J-Swish

I'm not sure how receptive this would be, but I'm a huge advocate for retiring abroad where your money will go further. Places like Thailand, certain parts of Europe, Mexico, Belize, etc. Many Americans do that. I convinced several older colleagues to do that as well and it's working very well for them. Ofc it's not for everyone though and requires you to have stashed away when you were younger. That, or you won the lottery.

Hey all, new to school nursing here. Got several questions if you don't mind. 1) For immunizations, is there some sort of app where you can input dates to see if you're within interval? When is an immunization considered bad? I have a difficult time trying to plug dates into my head. Memorizing the schedule doesn't really help but I do keep it handy. 2) What do you keep in your emergency pack and what's your fast method for treating abrasions? I see it is very common where I am. 3) Any of you use Co-Ban? Is it mainly used for fractures, sprains, etc? Can you use it for wounds/abrasions with gauze? 4) Are there other duties you have at school that aren't really meant for the school nurse position (i.e. working registrar, etc.)?

I think a summer job would be a good idea provided you get enough time off during the summer. What kind of summer job, I have no idea.

Wow, alot of mentions for private duty nursing. I have several questions. What facilities do you normally work in (hospital based? clinic?)? And how do you find these agencies? Any tips? I need to look more into per diem.

Is there a job where I can work when I want, part time? Or at least part-time like weekends only (2 days out of the week)? I have a little under a year of RN experience and 6 months of CNA work. I work at a non-urgent clinic full time and want to downgrade due to juggling with too many stresses like a new house, new kid, taking care of a disabled parent, and preparing for a rigorous RN-BSN this Summer. I think I could use a "light vacation" if you know what I mean ....... been working non-stop since '09 even during nursing school. I have 12 months of emergency funds covered and my part of the bills hover around $600/month including food, utilities, and all other house bills (no mortgage). So is there any such job like that where you can work when you want, part time as an RN? I read about emergency hotline nurses but can't find any more about it. Thanks in advance.

You go! Congrats!!! I'm going to try the alarm clock trick for work tomorrow, thank you.

Experiences vary per shift depending on the people and the work environment that surrounds you.

Sounds like my colleague, who has anger and cussing issues but learned to manage them by replacing them with words or letters and gradually weaned off of saying them out of habit. Sounds silly, but it works... Instead of holy ****, say holy smokes. Instead of ****, say duck or similar. Instead of *****, say ditch or similar. Those are some of the most common swear words in the US. If only we can say "bloody hell" like the Brits (Yes, that is a swear word, and it doesn't sound as bad).

Nursing schools have been popping up left and right across the country all tell potential students that there is a shortage for nurses right now. But all they're trying to do is fill their student quota per program year and get you to pass the NCLEX. They get more funding, basically. It's all a business, folks. But of course, you have those professors who do acknowledge there is a tough market right now. The finger can be pointed at the media as well for saying there's a shortage. All of this has to stop. But this starts with us - the nurses. This is why I kindly discourage those bad cookies who wanted to go into nursing for all the wrong reasons. I can tell who would make a good nurse from the bad nurses as I get to know them. I tell them the truth about the job market for nurses, how competitive it is for a job, the horrors of nursing school, and so on. 99% of the time, they start to reconsider. It works! By doing this, I am helping the real folks out who really want to be nurses. Because the ones who don't care what I say and believe in their heart that they can be a nurse deserve to be one. So by "weeding" out those folks who go in for the wrong reasons, I am helping new grads out by lessening the competition while putting in little by little more effective, hard working and passionate nurses in. Yeah, I'm crazy but I don't care. You just don't sweet talk lazy, money-eyeing folks to go into nursing. We're getting the wrong type of people I never thought imagined could go into nursing. And I'm known to be lenient and open minded. That's saying something!

Touche. Something's up. I just like to give people like that a chance, even if they mess up. There's a lesson and mistake everyone learns from. But of course, there's a limit to that.

You know who's at fault? EVERYONE. The OP's story doesn't quite add up and practiced outside her scope, that ER was using the M/S Floor as a dump, that preceptor did not intervene, these people on the AN forums shouldn't be critiquing the OP based on previous posts (I think post history should be disabled), and last but not least those folks who say she deserves to be fired. Shame on you. This does not represent professional nursing.

Off-topic. This coming from a jerk nurse. When dealing with jerk physicians about personal health concerns, I suggest not mentioning about being a nurse. Say something else, like "hobbies" that you do....you can say gardener, auto mechanic, beauty consultant, college student, etc. Then once you go in-depth about the pathophysiology behind a disease or describe specific muscles/tendons, it will make them raise an eyebrow. Start quizzing them further and they might not be able to shake it off and give a good answer. Seen some clueless doctors out there and often times I even looked smarter than them because I explained the reasons for this or that. Try it! "Hm, you are quite knowledgeable about this. What do you do for a living?" "Oh, I'm just a Business major in college."

This is nothing. I have been told I look "12 years old" or "teenager," therefore they want another nurse.

