alkaleidi

I wish our charge nurse did half of that! At this point in time, our charge nurse is responsible for staffing if someone calls in sick, being a resource, "knowing what is going on in the entire ER" (which makes me laugh hysterically being that our ER has 6 beds and 1 trauma room), and floating/helping the primary nurses. A different nurse is assigned to triage. Our average population we see a day is probably 20-40 patients. I will just say... the charge nurse does a lot of sitting, checking email, texting on cell phone, checking their bank accounts online, etc. Pretending to be busy, yes. All that responsibility and an extra $ .50 an hour for the added workload.

Do parents have the ultimate say when it comes to a teen taking medication? And if they do, what happens when the teen continues to be belligerent and refuse? If the situation is not life-threatening, but has the potential to become more critical (aka "if it goes untreated, it could become something far worse"), how far does this go? Right now these parents and the MD have enlisted an agency to come in and administer meds. What if the patient refuses from the agency? Is this something that has to be forced, or is it as simple as, "Ok, I will document your refusal." I am confused as to why an agency is being used to simply administer a medication. Why the parents don't have the initiative to not GIVE the child a choice is beyond me, but that's not something I can fix. I am just leary about becoming involved because I don't know the legal policy when it comes to this. I hope you can follow me -- if you couldn't tell, I'm trying to be really vague. But, if anyone can offer insight, please respond or PM me. Thanks! A

Hahahahahahahahahahaha... When people say, "You're a nurse, so you should know better," I reply with something like... "You're right. I am a nurse. I know better, and I am making a conscious decision to be human." Or... something relating to the fact that I am a nurse, therefore I know how to fix whatever could possibly go wrong. Broken bones, cuts and scrapes, etc etc etc. I am a nurse and I smoke. Yes, I know the consequences of smoking -- I teach my patients about smoking cessation. I drink alcohol on occasion too. I know all about the damage it does to the liver, and I educate my patients on that as well. I make human choices despite the knowledge I have. I figure we're some of the most knowledgeable and know the ins and outs, tricks and secrets, and can probably get away with the most in the world. :) If I can't fix it, I'll at least solve the immediate problem and make do until we can get to someone who can. For God's sake, I save lives -- I think I can handle my kid falling out of a tree, off his skateboard, off his dirtbike, and I'm sure I could manage if his shoulder got dislocated or if he ended up with nursemaid's elbow from playing freaking Red Rover. Shake it off. :) What everyone else doesn't know won't hurt them!

In my experience, you get out of those programs what you put into them. The best way to learn whether you take a course through a bookstore-bought program or through a university/college is to actually USE it. You will do this at work because you have many spanish-speaking patients. Having both taken high school and college spanish courses as well as purchased MANY books to continue to learn on my own, here is my personal advice: Take a college course to learn the basics. Not just the conversational hi, bye, how are you, but also verb conjugation, sentence structure, etc. THEN, purchase medical-specific books to broaden your vocabulary. I think that is the way to be best disciplined when starting out... you will remember the basics, and you will be able to read and say anything, even if you don't know what it means! :) Just my

I've always given it with lido. Of course, it generally has to be ordered that way because lido is a medication. But, what doc wouldn't give the go-ahead for that?

LOL. I don't think I would have told anyone that. I even have a special bra I wear -- a super supportive Champion sports bra that has been donned the name "The Code Bra." No bouncing no matter HOW vigorous your chest compressions are. Unless you can get away with duct tape, bras are non-negotiable.

I am 27. Female. Four... hit a deer twice (2 different times) in the country, rear-ended once, and lost control on ice/snow/white-out, ended up in ditch.

