bmathis

The BP med and antibiotic were probably scheduled and not a PRN med (as needed). So the nurse would not be able to administer those meds until there scheduled time. 15 minutes is not bad response time. If you continue to have issues, ask to talk to the charge nurse and they will be able to help you.

1) The feeling I get when I walk out of work knowing I truly helped someone and made a difference that day. 2) Honestly, money did influence my decision. I wanted to help people. I was stuck between teaching or nursing. Money and better schedules, along with being able to help people and interact with them won nursing over. 3) Worst part of the day is usually the morning med pass at 0900. At 0900 you are trying to pass your scheduled meds on time, family members are calling, doctors are making rounds, labs are comming in and you are trying to get a good idea of your patients status. Stressful :) 4) I work on the surgical unit. There was an opening on it while I was still in school as a tech. I applied and got the job and got my foot in the door. I had clinicals there before and liked it so I applied there for my GN/RN after school and got the job. I like the flow of it. You get a patient with a problem, fix the problem, help them recover and send them home. It's awesome seeing someone come in with, say, a femur fracture. They are in pain when they come in and you are keeping them comfortable and reassuring them. You set them up for surgery. They go to sugery and get their leg fixed. They come back to you and you monitor their progress and teach them how to do things again. Then in a couple days they are ready to go home. I guess I just like seeing people get better faster. 5) I say math is pretty important in nursing, and if you are not to good at it to practice some med calculations pretty often. You use it every for meds. 6) Like I said earlier, luckily, I got my foot in the door as a tech first. So I had a job right after graduation. It was in the hospital. 7) I have not had a patient die while under my care yet. I have had several patients who were end of life care and it was very emotional. The family is at the bedside watching as the patient deteriorates. I handled it the best I could by talking with the patient (even though they were not talking back to me) and telling them that her family is here and I am here for her also, to keep her comfortable. Another time, a patient looked my in the eyes, grabbed my hand and said "I want to go." Very hard to deal with. 8) I pretty much always get my lunch break. I work 12 hour shifts. There has only been like twice in the past year that I can remember not being able to get my full lunch break b/c it was so busy. But that can be with any job depending on how busy it is. Remember, you have to take care of yourself so that you can take care of your patients! 9) I would say pretty important if you want to advance your career past a staff nurse. 10) Volunteer in the department, apply there as a tech, and do as much clinical time there as you can to make sure you will enjoy it. Study, study, study in that area also.

I do understand we cannot do everything. :) There is just a risk of infection and hematoma. Techs may not know a pt is on a heavy dose blood thinner and may not hold pressure long enough, or put a BP cuff on the same arm as the dc'd iv for one last set of vitals and cause a hematoma. My point: sure, if they are trained let them do it! But, it is not that hard to stop in and say good bye to the pt while peeking at the old iv site.

I would mainly stick to answering there questions. If they ask why you have been off for so long you could say something about your town only having nursing homes/rehabs as you said and say that you have gained a lot of experience there and felt like you were ready to try something new (med surg).

Think about her poor kidney function and what that does to the body...

School should be your first priority. I think RN's will get hired more than LPN's. It will pay off in the long run. Is there another clinical group you could go with one day during the orientation week? Could you make up the clinical time another day with a preceptor? Its hard to find a balance in work and school. I worked full time, went to nursing school full time, and had a toddler through it all. It is tough! Just keep pushing and it will be worth it in the end when you only have to work 3 days a week and make good money! Try to work it out and balance it! See what options you have at school to make you scedule work just for that short orientation period. Or like the other person said, try to find the person who told you they would work around your clinical schedule...good luck!!!

If you dont think you will like job number 1, dont do it! It is horrible waking up and dreading going into work every day because you hate it...been there! I agree that talking with the VA and letting them know you situation is a good thing, let them know that you need a for sure answer that as long as everything checks out, you have the job. It will be worth it in the long run to have a job you enjoy :)

At our hospital, in the ER, I think they are also starting to let techs draw blood...has anyone else has techs drawing blood?

I dont think its "blaming" the techs. It is just that they may not know to look to see if the cath is intact or not and what it could cause if a piece was missing. "Assessing" is the nurses job, and ultimately the patients condition is the nurses responsibility. So after dc'ing an iv we need to assess the cath and bleeding. On my floor we do not let techs remove iv's, but I think our ER may...?

I would send frozen to prevent waste, When it is thawed out after being froze it dosent stay good as long. I always just ran hot water on the bag, and with only 2 oz it only took a couple minutes to thaw out. Medela bags are crazy expensive! I used to buy some from walmart, Lansinoh brand. They are like $5 for 25 or $10 for 50.

oops! thought my first one was gone :)

So have you started pumping? If not you should for sure start at home a little to get the hang of it and store up on some breast milk. I would always send my stored breastmilk to the sitters and a can of formula just in case they ran out of milk. My son usually ate 2-4 oz of breast milk every 2 hours at that age, but every baby is different. I worked 3 12's also and would pump in the morning before work then try to pump every 2-3 hours at work. By law, at least in my state I know, you should be supplied with a private room to pump and are allowed to make as many breaks to do so as you feel that you need to for the first year after birth. But, they are not required to pay you for those breaks. My hospital never took time out of my check, and I dont think anywhere would unless you got crazy with your breaks. You should pump as often as your baby eats. It just takes time and practice to get into the swing of things :) Also, store breast milk in 2 oz bags to avoid waste so that if baby is still hungry after a feeding they can warm her up a little more at a time until she is full. Hope this was helpful and good luck to you!

So have you pumped at all? You should for sure pump a little at home to get the hang of it and store up on some breast milk. I would always send my stored breastmilk and pack formula just in case they ran out of breast milk. We started giving my baby a bottle once a day, usually at bedtime. I work 3 twelves also, and would pump in the morning before work and then every 2-3 hours at work. I know there is a law that you have to be provided a private room to breast pump and that you are allowed as many breaks to do so as you feel you need; though they may not have to pay you for all your breaks. The hospital I work at did not take time off of my check for my breast pumping breaks, and I think they would only do that if you go crazy with the breaks. To keep baby nursing, use slow flow nipples and sit them more upright to feed them the bottle to make it harder to get the milk out, or else they get used to it being to easy and dont want to work hard at nursing. Hope this helps :)