purple_nomad

So I've been having this big blow to my confidence lately... I'm a new nurse, just off orientation at a children's hospital ED. We do a lot of IV start s(obviously) and sometimes on very little veins. For the past two shifts, all of my starts have ended as hematomas. It's very discouarging and annoying to have to ask everyone else to try! And it delays Pt care, which doesn't look so good. So I was wondering...any advice to avoid this from happening? Any tricks of the trade?

I just moved to California a few weeks ago. To make a long story short, I applied for a job before I moved here and now they want an interview! Yippee!! Concern: My interviewing clothes are back in Missouri! I honestly didn't think I'd get the interview, simply because the application had shut down in the middle of me filling it out. Oops. Guess it didn't. I have a pair of thin black slacks, a flowy white blouse and some black pumps. No suit coat. No structured blouse. When I put it on, I look nice, but I don't look...all typical professional, with a lot of straight lines and structure to my clothing. Will this make a bad impression? It sounds very silly, but I'm just wondering what anyone else may think...

Well, I got this email about registering for my NCLEX 1-3 months before I graduate. Problem: I don't have the 200 dollars to spare to pay for it at the moment! I graduate on May 7th...and I think I'll get the money right before then or right after that. Does anyone know if that will cause any certain delay on my ability to take the NCLEX? I already did the first part (sending in my application to the state board) and got that cleared. I'm in Missouri, if that makes any difference... Meh. Money is annoying.

I just read the Fall issue of "Scrubs" magazine, and there was a great section by Courtney Davis, who is both a poet and a nurse and has managed to bring the two together. I was wondering if there were any others out there who wrote poetry about nursing? I'm in a creative writing class right now, and I find myself always gravitating towards encapsulating my experiences in flowing words. It's sometimes incredibly difficult, but eventually I polish it until I feel that it does the memory/thought justice. Also, does anyone know if stuff like this is published? Have you picked up any poetry by nurses before, and I just haven't run into it yet? C'mon, right-brainers! I know there a few of you out there!

Aren't we supposed to be having a nursing shortage? Or is that not happening anymore? Schools are pumping out new grads, and nursing schools have waiting lists, and...er...no jobs!

On the same boat! (Well, not a tech, but the two months part) I totally feel like I'm cruising...for some reason, the way my program is set up, senior year isn't so bad. It was JUNIOR year that nearly killed me! I've never been a slacker in school, but this semester, I'm going more by "can slacking on this cause me to NOT graduate?" If the answer is "no," then...well, I sorta let go. NCLEX time, baby! And searchin' for some jobs!

Also heard Alzheimer's coined as "Old Timer's"

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it! I think I can discuss my internship as "real"...at the end of the ten weeks, I WAS the nurse (i.e. managing care, administering meds, etc) for three moderately-high acuity patients. Good point about bringing that up in the phone call! As for Plan B, I'm wondering if I could work on a peds unit in a smaller hospital, or if that doesn't work, just getting in where I can. Still, I am fully convinced that I have some pretty good stuff to back me up. I guess that's what I need in order to call a recruiter...eesh. I still have a healthy dose of "easy-going-ness," so I think I'll be okay if nothing happens. Is my moxie good? Or is it...naive?

Nursing in the media means a lot to me. I think one of the main reasons I almost chose NOT to be a nurse when I was in high school was because I kept seeing these medical shows where the doctors did nearly everything. Shows like "Nurse Jackie" and "Mercy" and "HawthoRNe" have been somewhat helpful (in my opinion) at getting nursing into the mainstream of media, but there are still some annoying stereotypes that they play off of. Nurse Jackie snorts drugs. "HawthoRNe" has the male nurse who COULD have been a doctor, but he "choked" on his MCATs and is "stuck" being a nurse, and there is also Candy, the typical Barbie nurse. Okay, so I know that part of a show is all about the story-telling, and story-telling can only happen when there are flaws in the characters. But do you think that some of these portrayals help or hinder? Are they realistic or playing off of established cultural ideas? What do YOU want to see in the media about nurses that isn't there yet? What do you LIKE about these dramas? What do you NOT like? What do you think the impact is on society's concept of nursing?

