cass1320

When I was doing my ICU rotation in nursing school, I had a pt admitted for endocarditis s/t IV heroin use. He had already had two valve replacements and and was back in after a PE from reinfection of one of the new valves. He had previously been sent home with a PICC, but they had to remove it after he was discovered using it for his drug habit. He was in clear withdrawal and begging for IV meds. He got so desperate that he pocketed his PO hydrocodone in his cheek, spit it out, crushed it up mixed it with old water from a cup, and dug a used syringe from the trash so he could put it in his central line. We caught him as he was trying to mix it all together.

I work on a heart transplant floor at a research hospital. A lot of our patients stay 30 days or more pre and post transplant and they're all frequent fliers. We also do LVAD patient's and because were one of the few hospitals that deals with LVADs we see those patients quite often for years at a time. It can be very sad at times, but one of best feelings in the world is telling somebody they're getting a heart.

I passed! I'm going to email/call HR as soon as I get my license number to ask them who I need to give it to. Hopefully I'll get an update then. I'm also emailing my hiring manager to let her know I've passed and to ask for recommendations for preparing for training. Hopefully I'll get a response!

@noyesno This may be my favorite comment ever.

Kevsgirl, congrats on passing your NCLEX! I'm taking mine tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have my RN license soonish. Have you been in contact with UTSW since you got your license number? I'm getting nervous that the only thing I've heard from them was the one email about updating our applications, but I figured I'd wait til I had my license to start bugging them again. Thanks in advance for any info you've got!

@Kza321, are you on the cardiac step-down unit (I think the floor is 5 North/South right next to the CVICU)?

If you're willing to go as far as Denton, are you considering all DFW schools? If you've already been accepted to or are set on UTD, you might consider UT Arlington's BSN program. They have an excellent reputation and a "fast track" program that could allow you to graduate a bit earlier and I bet that your credits would transfer quite nicely as UTD and UTA are both in the UT system. UTA does require some intro to nursing courses that you can only get in the UT system, so that would be important to look into. I don't know if money is an issue or concern for you, but you will pay considerably more in tuition at Baylor or TCU than you will at a public university. If you are looking at Baylor, make sure that you have all the prereqs covered. As a Baptist university, Baylor requires extra courses in religion that you might not get at UTD. TWU is probably the easiest to transfer into, but they are probably also the most competitive as their applicant pool is HUGE. I would set up an appointment with a nursing adviser at each school your interested in to make sure you know all the steps you need to take. Of the nursing institutions in DFW, the hospitals recruiters I have spoken with tend to agree that UTA, TWU, TCU and Baylor are pretty equally reputable programs. Whatever you do, avoid the private "for profit" school like West Coast University. They recently opened a branch in Dallas, but these programs are usually money toilets and the accreditation issues will seriously complicate any graduate degree aspirations. Becoming an NP is an admirable goal and something I myself hope to achieve one day, but there are a lot of steps that lead there and you should be sure that you're completely comfortable with all of them before you pursue nursing. The years you work as an RN are not just a prerequisite that you have to check off before getting into an NP program, but rather a crucial part of gaining the wisdom and experience you will need to be a successful NP. Additionally, NPs might practice at a higher level than RNs, but they are still practicing nursing, which means they approach patient care very differently than Doctors or PAs. I advise that you make really sure that nursing is the profession that you want to commit to before you decide on a BSN program. DFW has some great programs for Medicine and Physicians Assistants that might be worth exploring (UT Southwestern and UNT come to mind). If you decide that nursing really is for you, shadowing a few RNs and NPs in the area could give you some extra insight into the profession and great connections for later on. You're definitely on the right track with getting your CNA certification and working before you start a nursing program. It's great experience and will look good on nursing school applications. Once you start a BSN program, you can also get a job as a Nurse Tech in a hospital to get extra experience during school. Nurse Tech jobs are a great way to get your foot in the door for your first RN job as competition for new grad jobs in DFW fierce. The previous poster mentioned a DNP program that accept BSN grads straight out of school. I respectfully disagree with her assessment that RN experience is a negligible part of being a successful NP. If your planning on staying in the DFW area, you WILL need experience as the NP programs here are very competitive and don't usually accept applicants with less than a year as an RN. There are several ways to make yourself competitive. A high BSN GPA, working in critical care (ER/ICU), specialization through certification (CCRN, etc.), and continuing education and leadership roles in your workplace are all a good start. You can look into some of the NP programs in DFW to get a better idea of what their looking for. TWU, UTA, TCU and Baylor all have information on their websites. You sound like someone who is motivated and already on the right track. I wish you the best of luck!

