iluvhrts

We are tested so many times a year. 24 during the first year. I've been six weeks without one, then had two in one week. It's hard on the pocketbook. Ours is $ 45 a pop. Through Affinity.

Have you tried your State nursing association?ours offers professional support groups as well as helps guide ppl through their consent orders. I went to treatment at a facility that specialized in medical professionals so I go to aftercare there and get advocacy from them. Good luck.

There is a woman in my nurses group that will graduate from a DNP program while under a consent order. Our aftercare program is very stringent and required communication between them and her program to verify she had notified them. It is from a prestigiousDNP program also. Our treatment center is pretty well known too though. So... Have you actually talked to anyone in the admissions office? I understand the guilt and shame aspect. But, maybe your sponso can help you work through that. Best of luck on your recovery!

I went to a class today and we had a mini cannulation "workshop". I remembered something I practiced on.. I used the tubing of a needle and cannulated it over and over.. To get the hand of the "pop". It is roughly the size of a fistula or graft, rolls... I totally agree with the "taut" skin. Also, on a fistula a good tourniquet to pop it out. And when you get in and level out, I use my forefinger to make sure I'm threading it the right direction. It helped that one of my fav patients joked from day one that he "enjoyed pain" so I could try on him anytime.... And I can NEVER get his venous... Dang thing acts like a freaking snake 10% of the time... my old preceptor can never get his arterial... so we tag team him :)

I did not have any clue what "kind" of a nurse I wanted to be until my last clinical of nursing school. I did however have FIRM ideas on what I DID'NT want to do. Just study hard, get all the experience in every kind of nursing you can. Even if you don't think it will appeal to you, you never know what will "grab" you. For me, it was the words "DA@$ it, get me the crash cart!". But, now, I am totally out of acute care and LOVE it. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to a hospital. So, get all the experience you can! Good Luck!

Was there no other MD that could be called? No ER Doc? Way too little info.. Outside her scope, she could lose her job and her license .

Just a thought.. In a clinic or MD's office (good luck finding that as a new grad unless you want to make MA pay), there would be things you would have to miss. Kindergarden graduations? Awards Days? Sometimes you can't get days off. No matter what profession you are in. Yes, when you work in acute care you have to work around things. I found it was the grown-ups that complained more than my kids (like my mother). It took a few years, but SHE adjusted. My family and I never missed a beat. Let's face it, we live in a 24/7 world. Nurses, MD's, police and firefighters are not the only one's that have to work. Truck drivers (my DH who makes more money for less hours than I work), grocery clerks, food service people. Kids are resilient. It's the grown-ups that can't adjust.

Do you know anything about Grady? Grady is frequently on the edge of bankruptcy. It is the only Level One Trauma unit in the ATL area. The pay is less than average. They rarely hire new grads anymore. There are multiple Atlanta area nursing schools they would pull from. However, if you can tolerate the poor working conditions, the long hours, crappy pay and benefits... the experience is like no other.

I think each pt is different. I think your attitude and demeanor is important. If you act all timid and unsure then the pts are not going to trust you. Breaking the skin is what hurts. I don't go slow, I find that it hurts worse. Also, rotating the sites. I go in , get a flash then level out....

Why don't you apply to a specialty area? Sounds like a simple solution?

My clinic didn't recognize our AA on Secretary's Day. So... since she organizes all things like that... I'm sure we are SCREWED. The other two nurses in my clinic gave me a blank stare when I greeted them with "Happy Nurse's Week" today. One of those was my boss.. Now, I have to go buy my Teacher appreciation gift. And I am going to buy our school nurse (who is wonderful and has called me about the sweetest child on earth several times this year) a gift. Quite honestly, I am ashamed to admit, I have never done that before. And I think it goes back to "they want to foster a TEAM environment".. The Nurse's might think they are superior to someone if we only recognize THEM. Although, any nurse worth their salt knows a good PCT, housekeeper and secretary are invaluable.

I don't have any advice to offer since I myself am in a precepting nightmare at this time. But, I do want to offer you some support and encouragement. I would contact an attorney. There is a section in my state nursing association's newspaper that has "administrative" law attorney's. Take care of yourself. Your daughter needs you! Best of luck in this dismal situation!

Congratulations! I have an ADN and am working on my BSN while working full time. I despise math. HATE IT. Frankly, I was terrified of Clinical Calculations. I was more frightened of that than the actual nursing program. That said, I applied myself with the same determination I used to get into school, and passed with an A and never failed a med test in school or for a job. In the real world, your IV pumps calculate it, your smartphone app can calculate it or the pharmacy. But, you need to know how to do it because there will be times that you want to double check calculations. Good Luck!

You have to have two years(I think) of ICU experience to get your CCRN. You will have no concept as a new grad about how to pass the CCRN, wether it be ADN or BSN. It is a very difficult test and requires clinical experience. I passed mine on the first try after 3 years experience with an ADN. Good Luck! You will have to sign an affidavit saying you have had so many hours in the past year of bedside hours in an ICU and give the name of someone that can verify it. You can go to AACN online and see the exact criteria. It's not as simple as taking a class and taking the test if you have not been in the ICU.

One other thing you could have done was "hard flush" the art line. Take a 10 ml syringe with NS and flush it throught the port as you would if you were drawing labs out of the port. Sometimes the extra force "whips" the end of the art line back into a better position. Why were you still using a poor art line? Frequent ABG's? That and you could have asked day shift to get an order to treat NIBP instead of Aline.

