GIEndoRN

I work in general ICU/CCU and I have seen one Swan in the last year. Definitely just about phased out in my hospital, although we don't do open hearts.

Cath lab? Stress lab? Endoscopy? Infusion?

Many grads in various organizations around me as well!

Well, I am doing RN to MSN, but perhaps I can help?

This is interesting to hear, I've also had the BCG vaccine. When I was younger, I had a few false positives but not in many years. I still get a violent skin reaction to Mantoux though. I want to gnaw my arm off the first night because it itches so bad. Thankfully it only lasts a day or two.

Obviously for infection control purposes, this was not ideal, as "cap" (needleless connector) changes should always be a sterile procedure. As far as direct harm to the patient, since the line was clamped and capped, it's fine. Sounds like you cleaned the site well, so I wouldn't expect there to be any problems. Mistakes are a learning opportunity and I'm sure it will stick with you forever! I would approach your unit educator. Sounds like your unit needs an in-service! There are likely other nurses who are not comfortable accessing CVCs as well.

I've worked in the same unit since graduating from nursing school. My previous career was in a totally unrelated field. I have recently been thinking about moving on to a larger hospital to gain more experience as I hope to start traveling at some point. I have not told anyone at work about this, as I'm honestly not sure if I will make a move or not. My unit has recently lost quite a few people as it is. I applied to a job and got an interview, but they wish to have five professional references, at least two coming from a supervisor. How do I deal with this? So I would now have to announce that I'm thinking about leaving? I'm not sure if I'm comfortable doing this in case I don't end up taking another job.

Please don't let the biochem scare you, it really wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Honest.

12 CUs per term.

My class had four ESL students, including myself. We all made it through nursing school and NCLEX. So you can absolutely do it!! The hardest part was writing papers, sentence structure can be problematic for me and I don't spot my errors by proof reading. I visited the writing tutors often and in the end, received high grades for my papers. I am currently pursuing a master's in nursing education. Don't let anything hold you back from what you wish to accomplish!

My feelings echo yours exactly! I love the night atmosphere, but I also struggle with the schedule. In my pre-nursing life, I worked early shifts for twenty years and I feel unable to shake my internal clock. I feel like a zombie all the time, always tired, never feel like doing anything and it's starting to wear on me.

I mostly just reviewed the areas I was weaker on the PA.

I'm just waiting on my webcam to show up so I can test out of Care of the Older Adult and move on...

Omg! That's amazing! Thanks for sharing that. I don't think I have that in me, but I hope to accelerate a little bit.

Well I believe us upstate people are weighing the averages down... The base pay in my hospital is $24/hr and there are area hospitals that pay even less.