halfpast

You would be NUTS to pass up the job if you are offered it. You may find that you won't even be on nights very long before a day position opens... the wait list might not be as long as you think. As long as you have your foot in the door then that's all that counts. I was hired as a new grad for nights 24 hours, and before I was even off of orientation I had a job as day/eve 32 hours.

I find myself eyeballing people's veins... especially the big muscular guys. I want to put at #16 right in those juicy arms.

We have a nurse on our floor that charts her patients as "afrebrile"..... every time.

What should we be looking for?

In my hospital we started pushing last year. 40mg/10ml IVP over 2 minutes is standard. As far as the OP's question goes... Start a new peripheral IV. If not, when infusing meds you should prime a new set of tubing and disconnect the pt to infuse meds, although this is certainly not ideal. Get the best IV nurse that you have and get another vein cannulated.

Thank you so much for all you do!! I love my team!!!

I guess next month's schedule was just posted...

I told you not to assign her to room 320 again.

The nurses use the punching bag to get their aggression out before work. Her shift doesn't start until tomorrow.

She's training 100 hours per week to become a professional boxer... Nursing was too exhausting.

I was a student nurse last spring of 2011 doing my final 200 hour preceptorship in a hospital that was just about to go-live with their EMR. I was working one-on-one with a nurse. I actually found it to be helpful- as many "younger" nurses/students are more handy with the computer, I was able to take the electronic documentation class, and was actually able to teach my preceptor many things about the program and how to use the documentation system. As far as having groups of students around, I think it could be helpful. It's always nice to know that one of your patients have a student-- just another pair of hands to help out, and you can bet that some of the nurses will need it! We had two nurses leave our hospital (one went into early retirement) and they made it know that it was because we were switching over to EMR. I, however, love EMR and EMAR!! Makes documentation so much easier!

As a new grad about to complete my first whole year as a nurse, I find a lot of this information accurate and helpful. However, the last section about trusting no one makes me somewhat sad. I will start off by saying I agree to never lend anyone your keys/passwords/whatever it may be. Also, while I am busy at work I like to focus on work alone, and leave the chit-chat to before/after my shift and during breaks. But, I have found some lasting friendships with several of the women that I work with. Most of my co-workers and myself know about eachother's families, when they buy a new house, get a dog, where they're going on vacation, when one of their children went to prom, etc. Of course there is the usual mild workplace drama, but I have NEVER seen a cat fight happen at work, let alone in the middle of the hall. It embarrasses me to know that professional, grown men and women, there are nurses behaving in that manner. As nurses the actions we make represent not only ourselves, but our entire workforce. I can not imagine what it would be like to work in that type of environment. All I can think is, it's no wonder why you are leaving.....

I am a graduate of a BSN program last May 2011. I do have some advice for you and all the others graduating and in nursing school. While still in nursing school, get a job as a nurse's aide, PCA, CNA, Tech, NA, whatever you can get. Preferably in a hospital on a med/surg floor or floor that would hire a new grad. Every student that I graduated with that worked in a hospital as an aide, was hired as a nurse there. Many of the students that didn't have a job in the nursing field are still searching. From what I've seen, if you work on the floor and graduate, as long as you work hard, are friendly/compatible with the team members, and seem somewhat competent, they WILL hire you. I've seen it happen for the grads of 2010, 2011 (myself), and we just hired 2 new grads for 2012 that just graduated, and we all worked on the floor as PCAs first. Can't stress it enough how important it is to get your foot in the door. Why would they hire someone from the outside, when they have someone here and willing who they know is going to be reliable? I know it's easier said than done, but that's basically the only trick I have up my sleeve to share with ya'll. Good luck, and hang in there

Dr. Harry Potter... No lie, he's a PCP in Mass.

Hello, I just graduated and began working on a medical-surgical floor. I am trying to find a good small book/ bedside guide or something of that nature that has a bunch of information on med surg nursing. For example- If I got assigned a patient with a SBO, I could look up in the book signs/symptoms, medical management, nursing management and things to look out for.... that kind of stuff. Anyone know of a book or something of the sort like that? Thanks! :)