tracey2705 replied to hernandonurse's topic in General Nursing
Hi, Congrats on your upcoming graduation! I don't have a ton of advice for you but your work as an LPN certainly counts for something. You already have experience with managing a shift and all that entails and handling a patient assignment. That's a...
I would have said, in a helpful way, "It's right over there" and possibly asked the case manager if she was finished with it. That puts the ball back in her court but you've neither jumped to her ridiculous command nor acted unprofessionally. I'd als...
tracey2705 replied to lvs2nrs3535's topic in General Nursing
Like someone said, you can find ERs that take newbies if you look. What I suggest is to choose the hospital that has the ER you'd like to work in first, then get a job on a floor that has medical and surgical patients if possible. You might want to c...
I'm just curious about what you found scary or intimidating when you first started out? I'm preparing some info for new nurses and I want to make sure I address their needs. What procedures were scary for you? Or what kind of situation? I was always...
Everbody's fears are really bringing back all the stuff that scared me. It's amazing to see how far we've all come, though. Yeesh! I really was clueless in the beginning. This isn't a patient care fear, but I also used to be worried about dealing wit...
tracey2705 replied to newrn05's topic in New Nurse
One reason to use macrodrip is if you think there's a chance you might have to push fluids in a hurry, for example if you're hanging an IV on patient who looks a little shocky. Another reason might be to make conversion from mg or units per hour to t...
There are definitely jobs with less stress and better hours. Like working in a doctor's office (pay is much less). But it also depends on what you personally find stressful. I like a fast pace so I'm stressed on a unit where there isn't a lot of hand...
Hmmmm...are you calling me "old school" Focker??:chuckle I am definitely not one to say "do this because that's the way we've always done it"! But I do know what you mean. I agree that anesthesia is different and MS skills are much less important th...
tracey2705 replied to TallyJofutureRN's topic in General Nursing
I find long term care very depressing, too. I can't work there. Like others said, don't give up but set your sights on a different area. Although I worked on medical floors at first, eventually I stayed on surgical units or at least a combination of ...
Don't be afraid to go. Or be afraid but still go. You will gaining skills and insight into physiology and pathophysiology that you won't get in MS. You'll also loilely have a more colleagial relationship with physicians, which is an improvement over ...
Hello, Wooh, I agree that it is a very different skill set! My suggestion to start in MS was not because ICU nursing is somehow just more detailed MS nursing. I think a new nurse will have an awful lot to assimilate in his/her first 6 months of pract...
I don't know about ER, but I think you should get 6 months to a year of general nursing in before moving to ICU. The first 6 months for a new grad can be very stressful in many ways, let alone the stress of an ICU. Also, though I'm not saying you wi...