akulahawkRN ADN, RN, EMT-P

Emergency Department

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All Content by akulahawkRN

  1. akulahawkRN

    NPs in Ortho or Sports Med?

    akulahawkRN replied to Perez79's topic in Advanced Practice

    Disclaimer: I'm not an APN of any sort... Now that being said, I do have a Bachelors in Sports Medicine. I was going to be an Athletic Trainer. The education required to become an ATC is basically a...
  2. akulahawkRN

    Realistic explanation of CPR

    akulahawkRN replied to Kteichow's topic in General Nursing

    What defibrillation and synchronized cardioversion do is electrically stimulate all of the cardiomyocytes into depolarization. In effect, you cause them all to contract and go into pause. In effect,...
  3. akulahawkRN

    Why wasn't I placed in the ED?

    akulahawkRN replied to shan_elle's topic in Emergency

    Just because your passion lies with the ED, it doesn't mean that you'll be locked out of it by having your CVICU experience. Sure you can ask the faculty why they placed you there, but I suspect they...
  4. akulahawkRN

    Realistic explanation of CPR

    akulahawkRN replied to Kteichow's topic in General Nursing

    CPR is necessarily a bit violent. If the patient is an adult or even an older adult, chances are very good that some rib fractures will occur. My first CPR experience pretty much separated the sternum...
  5. akulahawkRN

    Why wasn't I placed in the ED?

    akulahawkRN replied to shan_elle's topic in Emergency

    You may be ultimately a good fit for the ED. However, given your apparent intellect, you have been placed where you can really flex it. Being placed in a CVICU for IP is not a slap in the face, rather...
  6. akulahawkRN

    Who can obtain a pain scale

    akulahawkRN replied to Avan23's topic in Emergency

    This is no different than a PCA, MA, or CNA charting vital signs. The nurse still has to do the assessment and if obtaining vital signs is already completed, that's one task the nurse doesn't have to...
  7. akulahawkRN

    MedSurg RN new nurse 1 year, ICU or ER?

    akulahawkRN replied to HarmlessDonut's topic in General Nursing

    Disclaimer: I'm an ED nurse. With your background, you should give the ICU a try and see how you like it. Then see if you can shadow in an ED and see how you like that. I would suggest the ICU is...
  8. akulahawkRN

    I just witnessed my first clinical death

    akulahawkRN replied to bayebeth's topic in General Students

    OP, you would do well to read Esme12's post, especially the last part of it. You can't control death, it's a necessary part of life. I made my own peace with it long ago. I'm only a relatively new RN...
  9. akulahawkRN

    ART Line Stick

    akulahawkRN replied to kbbbb2's topic in General Students

    If you're looking to do a draw from an artery, basically any place where you can feel a pulse is where there is an artery that is relatively close to the skin. Arterial blood is usually bright red and...
  10. akulahawkRN

    NCLEX incident

    akulahawkRN replied to Nursenyring's topic in NCLEX Exam, Programs

    Short answer is yes, they will do an investigation. They have the note and I'm sure a copy of it has been sent on to whomever is investigating your situation. They'll probably do a very thorough...
  11. akulahawkRN

    EMT Starting RN program anyone else go down this road?

    akulahawkRN replied to Deuceswild1's topic in Men in Nursing

    If you're considering doing Paramedic followed relatively quickly by nursing, I would suggest that you spend more/most of your time over the next year or so doing nursing prerequisite coursework...
  12. akulahawkRN

    3 medication-related errors in 6 months. Is this a sign I should quit?

    akulahawkRN replied to hnnrgh's topic in General Nursing

    I would say that given your load, having only 3 (and at least one of those is marginally so) errors during that time is actually pretty good. Remember to go through all the "rights and checks" you...
  13. akulahawkRN

    ED staffing ratios

    akulahawkRN replied to EDdad's topic in Emergency

    An ED where I recently worked implemented a Fast Track type of program around a year ago. The nurses assigned to the FT area usually had a 1:4 load, almost always easy 3's, 4's and 5's. This meant the...
  14. akulahawkRN

    Diagnosis

    akulahawkRN replied to nkomprood's topic in General Students

    As with any nursing diagnosis, you have to fall back on data gathered during assessment and from the chart. I'm going to say that yes, it is possible to "reverse engineer" a medical diagnosis to a...
  15. akulahawkRN

    When to call Rapid Response Team?

    akulahawkRN replied to LUCBSN's topic in Critical Care

    The point of calling RRT to a patient's bedside is to prevent further deterioration of the patient's condition when the patient is not responding to whatever measures you are allowed to do by your...
  16. akulahawkRN

    42 Years Old - Is it too late to become a nurse?

    akulahawkRN replied to Nurse Beth's topic in Career Advice Column

    Dead is too old. If you're not dead, then you have a choice as to whether or not it makes sense to go to nursing school, and therefore if you're too old. I'll use myself as an example. I've been in...
  17. akulahawkRN

    How much training and work in other areas did it take you to get a job as an ER nurse?

    akulahawkRN replied to laschai's topic in Emergency

    I also started out in the ED as a new grad. Yes, it was a struggle but given time and a relatively decent orientation, transitioning to the ED should be generally doable. It's very easy to get bogged...
  18. akulahawkRN

    ARC / SCC Fall 2017

    akulahawkRN replied to Smith,B's topic in School, College Programs

    I was a student at SCC about 3 years ago and I applied many, many times under some previous processes they used. Bottom line is that if your application status changes to "Application Qualified" it...
  19. akulahawkRN

    I am missing something obvious?

    akulahawkRN replied to missmollie's topic in Patient Medications

    I've also given phenergan as a 3rd line anti-emetic by IV and it does work very well. You just have to be absolutely certain the line is good. It works quite
  20. akulahawkRN

    What are clinicals really like?

    akulahawkRN replied to coder24's topic in General Students

    This is true of most programs though it's very much possible to get into a PA program (or MD program for that matter) without having done any healthcare experiences. This is not true of NP programs,...
  21. akulahawkRN

    What are clinicals really like?

    akulahawkRN replied to coder24's topic in General Students

    I'm going to reply in-line to your stuff below to make my responses easier to follow. Since you want to work as a mid-level practitioner and NOT have to do any bedside nursing, your only really...
  22. akulahawkRN

    Paramedic to RN program(Online?)

    akulahawkRN replied to Racer1600's topic in General Students

    I suspect that if you enter the program, you will have to move to where the college is physically located (within driving distance of). While the BRN of California probably doesn't actually care much...
  23. akulahawkRN

    Is 35 too old to start from Scratch?

    akulahawkRN replied to BellaGrl's topic in Pre-Nursing Students

    OP, my advice about this is very simple: Dead is too old. Since we don't have hordes of undead going back to school to learn new things, unless that becomes reality, being dead is pretty much a hard...
  24. akulahawkRN

    Private vs Community College for LPN?

    akulahawkRN replied to lizzieh's topic in Pre-Nursing Students

    Under normal circumstances I would NEVER pay $51k for an RN or LVN/LPN program. Come to think of it, even under some seriously abnormal circumstances I would never pay that much... I would rather...
  25. akulahawkRN

    ICU vs ED

    akulahawkRN replied to medicalninja's topic in Critical Care

    I think the best clinical placement for you truly will depend upon what YOU need to learn from it. That's kind of the point when selecting a clinical assignment when you're still a student. Look not...