DenaInWyo

Oh Lisa..LOL I am SO glad to see that I am not the only one up late at night (well, I do work nights..or did) looking around to see if anyone else out there is making mistakes. I made a dumb one this past weekend, which basically involved a situation that I didn't even know enough about to know that I needed to ask a question (hard to ask questions when you don't know what you don't know). Got called into the boss' office today, and though she was very kind, supportive and understanding, I am beating the hell out of myself right now, and will likely continue to do so for days. I think I get a little comfort out of the fact that I am indeed not a complete failure because I make mistakes. What the heck did I think..I would come out of nursing school knowing everything? I feel like nursing school was an exercise in jumping hoops and learning testing skills. I'm one heck of a great test taker..but there are countless nursing things I wouldn't know if they jumped up and bit me on the tookus. Yep, there are times I feel like an absolute fraud.. "I'm not a real nurse, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night".. Deana

UGH! I hate this too, and it seems to be chronic where I work. I know I am a student and will learn more about how "the real world" works once I am out there, but it still seems to me that this is a no-brainer. Our nurses will set residents' med cups down by their plate during meal times and then just mosey off. The problem is, we have several 'hoarders' who like to sneak back in after meals and collect leftovers..whether the leftovers are cookies or pills. I've even found a used, uncapped syringe sitting next to a resident with some pretty serious dementia..wouldn't trust her with a butterknife, let alone something like that. Most of these nurses graduated from the same school I am attending and I KNOW they know better. And nope, a bug in the ear of the DON hasn't done a bit of good. Deana

Paper pants! I love it! Think that's what I'll start calling them. My pet peeve: my coworkers who think that it's okay to put our elderly ladies' hair into little kid hairstyles. We're talking pigtails with little plastic barrettes. *I* wouldn't wear my hair like that; why the heck would a 90 year old woman want to? I notice it's always only the ones who can't speak up to say "get that crap out of my hair!"

You didn't mention details, so I don't know if this applies to you or not, but just in case: I had one semester while I was still majoring in computer science that was just a mess for me. I got 2 Fs! I knew I should drop the classes, but there was no way I could have paid back the financial aid, either, so I just hung in there. That's also when I realized that programming computers was not for me Anyway, I am applying for what my school calls "academic forgiveness" which will wipe out that semester since it doesn't contain classes that apply toward my nursing degree. My GPA will jump from a 2.76 to about a 3.4. If your situation is anything like that, you might want to check into it. Deana

This isn't a ghost story exactly, but it kind of bugs me and is undoubtedly creepy. My grandmother passed away last January. It was a very emotional situation, with a lot of hard feelings on both sides. My last words with her were a terrible argument, and d/t a bunch of insane family strife, my mother and I didn't find out about her death until she'd been dead about a week. We still don't know what my half uncle did with her ashes. Whew..that's a very long story..suffice it to say that it was all ugly enough that the way I found out about her death was that a fellow classmate (I'm a second year adsn as of this fall) works at the nsg home she was in, and on the first day back to school after xmas break, she told me she was "sorry for my loss". I asked her what she meant, and finally worked out that my grandmother had passed. There I was, first day back to class, and had to bail to go and tell my mother that her mom had passed away. Anyway, this past March I got my CNA, and as that particular facility pays best, I ended up there. My grandmother's room was 110, and so help me, even though I walk right past it on my way to break, I always forget to look inside that room, no matter how determined I am on my way. Each time I purposely head that direction, something happens to keep me from getting there, even so far as a resident falling out of his wheelchair right in front of me, and by the time I've resolved whatever problem I encountered, I've forgotten what I'd intended to do. In the five months I've worked in the building, I have never once looked inside room 110. It's probably some subconscious hangup of my own, but whatever it is, it's like a reverse magnet. Deana

Have a barbeque with some of your friends who are in the same boat..misery loves company :chuckle Go buy yourself some cute new scrubs..you're gonna need 'em when those positive results come in!! Ah..I can't wait till I am waiting for those results myself!

Have a barbeque with some of your friends who are in the same boat..misery loves company :chuckle Go buy yourself some cute new scrubs..you're gonna need 'em when those positive results come in!! Ah..I can't wait till I am waiting for those results myself!

Have a barbeque with some of your friends who are in the same boat..misery loves company :chuckle Go buy yourself some cute new scrubs..you're gonna need 'em when those positive results come in!! Ah..I can't wait till I am waiting for those results myself!

