schroeders_piano

schroeders_piano has 18 years experience.

schroeders_piano's Latest Activity

1. 

   Switching departments... And regretting it

   schroeders_piano replied to BosLav's topic in Nursing

   I used to be a Med/Surg Director in a small, rural hospital. Generally, Med/Surg units in rural areas will have times of low census during the Summer months. Most units rotate and take turns for low census days and there is always at least one nurse who volunteers to take all the low census possible. On the flip side, usually during flu season there is overtime. All of my nurse friends working Med/Surg right now are taking large number of low census days. I know all the hospitals in my area has record low patient numbers right now and has furloughed a lot of their staff. If your budget is tight to where you can’t afford to miss a couple of shifts a pay period, it might be better to stay where you are at for a little while longer.
2. 

   Rural ER Nursing

   schroeders_piano replied to MuayThaiGuy's topic in Nursing

   I’ve been a nurse for 17 years with a large portion of it ICU and ER. I have worked in Level 1 trauma centers to community hospitals to rural, critical access ERs where I was the only nurse. For the most part, the rural ER was like working in a clinic with simple stuff like sprained ankles,lacerations, and med refills. However, I also had nights where I had very critically injured patients that I had to rely on my years of ER experience to care for them. I had nights where I had 2 STEMI patients at the same time. I had nights where I had every bed full and a waiting room full of people who needed to be triaged. One nurse in an ER is never safe. Being a newer nurse with limited or no ER experience is very stressful to start with and then add to it being by yourself. You cannot count on the ICU nurses being able to come and help you out each time you need it. They may be just as busy as you are.
3. 

   Unprofessional Conduct Online

   schroeders_piano replied to Anon4thispost's topic in Nursing

   Not your circus. Not your monkeys. You know nothing about the care this person provides nor the mindset or situation that led her to post what she posted. As others have suggested, delete her and move on. You are not the social media police for her hospital.
4. 

   Unprofessional Conduct Online

   schroeders_piano replied to Anon4thispost's topic in Nursing

   The part of you that feels like you should mind your own business is the part you need to listen too. Why would you want to jeopardize someone’s job?
5. 

   Obese inmate execution??

   schroeders_piano replied to trauma_lama's topic in Headlines

   I know of several nurses, including myself, who can place a 18g in anybody in 3 sticks or less. I would be more than happy to volunteer my services to the state of Ohio. The arguement that IV sticks are torture makes my dander rise. Being waterboarded by the CIA is torture, not an IV stick. There are many options for IV access as others have mentioned such as EJ or PICC lines if they think peripheral access won't be possible. I don't understand the arguement that the dosage might not be enough due to the inmates weight. Ohio has switched to using Pentobarbital as the drug for execution. The normal dosage of this drug is 100-200mg IV. For execution purposes, Ohio gives a dose of 5 grams. I think a dose that is 25-50 times stronger than the normal dosing will be more then sufficient to complete the job.
6. 

   how to ask patient for pain scale score correctly?

   schroeders_piano replied to 7feetunder's topic in Emergency

   With me it was dependent upon how many times I had seen them in the ER that month. If it was their 20th visit for HA, backache, abd pain, etc. I would say, "On a scale of 0-10 with 0 being no pain and 10 feeling like you were ran over by a semi truck and then lit on fire, how would you rate your pain?" If they responded "15" or whatever number above 10, I would say to them, "I'm sorry sir/madam, but 15 does not fall between 0-10." Honestly, I think the whole 0-10 numerical pain scale is ridiculous. A lot of people don't understand it. And then there are people like myself, who could have tears running down their face and not able to stand up straight because they hurt so bad that would still rate their pain as a "1 or 2". I worked in an ER that used a behavioral/non-verbal pain scale for adults and it worked a lot better than a numerical scale.
7. 

   Nursing Theory: Does anyone have a nursing theory paper that I can borrow? :(

   schroeders_piano replied to chaitealatte's topic in General Students

   I know that this is a novel concept, but why don't you sit down and write your own paper.
8. 