What suburbish area are you in? (I'm south of Chicago.) If you are that passionate about going right into an ER, I would apply at all of the local ERs that you are interested in, within a decent driving distance. (Sorry, addendum to my previous response.) :)

Going into the ER as a new grad is completely doable -- just keep in mind you are learning 2 things: 1) how to be a nurse, and 2) how to be an ER nurse. Make sure you are VERY well-orientated on general nursing assessment, etc, in addition to the ER-specific skills and processes. Get your hands on policy and procedure manuals and actually READ them. It seems like everywhere I have work at kind of views the P&P's as "you can read them (wink wink) and sign here saying you have read them and are familiar with them all," but as a new grad it's actually good to read them. Also, as a new grad and for ANY ER nurse, get a copy of all of the protocols, both the basic ones (sore throat, abdominal pain, toothache, etc) as well as the big ones (stroke, chest pain, etc). It is harder because you are a new grad, but it's definitely something that has been done and will continue to be done. Not every new grad works out (though few ERs tend to utilize the 90-day probationary period)... but many do. For example, the ER I work in right now is just finishing orientating 4 new-grad RNs. 2 of 4 are doing GREAT. 1 of the other 2 is doing alright. The other 1 is doing poor to fair. If it's something you are passionate about, and you are willing to learn, no, ABSORB, and adapt to a new way of thinking as a nurse, then GO for it... it's an exciting place to be! :) Good luck and welcome!

In a hospital setting, we nurses quickly get used to seeing "sick" people. Especially when it comes to aging and older adults, we typically don't get to see the ones that are aging gracefully. One thing you must keep in mind is that not ever 65+ person has HTN, DM, CHF, and a history of at least 1 MI or CVA. It's so refreshing to take care of a 90 year old patient that has NO medical history, and the most serious surgery they've had might have been a tonsillectomy or an appendectomy way back in the day. Don't let your view of health get distorted by your role as a nurse. We take care of sick people in the hospital. I live with my boyfriend too. I'm 27... but if I had found him at age 22, you bet I'd be under the same roof. My grandma is 79 and flies to TX every winter to stay in her summer home -- they ride their bikes across the border several days a week.. go to the beach.. she walks at least a mile several times a week when she's home here in IL. Not every old person is sick and unable to care for themselves. Don't get discouraged!!!

http://www.facelake.com/md300-c1.html this is similar to the ones we ordered. And it's affordable. :)

I just ordered a couple for our health dept's new home nursing program -- they were about $78 each, and are accurate yet VERY small and handy. I honestly have no idea what the company was, but if you want I can ask the woman that does the ordering and PM you. You can find them Good luck!

Our ER docs take naps when there's down time (yeah, what's that, right!). We occasionally have a little break from 3am-5am, and from like 7am-9am. I know they're tired, and most of them drive a good distance (at least 40min, some more like 1.5hrs) to get there, and none of them work a consistent schedule (they are ALL bounced from 8a-8p to 8p-8a -- no one works strictly days or nights). So... if they're resting (sleeping or just resting in the Dr's room), I have no problem working up a patient and waiting for some results to come back if the "emergent complaint" is completely non-urgent (i.e. sore throat, UTI sx, etc). So yes, our docs do take naps on occasion. And if a co-worker wants to try to nap for 20-30min during their lunch break, I have no problem giving them a wake-up reminder so they can catch a snooze. :)

I also have never given a flu shot subq. Always IM. At the health dept we use 1" 25G needles... pinch up for smaller people, smooth out for bigger people. Like someone else said, if you stop abruptly at the bone, pull back a tad and inject. I personally think people miscalculate needle size too small most of the time. At a pediatrician's office I worked at, we rarely used anything less than 1" for IM immunizations. And giving usually 50+ shots a day, never hit bone in a kid. I think it was 5/8" only if the kids were

Same as most of the other people who responded... if I stop at the gas station or Walmart or somewhere else on my way home from work I am good for an OOPS about once a month... A Xxxx RN Never on purpose. Too many people think you are the go-to person for medical questions, I think, if they know you're a nurse. The cashier in the McDonald's drive thru asked me about some medical issues his pregnant girlfriend was having... all I wanted was a cheeseburger and a sweet tea! Sheesh.