akulahawkRN ADN, RN, EMT-P

Emergency Department

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All Content by akulahawkRN

  1. akulahawkRN

    Where do I start?

    akulahawkRN replied to olivyanunez97's topic in General Students

    First off, good for you for thinking ahead! Being that you're a HS Senior, you have a range of options, limited only by a few things. i'm going to answer things a little out of sequence to hopefully...
  2. akulahawkRN

    Verbal order

    akulahawkRN replied to Quinntb's topic in General Nursing

    I also would put that under the term "documentation error." I'm going to simplify what I see: A 5/325 was ordered, drawn from a machine, administered to the patient, and charted as a 7.5/325, which...
  3. akulahawkRN

    Meeting patient the day before clinical

    akulahawkRN replied to augurey's topic in General Students

    My school was one of those programs that made us look everything up the night before, whenever possible. About 1/2 the time, one or both of our initially assigned patients would have been discharged...
  4. akulahawkRN

    Meeting patient the day before clinical

    akulahawkRN replied to augurey's topic in General Students

    At my school, we were not required to meet with the patient the day before clinical. Sometimes it was suggested for certain patients though. Often what we'd do is confer with the charge nurse or the...
  5. akulahawkRN

    If a pt is confused but knows his or her name, do they get a 4 or 5 on the GCS?

    akulahawkRN replied to fatrabbit's topic in General Students

    With the Glasgow Coma Scale (Verbal), to be considered "Alert" you must be at least oriented to person, place, and generally to time or recent events. I'll usually score a "5" if they're oriented x3...
  6. akulahawkRN

    Getting over a med error, what now?

    akulahawkRN replied to CmacD's topic in General Students

    When I was a student, all the hospitals used electronic health records so I only had to deal with the eMAR. Generally I'd put it into a "time" view so that I could see what meds were due at what...
  7. akulahawkRN

    Best laptop for school?

    akulahawkRN replied to Saraela's topic in Nursing Student Assistance

    I used a laptop throughout most of nursing school. In fact, I'm still using it - I'm typing on it to write you this very response. You need to look at a few things before you plop down money for a...
  8. akulahawkRN

    On clinicals.

    akulahawkRN replied to NotAllThoseWhoWander's topic in LPN, LVN Students

    First off, don't be so hard on yourself. You're only in, what, your first week of fundamentals? Of course you're going to miss little things! Do patients terrify me? No, not really. Before getting...
  9. akulahawkRN

    ICU RN becoming an ER RN

    akulahawkRN replied to infinitynotzero's topic in Emergency

    Disclaimer: I'm a relatively new ER nurse myself... but I've had some quality street time as a Paramedic, classroom time as a substitute teacher, and experience as an athletic trainer before...
  10. akulahawkRN

    How do you feel about care plans?

    akulahawkRN replied to shanell85's topic in General Students

    Also, I don't know how much Esme got into this, but you really shouldn't try to translate a medical diagnosis into a nursing diagnosis. Believe it or not, the "diagnosis" steps are absolutely...
  11. akulahawkRN

    How do you feel about care plans?

    akulahawkRN replied to shanell85's topic in General Students

    I know how I feel about doing care plans... and I'm not ashamed to say it: I absolutely despise doing them! That being said, I truly love them for what they do. By doing care plans so often, and in so...
  12. akulahawkRN

    Starting IV's...Do you remember your first one?

    akulahawkRN replied to shanell85's topic in General Students

    My very first was a very long time ago. While I don't remember who I stuck (classmate), I remember it was successful. I had a bit of a hiatus over the past few years and I remember (kind of) my first...
  13. akulahawkRN

    Spiking IV fluids by PCT's

    akulahawkRN replied to nurseajs1's topic in General Nursing

    I take the exact same approach with my techs as I do with my EMT partners that I had (once upon a time). I'm very happy to them help me with certain tasks, like spiking NS lines. I will not allow them...
  14. akulahawkRN

    paramedic to rn start to finish

    akulahawkRN replied to medictobernjoe's topic in Excelsior College

    Note that I didn't say that the education that Excelsior provides is inferior, just that it doesn't meet California's standards. Then I stated why that was the case. Hopefully any reader can...
  15. akulahawkRN

    paramedic to rn start to finish

    akulahawkRN replied to medictobernjoe's topic in Excelsior College

    The only comment I will make about Excelsior is that the education you will get there will NOT make you eligible for a California RN license. This is because you will not meet California's requirement...
  16. akulahawkRN

    Newly licensed, job hunt advice

    akulahawkRN replied to the nurse who lived's topic in General Nursing

    I'm on the other side of the US from you... It's tough everywhere. First off, do as you're doing - apply everywhere. Second, if you are trying to land a job in a highly coveted specialty, apply...
  17. akulahawkRN

    American River College Spring 2016

    akulahawkRN replied to MP_FutureRN's topic in General Students

    First off, I wish you all the best of luck in this round of applications. I know how tough it can be waiting to get accepted anywhere. I know. It took me 8 semesters. Amazingly enough, I was accepted...
  18. akulahawkRN

    ED Preceptorship Tips?

    akulahawkRN replied to davethemurse's topic in General Students

    There's some commonality there. Yes, you're attached to your Preceptor, but from time to time another RN will come along and tell you "come see this" or ask you if you're able to do something with...
  19. akulahawkRN

    Firearms

    akulahawkRN replied to cracklingkraken's topic in General Nursing

    I'm also somewhat familiar with the level of training that law enforcement officers receive in terms of firearms use, use of force, and weapons retention. I would say that the level of training that...
  20. akulahawkRN

    Firearms

    akulahawkRN replied to cracklingkraken's topic in General Nursing

    One of the more popular methods of studying this is to compare arrest rates of CCW holders vs general public or any other specific group. Another way is to look at revocation rates. One of these...
  21. akulahawkRN

    Firearms

    akulahawkRN replied to cracklingkraken's topic in General Nursing

    A sentiment or two among those that carry weapons every day is one of: "when seconds count, police are minutes away..." and "I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop (or Chuck Norris) in my pocket."...
  22. akulahawkRN

    Firearms

    akulahawkRN replied to cracklingkraken's topic in General Nursing

    Believe it or not, I think most people, be they criminal, law enforcement, military, or regular folks would tend to
  23. akulahawkRN

    Firearms

    akulahawkRN replied to cracklingkraken's topic in General Nursing

    Well, during the manhunt for Chris Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer suspected of murder, cops shot 2 women who were driving a pickup of a different make, model, and color than what Dorner was known to be...
  24. akulahawkRN

    IV Cather kinking when advancing

    akulahawkRN replied to sreynolds's topic in Emergency

    I have found that if I don't get the catheter all the way inside the lumen, it will kink when I attempt to advance the catheter into the vein. The hard part is judging when that happens so that you...
  25. akulahawkRN

    Firearms

    akulahawkRN replied to cracklingkraken's topic in General Nursing

    If we had no firearms, then we'd be back in the age of knives, swords, spears, arrows... and those are plenty deadly and were quite often used outside the arena of war. You're focusing on the tool,...