It might be your child, your spouse, or even your grandma that lives.

Potassium chloride and normal saline would be my guess. If a person is suffering from dehydration, there will be a loss of fluids in both the cells and extracellularly. Hypotonic and hypertonic solutions will leave one or the other still depleted. Normal saline will help restore the natural balance of fluids. Sodium and potassium are the two electrolytes that are most concerning during prolonged vomiting and/or metabolic alkalosis. I may be totally wrong but that would be my guess. HTH!

My first son had shoulder dystocia. They pushed my legs back as far as they would go and the nurse got on the bed and pushed with her fist. I couldn't see what the doc was doing but I swear his arms were in up to his elbows trying to do something. I passed out from the pain right after he was out. I ended up with a 4th degree lac- my son had just a bruise on his arm. My doc, who is family practice, called in a OB to sew me up, as I was hemorrhaging. It was the scariest thing ever. Childbirth can be stressful even when things go right. From a patient perspective, and after giving birth again, I can tell you that any mom that goes through it needs a little extra care. I couldn't even sit up right to breastfeed because of the lac. Coughing or sneezing made me cry. I couldn't even drive a car for two weeks afterward because I couldn't turn my head from side to side well enough to check my blind spot. On top of the pain from the lac, I was worried about my son being hurt and bruised. I wish that someone had addressed my psychological needs more when I was in the hospital. I know that it is not just the nurse's job, but if it effects nurses emotionally, imagine how the mom feels. My nurses were great, but I wish I had a little more emotional support while I was in the hospital. Just my two cents. On a brighter note, my second son was delivered by two wonderful nurses. I went from being dilated 3 cm to 8 cm in 15 mins, from 8 to 10 in two minutes, and from 10 to baby in three minutes. Doctor showed up about 10 minutes after he was born. My doctor quit delivering babies shortly after- I wonder why? :)

I used to have four pet rats. They are very smart animals and fun to have. However, I developed a severe allergy to them (confirmed by my allergist). I wouldn't be able to come within five feet of the linens that the rat had been on without breaking out into hives!!

Way to think outside the box!! You must be a wonderful nurse

The only one I considered keeping was my A&P book. I got $90 bucks for it at the bookstore buyback, went on eBay and bought a ten year old version for $4.85 (including shipping). A&P hasn't changed much in ten years, so I still have a book for reference when I need it.

I also absolutely LOVE office supplies!! I love Pilot Easy Touch clickables, medium point. Fell in love a few years ago and never looked back. I also always have a Sharpie marker with me at clinicals- I never know when I will need to label something (basin, toothbrush, etc). People are always borrowing it!!

I would really love to be a WOCN eventually, although I think that I would also enjoy ER or ICU nursing (which, I believe, can be hard areas to get into). I was an EMT and really enjoyed the fast pace. My life growing up was very chaotic, so I almost feel normal when there is chaos and high stress! :) Before I had my first son, I wanted to be a midwife. After complications during labor (I had an adverse reaction to Cervadil) and then having an emergency lady partsl delivery r/t shoulder dystocia I decided that I didn't want to deliver babies!! I have only finished one semester of an ADN program, so I may want something completely different by the time I am done.

Ativan.

If it is in writing, get a copy of it, stick it in an envelope that seals up well, and mail it to yourself. When it comes, don't open it- stick it in a safe. Continue to chart when you contact XYZ about an order, etc. If they try to fire you, contact the BON. The envelope (with a date stamp) will prove that you did not make something up after you were fired if the date is before the date of termination. Protect your license!!

The fact that you are willing to seek help here and from others makes me feel like you will be a great nurse. It will come with time. I was the opposite- I cried all of the time with patients and their families. Now that I am in my thirties, I have learned how to manage those situations better. Some of it comes from life experience, some of it comes to observing other people's reaction to similar situations, some if it comes from being a mother and having to be the strong one. You will get there, I promise!! Good luck with school :)

I learned to live with a mess- not disgusting, but things may not have always been put away in a timely manner and the bathroom didn't get cleaned daily like it used to. I used to be obsessive about having a spotless house. Learning to let that go was a big help. My gift to myself after graduation will be a house cleaning twice a month!! Also, anytime anyone offers their help- take them up on it!! Offer to exchange kids with a friend- she can take them when you need to study, and you can take hers when you have a day when you may not have as much homework.

I had bad credit and got a job for an insurance company. They ran a credit check and never said anything. I had way worse credit than you, from the sounds of it. They still hired me, and I had access to people's social security numbers and bank info. HTH!!!