Um, yeah, I would think so :chuckle Saunders has 4000 practice questions. I don't think they make it for Palm, but it does come with a disk for your PC. And about summer..honestly, I would have gladly kept going over the summer and graduated a few months earlier! I'm ready to get this show on the road! Mostly, I think it's that we're all so used to such a frantic pace, now that it's slowed down so much, I know I'm kind of wandering around feeling like I'm forgetting to do something! Oh well, if the darned weather ever clears up here, I'm going to get my butt outside and enjoy it! Deana

Thank you all so much for your responses..your kind words and shared experiences are really helping me wrap my head around this. I can really relate to having it in the back of your head through the rest of the shift, but having to suck it up, so to speak, until later. "Stunned" is pretty much a perfect description. I felt like "Hey! Someone has just DIED! Shouldn't we all be shutting the place down for the night? Shouldn't there be something more we are doing?" But the reality is, this is different than a family member going, in that we have all those other living people who need us. So long as we did our best to ease this one that has moved on, there is nothing more we can do. It's so true, what was said about the fanfare of birth compared to death. It IS a privelege to help people go peacefully, and it was a good death. And I do know I'll never forget this lady. I think I was just looking for validation that what I'm feeling this weekend is normal. Thanks again. Deana

Too funny..that's exactly what I'm doing! I hate to say it out loud (or type it), but now that the first couple of weeks of summer have passed, I'm (GASP!) bored!

Heck, we're having a problem with a CNA that is like that. You can tell that she truly hates her job..and the residents at my LTC suffer. She's just a bad attitude on two legs. In her case though, there are a multitude of other jobs she could have for the same amount of money..in many cases more money! I think she's in the old trap of "it's what I've always done". Unfortunately, no matter how many complaints she seems to get, nothing ever gets done about her. It's really sad. I switched majors from computer science to nsg when I finally realized that money is only one factor in a career. It's equally, if not even MORE important to me, to be satisfied with the job I am doing. At this point in my life, I finally want to be able to not dread my work so much that my first waking thought every morning is what kind of excuse to call in I can come up with.

Just got Saunders last week. Spend your money there. So far I've only browsed through it (hey, it's summer vacation!) but I've found three questions that are almost word for word the same as ones that have been on my school exams. That's the one I've seen most highly recommended on these boards, too. Deana P.S. Anyone notice that there are SIXTY of us on this board right now? WOW..I'm not the only one with insomnia tonight! :chuckle

Actually, she did have someone with her the whole time. As I said, she was a much loved resident, so every aide in the building made it a point of coming and spending a few minutes with her. At several points over the afternoon, there were 4-5 of us in there. My co-worker happened to be the one there when she took her last breath, and just grabbed me because I was close by to verify it. Gosh, I hope I didn't come off like we were cold about it. The fact of the matter was, we still had 100 or so still living people to take care of too, in the midst of it. None of us came away without being teary eyed, and the nurse who came in at our call said "God bless you *****" with his hand on her head. I guess that's the whole 'fact of life' part of it. It's the first of many I am sure to see, and I wonder how I'll react when it's a young person that my team has tried our best to save. Deana

Last night at work I had my first experience with death. I'm not freaked out about it, just, well, affected by it and it's heavy on my mind. I've never even been around anyone dying in my personal life..the closest I've ever been to a dead person was twice at funerals. Wow..how lucky I am, at 34. Went to work (CNA at a nsg home) at 1400..checked on this lovely lady on my first rounds..she said she was cold so I got her a blanket. She's normally very independent..talkative, oriented and altogether 'with it'. She'd gotten up for lunch that day, then laid down for a nap. The aide who had vitals that day took hers (routine) about an hour later and her bp was 70/28. She told the nurse, and word spread like wildfire through the building..the lady was a favorite of many. By 1530 she was mottling and her respirations were only 8 per minute. At about 1600, another aide poked her head out the door and waved me in as I walked down the hall..wasn't sure if she could find a pulse. I checked her with my stethoscope, told my co-worker we'd better get the nurse. It's a very odd sensation, putting your stethoscope where you know the heartbeat should be, and hearing nothing. The thing is though, you know by looking at them that you won't find anything, before you even check. I got a little teary eyed, but thank goodness didn't disolve into a blubbering mess, which has been one of my greatest fears since starting nsg school. I'm one of those people that cry over sappy commercials on TV. And then, I went on and got my run up for dinner. The funeral home came for her within about an hour. I am overwhelmed by the permanence of it..the fact that it's done and there's no getting it back. I'm not overcome..a little sad for her family, but not totally freaked out or anything. Not even close to what I thought I might be. I've never experienced death firsthand like that, and just wanted to share. I did feel kind of weird about just letting it happen, and it added one more click to the wheel that is turning that will determine where I want to work in nsg. I think I want to be someplace where I can at least try to defy that permanent, irrevocable final step..or at least be part of the team that is trying to save that person. I totally understand and agree with DNRs..this was no exception, but it was till kinda weird..like I should have been doing something. I guess that goes back to the time I heimliched a 10 year old when I was a waitress. That's an amazing high. Anyway, I'm disolving into a ramble, so I'll stop now. There's no other place in the world that I could have related this with knowledge that I'll be understood..thanks from a truly green student. Deana