Well, I am relocating from Missouri to California after I graduate, and I really REALLY want a job at Children's in Fresno. There are no RN I positions posted on the site as of now, and so I was discouraged until a nurse friend of mine suggested that I actually call the recruiter and tell them about myself. And keep calling them until I talk to them, and ask if they could look at my resume. As it is, I think I would do well there as a new grad. I did a two and half month internship last summer at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and got some great experience, so I'm not totally new to the pediatric field. But...what do you guys think? What would you guys SAY to the recruiter? I'm thinking this might be a good idea, so that when a position does come up, then I can be first to be considered. Or at least one of the first. Being a squeaky wheel really isn't my thing, but I would sure like to be the one getting the oil on this one!

I was bathing a woman who was on palliative care. As I was washing around her mouth, I noticed this brown, bumpy piece of SOMETHING hanging from her lip. I had to peel it off, and when I was examining it in my hand, I figured out that it was... A DEAD PIECE OF HER TONGUE!! It must have been the top layer of it, or something. It was brown, and I could see the little tastebud impressions...eeehhhhhhh!!! I have never been so heeby-jeebied in my life.

Sadly, clinicals just tend to be this way. Really, clinicals seem to mostly be about you getting comfortable with the mechanics of actually BEING in a hospital, assessing a patient, doing some meds, etc. But when it comes to actual experience...eh...it doesn't REALLY happen. Ask your nursing adviser about possible internships, perhaps to do over the summer. I did one this past summer for ten weeks. It was paid, I got a place to live, and I got 10 weeks of for-realz nursing experience. I had a preceptor, and she just had me jump right in with patient care. By the end of it, I was passing all meds, drawing labs, planning full care, doing all charting, etc. It was the best and most helpful nursing experience yet. I highly recommend it! Search the net for internships in nearby hospitals (most of them are in the summer), and see what happens! You usually have to be past junior year, going into your senior year to get into them. Good luck!

So, I had an internship this past summer that was truly amazing! I learned so much, especially being under the guidance of my preceptor, who firmly believed in me figuring stuff out (under her close supervision, of course). I really appreciated everything she did, and near the end of the internship, we had finally come to understand each other. Pity it took eight weeks to get there. Considering my upcoming graduation and then new job, I have been contemplating the fact that I will soon be placed under a preceptor, this time someone I will work with on a regular basis. This makes me a little nervous. I mean, I did learn a lot about honest communication and explaining frustration, but my personality just didn't click with my preceptor's, and I felt bullied by her sometimes. I wish I could have had a chance to really sit down with her and talk about each other BEFORE the internship had officially started. Then maybe it could have worked out just a little bit better, with a better understanding of each other. So, I was thinking...do jobs in certain hospitals let this happen? What I would love to do is have a meeting before the job started. A "get to know you" meeting. Like, I need a guide to this person. I want to know THEIR strengths and weaknesses, and I want to share mine with them upfront. I want to know their past experiences with new grads. What they expect me to do, etc. Some might argue that you can do this during the work times. I beg to differ. Work is for work, other people are often around, and there is no mindset of "getting to know you." I am under their supervision, and that sometimes constrains what I feel I can say in a moment. And THEN, it would be awesome if there was follow up into orientation. Like, perhaps separate meetings with a manager or something, where we can both discuss each other and progress, problems, concerns, etc. Have a mediator and someone looking out for the situation. I don't know...does this already happen, and I just don't know about it? Am I totally off the wall here?

I am in my mental health class and have done a few clinicals already. Out of curiosity, I finally watched "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and was taken aback by Nurse Ratched. Not by how terrible she was, but rather how NOT terrible she was. At least, not as terrible as I had imagined her to be, based upon all of these vague references to her in articles about nursing representation in the media. Granted, she wasn't good in the film, and I'm sure she was even worse in the book. We all know that. But as I was watching the film, I wondered...what would I do if I was in her shoes? Residents being violently disruptive? Residents trashing the ward? A suicide on the ward? Would I ever respond like she did? If you were faced with the same situations as Nurse Ratched was, what would you do?

Asking the nurses is a good idea. I think sometimes instructors feel a lot of pressure from the whole thing. Maybe it's because it's a favor from the hospital that we're even THERE. I'm sure there are discussions among hospital boards about liabilities that nursing students present. So when we mess up, I think the instructors take it in that context and they can tend to get...a little stressed out and then it comes out really hard on us because, well, they're our instructors! Nurses are used to this sorta thing. They have to provide education to their patients all the time about these instruments. I'm sure showing a nursing student will be their pleasure, especially since you have a basis of understanding. Good luck! You'll do great!