RNmaria

After some time you will hear pumps and SCD's on other floors! LOL

What about when you just push Dilantin IV, can you?

Hello. I feel your pain. I am now 45 and 1 year ago I was hired on for a new unit that was to open. In the meantime I did orientation in the ICU and was given pts that I should expect to see in the new step-down unit (hemodynamiclly unstable, art lines gtts etc...) I had a similar experince with preceptors and etc as you do. After the new unit opened I stuck it ourt for a month, some days good others felt as if my head was above water. After much stress, I decided to chg units and now in a step-down neuro unit and love it. It was a long journey which entailed therapy, SSRI, but in the end, I am happy. I do get a bit hard on myself that "I counldn't cut it" but it is ok, nursing doesn't have to be like that. So my advice is to start looking into another unit and accept that it may not be the right "fit" for you.

I have been on my "own" now for 1 1/2 months and was just wondering if anybody out there has made any mistakes. I have been beating myself up over some things and just wondering if anyone else has done the same? pasha

First of all...what else is going on with this patient? Always check the ABC's first...and is that a real SPO2? BP? Begin with the basics...put on nasal cannula...how low is low? Is it sudden? What meds are they on? Right, I wouldn't start bagging this patient...

Fot he most accurate of information, I would suggest calling the NH Board of Nursing directly. Lucily I missed the fingerprint thing last year. But I understand it can be a lengthly process and would get on it quickly. Best of luck, Pasha

Hey girlfriend Chloe! You need some time to process everything. Give yourself a break...keep busy for afew days doing mindless stuff and take care of yourself and then start looking for anew job. It sounds like they screwed you over and you fell in the crack...you did not say weather you had any warnings or had some goals to be met...that is sad. You need to look fowrd now and move on...that was the past and leave it there. I had some similar experiences and now just recenly accepted a position in another unit and top be starting soon. I had to cry for a couple of days and be angry and rehash all the events over and over. Thank goodness I have a very supportive family and of course All nurses to give me strength. Yeh it sucks that you can't get the house...but you still have some place to live right? Sometimes it is nice not being a homeowner...kick back, chill and enjoy a cold beverage while someone else cuts your grass and msesses wiht the plumbing etc... swending you lots of good vibes...good luck......pasha :-)

Yes, I too had a similar experience. I was hired for an step-down unit, which was not opened yet, and trained on the ICU. Well, the step-down unit opened-up, and although the ratio was 1:2 - 1:3...it waas still a bit much for me. It was very fast-pased and had such a variety of patients who were more active then I saw int he ICU. Needles to say I am now looking inot other areas of the same hospital so I can focus on my skills before getting back into critical care. There are some new grads who do just fine, but this is not nursing school and frankly, the stuff that I learned and did in the ICU I did not learn in nursing school. At least to that extent! pasha

Thank you! pasha :-)

First of all thank you for your reply! This pt had a AAA repair and they wanted to pull the PCA when the INR was at a therapeutic level... It wan't until after I posted that I finally made the connection...thank you for all of your help! pasha :-)

Opps...sorry it was the INR

Hello! Could someone tell me the significance of monitoring a patient's PTT while on a PCA? pasha :-)

Thanks for your thoughts! I just started a new thread on this. I am a new grad (May 07), started a NRP program in Ocober and precepted in the ICU for a step-down unit. Well our unit is finally open and I am off orientatation, and on a new unit. I still have a resource person but I really find it challanging to get use to a whole new system and still be off orientation. I too worry about my patients when I leave work. I too rehash every patient detail and wonder if I missed something etc... I do try and repeat the mantra that I have done my best but sometimes that is just now good enough. The idea of keeping a jornal is great! Any other ideas would be greatly appricated regarding bringing work home. thanks again, pasha :-)

Hello! I am a new grad who is currently off orientation (from ICU) and now on a step-down unit. I find that on my days off I cannot stop thinking about the patients I had. I begin to conjure-up situations/conditions that I may have missed etc... or things that I could have done or didn't do or whatever..... Does anyone else do this ? pasha :-)

I too feel your anxiety. I am a new grad (May 07) and began my carreer in a large teaching hospital in October. I trained on the ICU for a step-down unit that just recently opened. We are now OFF orientation and I have to say that it is scary. My collegues and nurse educator say I am doing fine, but I still re-hash the whole day in my head and often wonder if I forgot something or did not recognize something. Do these feeling ever go away or soften? I find this forum so refreshing because not every nurse will tell you they feel this way. pasha :nuke: