Arianna727

Aww how sweet! I say a good quality stethoscope, like a Littman. Maybe a gift card to a local scrubs store? A new laptop for nursing school (I got one as a gift and it's my school only computer) A teacher recommended this to us recently. It's called "pocket nurse". It's a clipboard (great to use in clinicals!) and the front and back is printed with basically everything a nurse would need to know off hand (lab values etc.). It's great to carry around in the hospital but I am too cheap to spend the $30 on it. Google it!

Invest in a tape recorder..the ones with USB adapters are great so you can upload lecture recordings straight to your computer. During lecture, esp. the very long 5 hour ones, there is SO MUCH info being thrown at you. I find it helpful to record the lecture so I can listen again to it later on. It helped me a lot this semester and I wish I thought of it last semester!

:smackingf OMG

Is it just me, or does your badge only flip to the wrong side? I tried to be smart one day and put it on the wrong side purposely, thinking it would flip to the correct side to no avail I also flipped around the snap-lock on my badge reel, still no help! I have a boobie defiency too...maybe that is the issue!!!

In regards to the women who were kicked out d/t pregnancy, I smell a lawsuit! (Although I understand why it would be unsafe for a pregnant woman to be present for clinicals bc of the risk of infection/disease, especially with contact patients, plus how the labor-intensive stuff ie. moving patients, can be harmful) But at least let them complete the academic (non-clinical) stuff, and return post-delivery! Here's a good "student getting thrown out" story: My CLASS PRESIDENT was arrested during spring break during our first semester, in connection with a HUGE million dollar prescription drug ring (netted about 20 arrests), in which she forged scripts of controlled substances in her name. A huge story (in the newspaper, on TV!) in which all of the teachers, including the head of nursing & president of our school saw unfold in the media. Needless to say, she was expelled...

I actually don't have a reference book (I know, I need to get one!) and the one in the library has been checked out for weeks . So, are you suggesting: FVE r/t fluid overload by rapid/excessive fluid administration via IV secondary to dehydration a/e/b blah blah blah? Does the secondary to part even belong/make sense there? Does anyone think I should just omit the whole dehydration thing (it is in the main medical diagnosis on my map) and just write: FVE r/t fluid overload by rapid/excessive fluid administration via IV a/e/b blah blah blah? I think the last one sounds best. What do you guys say? Any suggestions? Is that even correct? Thanks all and thanks a lot EricJRN! :redbeathe

I despise group projects..... For starters, last semester, I made close friends with another student. We were in a group project together, of course. I took on a major part of this project, and let EVERYONE know, weeks in advance, a deadline to hand their part in to me. This one girl in particular paid no mind (which I saw from the get go), so I gently reminded her every so often... The night before I wanted everyones parts, I reminded those who did not hand it in yet that I would like it by the end of the next day (mind you I work 40h/week, and had limited time to put it all together, which is why there was a deadline). She FLIPS out on me, telling me that this was her last priority, considering her mother had a major medical emergency and I was heartless and nasty for even asking her at that time (even though she had weeks to do it). Needless to say, I felt like a piece of garbage and apologized a million times. This girl had the audacity to come into class the next day and talk to me like nothing happened the night before, and continued to tell me about her clubbing/drinking/stalking her bf/getting her hair done/ear pierced etc. that weekend...... Nothing about her deathly ill mother. I asked how she was, and she told me fine. Found out later she LIED ABOUT THE WHOLE THING! What a piece of garbage..needless to say we do not speak to this day. She wound up handing me in her part, all right...a few days later, plagarized the entire thing and I had to redo it... We did great on the project, and it killed me knowing that she got the same grade as everyone else, even though she did nothing. I hate that. I want to be evaluated on MY OWN WORK. I don't want to help pass others who do nothing. I feel like group projects are made to benefit the slackers...not to encourage "team work", because there is ALWAYS a part of the team that doesn't work! I've passed many people in NS, and at my other college (non-nursing classes), through MY group project. Also, in groups, there always seems to be one person in control... Unfortunately (and this may be my own fault), I am usually this person. However, I can not let the fate of my grade lie in someone elses' hands... Someone needs to take the reigns, but nobody ever wants to step up.

Everyone says it, and it sure seems like it: NS will take over your life! If I'm not in clinicals, or in class with my classmates, I am studying at their houses, on the phone with them or in constant contact via text or email. Your classmates know what you are going through (and are going through it with you as well), they are there for help, support and vice versa, and you will be with them A LOT! Through the good, bad, ugly, and even through tears! Life is still going to happen outside of school, and they are a constant support system because they understand the stress of life + nursing school! (great ex. I was held up at gunpoint recently during this semester. ALL of my classmates were there to comfort me, hug me, talk to me and offer me support. Shortly after, a classmates' son was scheduled for brain surgery! She received the same support! We are all there for each other!) I've made great friends so far. Not to sound discouraging, but I've also lost some NS friends thus far, too. Some have held me back, or screwed me over regarding school work, but those are few and far between. You'll begin to see which students really want it, and which are most serious, and those are the students I tend to stick closely to because they encourage me to work harder, study more. You have to understand, after a long day of clinicals with tons of "cool" experiences, I want to share it with anyone who will listen! But my co-workers and family DON'T WANT TO HEAR about my pts' stage 4 bed sore in which I saw her bone and muscle, or about the HIV+ man who puked on me (and then caused his wife to start projectile vomitting as well LOL). Or about the patient who tells you how beatiful you are, or about the family member of a patient who tells you have much he believes in you, and what a great nurse you'll become, or how HUGE it was for the nurse manager on your floor to personally compliment you on your work! Or about the dramas of nursing school! Your classmates will love these stories, however, and will always listen! They understand your test anxiety, and will cheer you on or cry with you when needed! It's a nurse (or student nurse in this case) thing! You share the same goal and same pleasure/love for nursing! Without NS, I would have never met these people, and I'm sure glad I did!

Yes, I know... many concept map questions coming about now that we are nearing the end of the semester! I just need help wording part of mine. One of my nursing dx is Fluid Volume, Excess. I know this is wrong, and after proof readng, I realized how little sense it made. This is how I put in it my concept map: FVE r/t Dehydration (fluid overload) a/e/b edema in upper/lower extremities, bounding 4+ pulse, tachycardia (150 bpm). I KNOW FVE and dehydration are polar opposites BUT, due to this pts.' dehydration, (I think this is why...bc this is what the patient told me LOL; mind you she is a BSN RN), they infused fluids via IV too rapidly/too much (d/t dehydration) causing FVE. It [FVE r/t Dehydration (fluid overload)] sounds stupid, or wrong, correct? Is there a better (or right) way to word it? Thanks for the help guys!

:hhmth:you took the words right out of my mouth!!!!! i was just about to say, "itis"? what exactly is inflammation of a senior?! good comparison of the "itis" and "osis" using diverticulosis/litis. that gave me a great laugh! anywho, good luck to all of you seniors! almost there, keep perservering!

GO FOR IT! Please don't let your age hold you back!! Someone wise once told me: you won't stop learning until the day you die! You're never "too old" to learn anything! In my class, it seems like the majority of the students are older; married, kids, second (or first later in life) careers. There are fewer 19-late 20's students (more late 20's than early!), and no students (that are left lol) straight out of HS. I wanted to kick myself for not entering nursing school at 18, but I know now I wasn't mature enough to handle such a big, time consuming responsibility (I started @ 20). The students in my class take it more seriously than I think an 18 year old would (like 18 y/o me!). And let me tell you, mature classmates make the best classmates! No drama, no chit chatting, back stabbing, immaturity! I have many students in my class in their late 20's to late (49) 40's. Some of the older students came for a second career, or after raising their children. I used to be JEALOUS of the older students (even though the majority have no health care experience) because they have more valuable life experience than I do and seemed more educated!!! Until an older student (in her late 40's, whose 20 y/o daughter is also in our class!!!) told me she was JEALOUS of ME, because I've never taken '20 years' off of getting my education, and she felt it was hard to get back into the swing of things (she is a great student, btw). It all depends on how you look at it! I still envy the older students at times because they do so well (most have the best grades in the class)! It may be due to life experience (w/o medical backgrounds) or maybe because they take the experience much more seriously, which I don't think I did in the beginning. Hope you go for it and don't let anything hold you back! Best of luck!

This isn't from a patient, but from her daughter. My patient was a morbidly obese woman in her 60's. She had a full on beard, just like a man. A little while after I arrived on the floor, a woman in her 40's comes walking down the hallway. She's clearly a drug addict (her jerking body movements, overall appearance). I see she has a full on beard as well and I think "Oh god, this is her daughter!" She walks into my patient's room and goes, "HEY SEXY!!!!!" to her mother. LOL She gets to talking and tells us last time she was in this hospital was when she was diagnosed HIV+. Not shocking, considering her drug abuse. She says she likes "her man's" hospital much better. "He's been there for a year, on life-support." So we ask why, of course and get this response...in front of her MOTHER. "Well, it was my birthday, and my mans was pleasing me. And it was gooood. So after we finishing making love, I called mommy to tell her I got the golden one (an orgasm, I figured out). I was on the phone with mommy and I said Mommy, I gotta call you back. he aint breathing. So i called 911 and they said he was dead for 45 mins. but they got him back and he's been on life support since. I almost killed my mans with that crazy sex. Too much viagra too. His heart couldn't handle this!!" Oh, I nearly bit off the side of my cheek to keep from laughing LOL

An older, 70-something y/o gent was admitted onto the floor where I'm a student nurse. During my assessment, I ask, "Do you know why you're here?" He replies, "My daughter called 911 on me because she thought I was acting weird when we spoke on the phone. Of course I was acting weird! I drank half a bottle of rum!!!!" We begin to speak about where he lives, etc. He tells me the location, which I am familiar with. It's a bad part of town plagued by gangs, drugs, violence. It also has lots of steep, steep hills, which can feel like a 100% incline! He tells me, "Man, my neighborhood is so depressing!" So I ask why, thinking he would say because the neighborhood is so bad. Instead, he says, "Everywhere you go there is a f-ing hill! Everytime I see one of those hills I get depressed because my a$$ has to make it up there to get home!" LOL After cleaning this man up, changing his clothes, sheets, etc. he looked pristine! Off I go on my 1 hour lunch break, only to return to see this man sitting in his underwear with one sock on, beds a mess and he's eating his lunch. There is cole slaw EVERYWHERE...on his legs, his feet, chest, face and all over his bed. I asked, "What happened to you?!" His reply? "Oh, this cole slaw grew some legs and walked away! All over my bed, my legs. I left it in the bed incase I get hungry later. And on my legs. My legs are hungry! My bones need some food too!" :) He then states, "Man, I wish I could smoke. I wanna get outta here!" I say, "Mr. Patient, smoking cigarettes is no good for you anyway!" He replies, "Ma'am, I aint talking about cigarettes...I'm talking about the "five-fingered plant! (weed)" LOL I found this hysterical, considering his age, that he's smoking weed! I KNOW I shouldn't have replied with this, but I did (don't forget I'm a student, and I do make mistakes!) I say, "Ahh, a little bit of weed never killed anyone!" to which he replied, "Ma'am, I don't smoke a little bit of weed; I smoke A LOT of weed!!!" LMAO Needless to say, he gave me many laughs that day :)

I think Leslie has it right. D(S) means doctoral student? C means certified? MSN of course means Masters Science of Nursing Is this right guys? BTW, I took the advice and just put Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor on her gift!

Hi all! Quick intro: I'm a second semester student nurse in an AS Nursing program who has been snooping around these boards for a while! It's about time I registered as a user here and I'm glad I did. I love this board! :redpinkhe So, I am looking into personalizing a gift for one of my favorite instructors. It's a simple mousepad and I'm able to put her name on it. I was thinking about including all of her titles on it, but don't know if I should (she will soon have her Phd in nursing, and as of now is only MSN). Anyways, I'll figure that out later. My question is, what does all this "alphabet soup" after her name mean anyways?! Her e-mails used to be signed: Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor, MSN, RN, C Now, they are signed: Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor, MSN, RN, C, D(S) I think I'm going to just keep it simple and put Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor on her gift, but I'm still curious! Thanks all! I will be around & interacting more often now that I'm a user :)