Ugh..this has been a sore subject for me, so the best personal advice I can give is to buy a good one straight away. By the time you go through the cheaper ones, and discard them because they aren't any good, you'll have spent the same amount of money. I'm holding out for that Littman for my b-day in Sept., just in time for the start of second semester. I agree with the posters who do not like the double tube scopes. We have those where I work as a CNA, and I do not hear as well through them..too much background noise from the tubes. I am currently using a cheap version of an ultrascope (the ones with the plastic bell) and it's okay, but it's nothing like the Littmans I have borrowed on occassion. Bring someone with a heartbeat to the store with you, and try before you buy!

My closest nsg school buddy went through something similar to this during one of our 'community' clinicals this year. She felt like everything went swimmingly, had lots of chit chat with her nurse about kids and home and nsg school, felt like the whole experience went great. Nurse was friendly, she came away feeling like it was a good experience. Then the eval came in. The nurse who was so friendly said in her notes that my friend was "uncomfortable" with a blood pressure cuff, and did not know how to take an oral temp. This was just beyond weird, and she and I have talked about it numerous times trying to figure out what the heck she could have meant. This lady (the student) has kids..no way on earth she wouldn't know how to take an oral temp. We've gone over it a zillion times and cannot fathom what that nurse could have been talking about. As far as the BP goes..I am a CNA and take about 15 manual BPs a shift and always look like I'm trying to find a good spot for all the danglies. It would seem to me that it doesn't matter where you arrange the stuff so long as you get the right numbers. Anyway, the whole thing ended up kind of shrugged off, but I certainly know how you feel trying to figure out what went wrong. It sucks to have someone give a bad report on you to an instructor when you don't even know for sure what you did..let alone what you might need to work on. I think some of them just feel like they need to stick it to the nsg students..after all, that's what happened to *them* in school.. Deana

And what exactly was the person who told you this stuff hoping to gain? I suppose it's possibly a good thing to know when people are being two faced to you, but it's not exactly like they were spreading crap that could actually do harm to your goals. Why would he tell you this stuff when the only result it could have would be hurtful to you, and make you uncomfortable. Shame on him. In some ways, nursing school is a lot like highschool. It seems to matter a whole lot at the time, but years from now you will look back on it and it won't matter at all anymore. The best revenge is living well (that's the problem with cliches, they're so often true ). Do great in school, become a kick butt nurse. Bill Gates was a funny lookin' kid, too :chuckle Hugs to you..keep your eye on the prize.

I certainly didn't mean it in an offensive way. It was meant in the same spirit as letting someone know they've walked out of the restroom with toilet paper on their shoe. Better on a message board than a resume. If I did offend you, original poster, I apologize. Deana

Baccalaureate Couldn't resist..was just killin' me.

I just took a pay cut from $15 or more per hour as a waitress to take my first CNA job at a LTC. Yep, I'm nuts :chuckle I'm also REALLY sick of being a waitress. Mostly I really feel that the experience will benefit me during nursing school (I'm semester 2 of 4 in an ADN program). I feel like I'm really at a disadvantage right now compared to my CNA classmates. Where I'm at though, it isn't going to be TOO bad compared to what I've been reading on here. I start at 8.50/hr (.30-.80 shift differentials) until my liscense finally comes in from the BON, then go to 9.50/hr with .50-1.00 differentials. The differentials are great for me because I will be working nights and weekends. Saturday night, once I have my official liscense, I'll be looking at 11.00 an hour. Oh yeah, and there's that $500 sign on bonus, and a $30 bonus for coming in if you get called to pick up a shift. Personally, I don't know how the heck a person could get by on less, especially someplace like California where the cost of living is so much higher. 6 bucks an hour is like 4 an hour (maybe less!) here in Wyoming.

When you and your friends are at the all night diner at 3 am..not because you stayed up partying/clubbing that late, but because you GOT UP that early to get that final review in before the big test. When every coat pocket, purse, backpack, nook and cranny has a couple of alcohol wipes. Mine aren't as good as you all's..this thread is great!

I broke my tailbone while sledding with my kids last November. I'm just now to the point where I can sit down without being cautious about it. That's just SO not fun! I used to sit with pillows under my thighs so that my sore spot hung off the back, and wasn't having pressure put on it. Kind of like a makeshift donut.

I guess I don't think of the term "nurse" as gender specific. I am, however, working my fanny off to get an RN after my name, with all that title implies. Nope, nope, I wouldn't want to see it changed.