   EHRs stink!

   schroeders_piano replied to imintrouble's topic in Nursing
9. 

   Low diastolic = 911?

   schroeders_piano replied to JLForever's topic in Geriatric

   I haven't seen this mentioned yet. How high did you pump your cuff up to? Maybe the 120 was the diastolic reading. I've taken care of many patients with pressures of 200's/ 110's-130's. Which that would then be an emergency.
10. 

    Sex in a LTC...is this ok?

    schroeders_piano replied to AKAnurse4's topic in Nursing

    I just hope when I'm an old man in the nursing home that I can rise to the occasion if it ever presented itself. I think I would be too embarrassed to go ask the nurse for a viagra or a condom. All kidding aside, just shut door a leave them be.
11. 

    Honors BSN unable to find job. Can the college be sued?

    schroeders_piano replied to Tankweti's topic in Nursing

    Going about with frivolous lawsuits is really going to make someone want to hire you.
12. 

    Please is anyone willing to critique my resume!!!

    schroeders_piano replied to tlc2u's topic in First Year

    Having been in nursing management in the past, I reviewed numerous resumes. I would have thrown yours in the trash immediately. I'm sorry. Not trying to be harsh, but your resume just doesn't say professional to me. My suggestions are to drop the objective and offering statement. Your objective.offering should be covered in a cover letter that is specific for the job you are applying for. HR personnel will tell you that objective statements are no longer needed. As far as listing clinical experience while in school, it really isn't needed unless you had a specific clinical experience such as an internship/externship or preceptorship. Everything you listed under nursing school experience is typical for nursing schools. Nurse managers want to know clinical experience that is untypical such as a 40 hour preceptorship in SICU, etc. Also, putting the high school you graduated from is fine, but it is not necessary to list your rank or gpa for high school. To be blunt, as a nurse manager I could care less about what you did in high school. I'm concerned with your nursing program. I would suggest bullet points and using a consistent format for each work history entry (ie not one regular print and then the one under it bold print). Always write a cover letter specialized to the organization where you are applying highlighting your strengths and why you want the job. If it is an online application that doesn't have a place to upload a cover letter, make your cover letter the first page of your resume.
13. 

    Memorial Hermann is planning on unpaid GN intersnship

    schroeders_piano replied to RNQueen's topic in Texas

    Many professionals in other fields complete unpaid interships in order to gain experience or to get their foot in the door. Personally, I think this could be a good option for some new grads who are having a hard time finding employment or even new grads that might want to brush up or improve upon their nursing skills.
14. 

    Mandatory White Uniforms for RN's- your experience

    schroeders_piano replied to lauramae18's topic in Nursing

    Just another thought on this subject of wearing all white, doesn't some asian countries view the color white as being associated with death? Would patients that come from those countries or have ties to those countries be comfortable if their nurse is wearing an outfit that reminds them of death every time they walk into the room.
15. 

    What's your favorite computer charting program?

    schroeders_piano replied to TDCHIM's topic in Nursing

    Meditech Magic is horrible. However, Meditech 6.0 is extremely easy to use and is based upon using a mouse instead of F keys. I have used numerous EMRs and I actually think EPIC was the worst one that I ever used. I guess I'm in the minority. The only redeeming quality of EPIC was the integration of our cardiac monitors into the program so we didn't have to input the vitals by hand. We just highlighted and excepted which set of vitals we wanted. The pre-flowsheet version of CPSI was a really good program as well, but I don't think it's available anymore.
16. 

    Comfort Food After a L o n g Shift

    schroeders_piano replied to EMSnut45's topic in Nursing

    After a bad night shift, I crave the heart attack on a plate- hashbrowns, biscuits, bacon, and sausage patties all covered in gravy. Maybe I'm just subconsciously trying to give myself a MI so I don't have to go back to work.