I think you'll be surprised how quickly you acclimate to it. It is intimidating at first, but don't be afraid to really dig in, as long as you stay respectful. When I did my cadaver lab, we started with the muscles of the back. The cadaver's head, hands and feet were all covered until we actually began dissecting them, so I was able to ease into it. If it starts to freak you out, take a break! Go get a drink of water, take a quick bathroom break, anything to give you a few minutes to catch your breath. Wear good shoes, cause if your actually doing the dissecting, you'll be standing for long periods of time. The smell of the embalming fluids was what really got to me, so I started putting a dab of Vicks on my upper lip. The smell also seeps into your hair, cloths and especially your hands. I found that if you rub your hands against stainless steel, it'll get rid of the smell. William Sonoma actually sells a stainless steel "bar of soap" to get stubborn odors off your skin that works great. Keep in mind what a wonderful gift this opportunity is. It will be so useful in nursing school and in your nursing practice, you'll definitely have an edge over nurses who never did cadaver dissections.

I did a cadaver also. I was in a group of 5 and we had one cadaver to ourselves. We dissected the entire body, and got to use the bone saw, etc. for the hemi-sections. We had two 4 hour labs a week to do the dissections and open lab every day from 4-9pm. I probably spent at least 18 hours a week just in the lab. If you've never gotten to do a human cadaver dissection before, you're really missing out. I wont lie, it's gross and smelly and more than a little disturbing, but it's also helped me so much through nursing school.

@kevsgirl, I'm starting the UTSW internship in October too! I got hired on the Cardiac Step-down unit. Where are you going to be?

I'm interested to know why the people you spoke with think that ABSNs programs are inferior to traditional BSNs. I have my first degree in History from a 4 year university and after finishing my first bachelors, I decided I wanted to go into nursing. I just graduated from a 12 month ABSN program and accepted my first nursing job. I had 4 job offers less than a week after I finished school and all the hiring managers I spoke with were very impressed with my program. One even told me out right that she prefers the ABSN grads over the traditional grads as they tend to acclimate to her unit faster. This being said, not all ABSN programs are created equal. You need to look at your options and the programs in your area and decide what will be the best fit for you. Whatever you decide, make sure the program, whether its traditional or accelerated, has a good reputation. Either way, good luck!

Make sure that you have submitted your application for licensure with the Texas BON. When you click on the link for the exam, make sure you enter your name exactly as you entered it on your application and choose the option "LVN graduate". If you still get that message, contact the BON and check the status of your application.

I literally just experienced the same situation. I had two interviews in the same week, one on Monday and one on Thursday. The first was for a cardiac step-down unit, the second for a cardiac ICU. I love critical care and I was really excited about the second job, but after the first interview I was offered the step-down position and told that they wanted their answer immediately (within 24 hours). I'm a new grad and I was worried that if I turned down the first job, I might not be offered the ICU position and I would have nothing. I called the ICU recruiter and explained the situation and she moved up my interview to the next morning! I had the ICU job offer by noon the same day. You know what's funny though? I ended up taking the first job after all. The ICU and the step-down unit I interviewed in ended up having the same patient acuity and ratio. The step-down might not be a true "ICU" but I'll learn just as much there as I would have at the ICU AND it pays 4 dollars an hour more and has better benefits. I'm glad I went to the second interview because now I have peace of mind, but I would have been devastated if I lost both jobs because I was greedy. In the end, the risk was worth it because being in a good learning environment is important to me. You should prioritize what is important to you (job security, pay, healthy work environment, public health vs. peds) and decide if risking the first job is worth a chance at the second.

I really haven't liked anything that Pearson publishes. Our peds/OB book (the thing was freaking huge!) was from Pearson. It was cumbersome and didn't make a lot of sense. It was our programs first year to use it and my whole class hated it. The teacher apologized after the fact and they're going back to their old book next year. Almost all our other textbooks have been published by Elseiver and I've LOVED them. I'm in a second degree BSN program that's about 50% online and most of our classes are primarily self-taught, so my textbooks were my lifeline--I read most of them cover to cover. I really liked Potter and Perry's Fundamentals of Nursing Practice, Lehne's Pharmacology for Nursing Care and Lewis, Dirksen and Heitkemper's Medical-Surgical Nursing. Also, most programs use Ackley and Ladwig's Nursing Diagnosis Handbook for teaching nursing diagnosis and care plans, but if your program doesn't this book is a MUST HAVE. I'll include the Amazon links. They're all pretty pricey, but I bet you'd be just fine with an older edition of the same book. Fundamentals of Nursing, 8e: Patricia A. Potter RN MSN PhD FAAN, Anne Griffin Perry RN EdD FAAN, Patricia Stockert RN BSN MS PhD, Amy Hall RN BSN MS PhD CNE: 9780323079334: Amazon.com: Books Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems, 8th Edition: Sharon L. Lewis, Shannon Ruff Dirksen, Margaret McLean Heitkemper, Linda Bucher, Ian Camera: 9780323065801: Amazon.com: Books Amazon.com: Pharmacology for Nursing Care, 8e (9781437735826): Richard A. Lehne PhD: Books Amazon.com: Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: An Evidence-Based Guide to Planning Care, 9e (0000323071503): Betty J. Ackley, Gail B. Ladwig: Books

The girl who gave me the tour was from NYC. I had no idea so many people from out of state knew about CCMC or it's residency program! Also, I've got to say thank you to everybody on this thread. No matter how this whole thing turns out, I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one in this situation. Ya'll have kept me from going crazy this week!