I have seen this too often. First off, do you have substantial income, perhaps emergency funds? Does your husband have a well paying job? Do you have a reliable supportive family? I have seen this go two different ways with my friends and colleagues. 1. Married young and have child early, Mom is a full-time stay-at-home mom and unable to find any nursing jobs in this growing nursing "shortage." They don't have that much money. Dad is the only breadwinner. And no one is taking care of little Johnny if Mom does get a job, plus her lack of motivation after all the time taking care of Johnny. (This situation is not to say it's impossible. It is DOABLE, but causes undue stress to an already stressful career, provided you even land a job in the first place.) 2. Married young and have child early, Mom has Grandma/Grandpa/Other Family take care of little Johnny. They do have a few funds. Dad is working and Mom is close to obtaining her job. Soon enough, Mom gets hired. (This situation requires vigorous planning, steady income, and structural family support. I have seen some success with this route.) But the best overall route I've seen the most success from is this: 3. Graduated. Married. Got a job. Both worked for a few years. New (or used) car(s). Maybe a house or upgrade in living arrangements. Possible move. Got enough funds for baby and future. Found a sitter (family, hired, or mom/dad takes break from work for a few years) Johnny comes out. (This situation I've seen had the most success out of all 3 routes I've compared. Sure, they waited a few years to have kids, but it wasn't like they were waiting until they were into their 30's or 40's. And even then, it's not bad to have a child during those years either.) I say, take your time and think this through. Follow your heart and what your mind tells you to do. You're young (I'm younger though ;]). You have a whole lifetime ahead of you. Plan it through and see it to the end. Live with no regrets. Good luck!

Video games.

I'm going to take all this into consideration. Didn't think I would get these many responses. Thanks all!

I think the concern here is confusion and lack of re-demonstration of understanding. Pt says yes to all procedures but for an unknown reason, wants to get out of bed and pull out IV's, etc. I think it might have been a drug withdrawal but no drug screen was done at the time. All good questions...but do you guys see more than 1 correct option? And not 1 correct option/1 bad option.

I'll keep it brief. Situation: Pt is A + O x 4. He is able to understand. However, he constantly pulls IV, kicks, pulls O2 off, tries to pull foley, etc. This is after acknowledging that this can hurt him...3x times in a row. IV's re-inserted again and so on. RN finally decides to assign a LVN to be a sitter. LVN is unable to keep her from pulling and calming her down. Finally, LVN decides to call in mechanical restraints. Family is also at bedside but said they disagreed with putting restraints on and said he isn't doing any harm and needs to be calmed down. Argument ensues. Mechanical restraints are finally put on. Within 30 minutes, an MD order for restraints is obtained. Pt is no longer able to pick at IV. Family is angry. Nurses are stressed. Added to the mess was also all 4 guardrails being up, which means safety and false imprisonment. The above was a moment in my first semester. For my part, I did not put restraints on the other side because it was against the family's wishes and at the time, i thought we can somehow calm the pt down in another way. At the same time, I realized safety was an issue and the pt can't keep picking at IV's etc. Is this a dilemma that can potentially go to the ethical committee? This is for a research project and there must be more than 2 correct options to go about in this situation. What do you guys think?

Great answers!

I keep hearing about this from fellow nurses and students. Do all workplaces have tuition reimbursement so you can attain higher education (RN-BSN)? How does it work? Let's say you already enrolled in an RN-BSN program. Can your workplace still reimburse you? Thanks fam.

All great ideas and this one particularly gave me some more insight as well. Thanks all. You rock.

Thanks. It seems like those cases are rather very complex to have gone to the ethics committee. My situation was in Med-Surg and was not severe enough to have gone to the ethics committee.

Hello, I have an ethical dilemma paper to write about as a requirement. I chose my past experience as a 1st semester nursing student where an LVN gave me restraints to tie down a patient who was acting up. RN was not present and attending to patients elsewhere. Of course, I chose not to...based on 1) Hearing that you aren't supposed to as a student, especially a 1st semester student, 2) I wondered if there was a order and assumed there wasn't (It turned out there was not one and they had to get a doctor's order) and 3) I didn't want to put my instructor's license on the line if something I did went wrong. In the end, I helped hold the patient's other side down and calm him with my words. I stupidly texted my instructor that "Is it ok to document the mishap or document the actual restraints on the MAR?" to which he replied "NOOOOOO!!!!!~~" Can anyone give me more suggestions/ideas/tips to write about? Especially those that won't upset my very, very strict instructor. More minds, the better! lol

Hi, I have to write an ethical dilemma paper that involved my past experiences as a student. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me which of one of these dilemmas would be particularly suitable to write about with alot of options that I could have potentially have done but at the same time, one that would not get me in trouble if I mentioned it. 1) 1st Semester. Pt got crazy. LVN handed me restraints to tie on patient. I chose not to and only help hold the patient down and calm them. 2) 2nd Semester. Pt had restraints on and RN showed me how to tie it but the "extra loop" was just wrapped around the restraint. Instructor said that was illegal. Also, I did not document restraints and RN assumed I would do so. We never talked about documenting and it never occurred to me I would document. (this one I want to avoid because my instructor got mad!) 3) 2nd Semester. Got a 1st glucose reading that was a little bit too high for pt. Perhaps too much blood or something. Home health specialist used her glucose machine and got a totally different reading. I wasn't sure to trust her or use my own instinct. Did a 3rd glucose reading just to be sure and it was a little bit lower but not high enough to require insulin. I stuck with this one. Not sure if this is an ethical dilemma...

I agree, it's rather big. What are your guys' solution to that? Hmm, maybe a custom made backpack or clipboard that fits the iPad?