EAST1981

Aww, shucks. Thanks!

I had a pt during my preceptorship who was in his mid 50's and had come in for a PFO repair. I went in the room to answer his call light and he said "I was just wondering if I could get a little piece of bread, with a little bit of turkey and maybe a little bit of cheese." To which I replied, "So... you want a sandwich?" with a grin. He and his wife died laughing. THis same pt promised to dance for me if I brought him said sandwich. I was expecting he'd do a goofy little shimmy or something, but no, I brought the sandwich and he got up and waltzed me around the room! At change of shift my preceptor was showing his cath site (at the groin) to the night nurse and saying "... there's been no problems, no bleeding it's soft..." And of course, he pipes up and says, "It won't be if you keep rubbin' it!" He was so much fun, I love entertaining pts!

I am new grad and I am a sitter in a local hospital (until I get an RN position, that is!) I think this sitter's behavior is ridiculous!! One thing I have found in the last year and a half of doing this job is that typically, the patient's behavior during your shift is directly proportional to how hard you're willing to work. Not always, but usually. I have elderly patients with UTIs who needed to get up literally every 20 minutes to pee. And technically, at my hospital, that's not even part of the sitter's job. But I do it, as long as I feel it's safe, because that's what the patient deserves. I will let the patient do whatever they want, as long as they are safe. If the patient wants to get up and walk the halls at 3 in the morning, I take them out in the hall and walk with them as long as the RN okays it. If they want to talk to me for 8 hours, cool, I'll chat with them as long as they like. And you know what? I very rarely have problems with patients. Generally, restraints only make the patient worse... and it doesn't always stop them from getting lines out either. I wouldn't hesitate to report her. She obviously doesn't care about the patient's best interest and simply wants to get paid for doing nothing for an entire shift.

Heard a fellow nursing student complain today that her "sphygnanometer" wasn't working. My first thought was "That's not the right word, you're missing a couple syllables." My second thought was "Why not just call it a BP cuff like everyone else?":p

I am currently in the UNMC program. And actually, there are 5 campuses now, so if you're not picky about where you go that increases your odds considerably. The campuses are in Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney and Scottsbluff. Many people prefer Omaha or Lincoln, however, I will say that those areas are saturated with nursing schools and so there are fewer job opportunities for new grads. If you go to Scottsbluff, there are tons of positions available, and less competition for them. As for getting into the program, I don't think it was really that difficult. UNMC is the only school I applied to and I chose it because I got my previous 2 degrees from UNL so I knew everything would transfer. I definitely didn't have a 4.0 at the time, it was probably in the 3.5-3.6 range (not really sure). The best advice I can give you about nursing school is to keep work hours to less than 20 if at all possible. Seriously. UNMC is notorious for springing mandatory orientations and clinicals on you at the last minute or changing schedules with no notice. The more you work, the more difficult it will be to accomodate these last minute changes. Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun! The best part of nursing school has been all the awesome people I have met!