A CRNA in treatment with me, his DOC was diprovan. Relapsed on it three times.

I also had no dialysis experience. The hiring process was as smooth as the last hospital I worked for. One interview with with center manager (they call them Facility Manager) then an offer in about a week period. After that it took ten days for the drug test/background check, then started work. I will have a 90 day orientation. Both in center and in classroom. Right now, I am working with a PCT, learning the machines, how to stick and remove lines. In my center our PCT's are awesome and all have 10+ years dialysis experience. I am a firm believer in as a nurse I should be able to do everything they can do so I can pitch in and help when needed. I was hired for a charge nurse position. I have to know what I'm doing before I can be charge. Meds are minimal. In Georgia, there must be one nurse for every 10 patients and a tech for every 4 patients. When the second round of patients starts to fall off and we get down to about 6 patients usually a nurse leaves and there is only one tech there. But we start at 5 am. I am usually home by 3. Center is never open past 330. Yes, sometimes pts have bad days. It's not real fun to be attached to a machine three days a week. But, I dealt with pts and families AND MD'S in the ICU too. I have come to really adore some of my patients. They are very sweet. Some.. not so much. But, it's all in how you look at it. We had a patient get a call to get a transplant while she was in our clinic last week. It was the most amazing thing to see and feel. It was something I will never forget. I have been hugged and told "I love you" by patients when they are leaving and saying goodbye (hey say it to all the techs and nurses). Sometimes you actually feel apprieciated. Sometimes... they scream and yell when you are putting 15 gauge needles in their arms... So far, I have not had ONE family member come in and say to a patient "Have they been mean to you today, Mama?" or "I know she is sound asleep and hardly breathing, but can't you see, she's in PAIN?". OR my personal favorite... "Honey, I just had heart surgery, I can't stand up/ C &DB/ use IS/ feed myself." Obviously, I needed a change from CV surgery....

I've worked for Davita for about a month. I have not drank the kool aid yet. However, I have also worked for two for profit hospitals. Davita seems to be no different than those hospitals in the desire to make a profit. There are things that are very frustrating. Things that don't make sense. But, if you have ever worked in a for profit hospital...no different. I enjoy working with my patients and I work in a great clinic with awesome people. I got a minimal raise (everyone did) at the hospital. I get paid more at Davita than I did in the CVICU. I don't have to deal with MD's everyday. I don't have to give bath's, give millions of meds.. I do still work my butt off. It is not an EASY job. Love the hours. The benefits outweigh the negatives for now. That's my opinion.

Perhaps you need to do something in the science related field that you love so much? The fact is if your program has a 99-100% NCLEX pass rate they are testing correctly. Tough. Suck it up. Adjust or go to a program that you feel is adequate for your vast intelligence. Nursing is the ability to prioritize and critically think. Sometimes it is not a situation that is concrete. You have to assess a complex situation quickly. Not everything is cookie cutter. PRIORITIZING. Your program won't change, but maybe you need to rethink your career choice.

Ummm... I would check out the school systems. Not just take the real estate agent's word on it. Georgia education in general is among the worst in the country. Wellstar Kennestone has a huge L&D and is spectacular. I have a friend that works in the Douglas ER and she seems to like it.

Will you be practicing as a counselor that can write scripts? How are you going to utilize your NP? There is a very large recovery community in the Atlanta area with two prestigious institutions that are specifically for MD's, Nurses and other professionals. There is huge network of addictionologists that utilize FNP for med checks. Will you also be getting a LCSW? I saw a psych NP but it was in therapy. She didn't manage meds though...

I didn't read other posts, forgive if this is a duplicate. I just saw at grocery store, in the bleach section, right above the bleach, a clorox bleach pen. It was a "new" version of the old bleach pen. Maybe that would work and you wouldn't have to worry about bleaching your "Name,RN". Good Luck. I also have used just regular dawn liquid dish soap rubbed into stain. It works great for grease stains too.

The liter bag of NS in actually costs less than the 100ml bag in my old hospital.. so I have hung it before... still no more went in patient...

I'm having a hard time with your co-workers rationale.. what matters is how much NS they get. I work in dialysis and we sometimes prime the tubing with saline but do not hook up the venous line of the patient until there is 2-3 inches of saline left in the line to reduce volume intake. When I worked in the CVICU, I did the same thing, primed the tubing with NS, spiked the blood, then ran the blood until it was almost at the end of the tubing (wasting the NS wherever you waste), then hooking to pt. If they have a blood reaction, it would be treated the same way no matter what size bag?? You wouldn't give them another unit of blood through that tubing...

I have recently started in a Davita Facility. I have no previous dialysis experience and come from a fast paced high acuity CVICU. I have only been on the floor for a few days. But, knowing my personality, I usually have a cut and dried like/dislike of a situation. I was very wary of dialysis. So far, I LOVE it. It is hard work. Very hard, strenuous, continuous work. But, I come from a fast paced ICU so, it is fine with me. I enjoy talking to the patients. Yes, some are crabby..but they are everywhere. I am getting to know the personalities. My clinic was recently bought by Davita so it is still undergoing some change, but I have a great team of coworkers that seem to get along. Everyone has their moments. The PCT's are extremely well educated and your most valuable asset. I rarely see anyone on my shift sit down, we stand and walk all day. I hope I continue to enjoy it.