Bottom line, if the situation could POTENTIALLY be unsafe for you (ANY car accident is potentially unsafe) your only obligation is to call 911. I live in MN, which has one of the most strict GSLs in the nation (Google it!), and I found out (while becoming an EMT) that we only have to call 911 in those situations. It is very unsafe to get out of your car on the highway. I was almost hit by a car on more than one occasion as an EMT with police directing traffic and a reflective vest on- and almost hit once stopping as a bystander to an accident that I witnessed. Bottom line, if someone goes into cardiac arrest in the middle of the grocery store AND you have a mask, give CPR (or just chest compressions). No mask, you are not required to give CPR. Accident scenes can be very dangerous. You are NOT required to stop- only required to call 911 if you are the first person on the scene. HTH!!! You may want to research the "Duty to Rescue" law... this is the kind of situation that you are referring to.

I have the same problem! My tonsils are always so swollen and inflamed and my breath is HORRIBLE! I also have GERD, which seems to make it even worse. I have been begging for a tonsillectomy, but my doc is opposed to it (and my hubby is also, he almost died from a tonsillectomy a few years back). I got a virus this past winter and my tonsils, which are always inflamed, swelled so bad that I couldn't swallow. I had to go to the ER for steroids and IV fluids. My husband told me that I smelled like death because my throat was so infected. Yuck.

I heard this advice once for doing a phone interview and it works great- sit in front of a mirror while you are doing the interview. That way you can make sure that you are smiling the whole time. It sounds silly, but if the look on your face is frumpy, your words may come out that way also. HTH!!

I used to manage a business, and part of my job was hiring new staff. Believe me, I hired more than one person who had been fired from a previous job. If someone came to the interview and stated that the problem was all about the previous employer- boss, coworkers, customers, etc., I would not hire them. If someone told me that they had been fired for making a mistake or two and that they stated that they had learned from those mistakes, then I would hire them. My advice to you- do not blame any of this on your previous employer. It may not have been a good match for you, and that is fine to admit that to a potential new employer. Also, realize that a responsible adult will leave the rants and the gossip out of the workplace. If you are frustrated with a job, the worst thing that you can do is complain to random people or coworkers. Only talk with your superiors about concerns that you have regarding a certain patient or your workload. Rant here where it is anonymous. And as far as frequently being late is concerned- there is absolutely no excuse. It happens to people on occasion, I know, but obviously you need to organize your time better. You may find that putting a little structure and organization into your life will help you get to work on time, and may help you in the job that you do.

In our program anything 0.50 and above we round up, anything below that we round down. However, if it is a peds patient, then we always round down. Hope that helps!!

You CAN colonize staph on your skin. A bee sting introduces the staph into the skin. The reason that nurses clean an area of skin with alcohol before administering any type of injection into the skin is so that anything living on the skin, such as STAPH, does not get into the body and cause an infection such as cellulitis. You can follow all of the universal precautions that you want, or not even work in health care for that matter, and colonize staph. Every living human being has bacteria colonized on their skin. My physician told me that bee stings are a common cause of cellulitis in healthy people. Anytime you break the skin the bacteria that is colonized on your skin can enter the wound and infect it. Bee stings are puncture wounds that tend to swell up even in people who are not allergic. If the skin is punctured and then the puncture wound swells shut, the bacteria that was on the skin becomes trapped in the deepest areas of puncture and cannot be as easily cleaned out from the wound as if the wound was open. Neosporin may not be able to reach the deepest layer of puncture. Healthy people can, and do, get cellulitis. But my doc must be wrong, I must not be healthy. I am apparently a dirty, smelly, fat, lazy, chain-smoking alcoholic for getting cellulitis.

I am not a nurse yet- I am currently in the nursing program and working as an aide- but I did get cellulitis. I got a bee sting and developed a nasty infection at the sting site. My doctor said that working in health care more than likely caused the infection, as we are constantly exposed to, and a lot of us colonize, staph (the cause of my cellulitis). A round of doxycycline cleared it up, but if I had waited a day or two longer to go to the doc it could have been much worse.

I was alternate #77 last year for Century, and I got in for the spring. I got a letter at the end of May that I was in. My class is 60 people so I am guessing that it will be the same. Plus, since IH and CC split, I am guessing a lot of people applied to both.

If this was a girl, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Girls can dress in boy clothes and have short hair and never wear makeup, but nobody says boo. Many girls put on loads of makeup and perfume and look around to see if anyone is watching them. He may have some attention seeking behaviors, but you need to look past the makeup and the perfume and anything else you consider "feminine behavior" and look at the situation then. I am not denying that he may be an attention seeker, but I think that you may be letting your emotions about his sexuality cloud your judgment. He obviously had some sort of eye irritation or infection; how is that attention seeking? Unless he is sticking his mascara wand into his eye, you shouldn't be considering that attention seeking behavior.