milkers

wow...I could have written this post myself 3 months ago! New nurse, at LTC facility on Days with 30+ residents to myself. I had 6 days of orientation where I was told to give insulin in the hallways and do other questionable practices. I left my job everyday saying "this is not safe..I can't work somewhere like this." Well, 3 months later I am finding things getting much easier and I am being much easier on myself! Hang in there a little longer and see how it goes then. Ideally your facility should be having the physician orders changed so that the meds aren't being given outside the time window (if state were there that would be a cite). Can they be changed to AM, PM, HS, NOC? Then you'd have more time to give them w/o it being considered med error. My advice is to do things safely, but also know that working in the field is a totally different world than clinicals. Especially LTC. And as a new nurse we have been so engrained in school that "you can lose your license!" Things will be ok. Give the new job a couple months and see if you start feeling different. If not, start looking for a new job :)

Congrats on starting school! I am set to graduate this Dec. with my ADN. Nursing school is tough..mostly because so much of your life has to be devoted to it. Get organized. Buy binders, notecards, highlighters, a drug book, a watch with a second hand, a stethoscope, and lots of printer ink. Get a calendar to visualize when tests and papers are due. Forewarn your friends and family that you have to focus on school which may not mean much time for them. Enjoy your time till school starts! Not to freak you out, but nursing school gets incredibly stressful. It is meant to weed out the people that aren't 100% devoted. Be prepared to see a lot of your peers fail or drop out. My class started with 150 students and is now down to 40 going into our final semester. Work hard, keep your blinders up and worry about yourself. Start practicing head to toe assessments and learn how to take a good manual BP to be ahead of the game before your semester starts! Good luck!!!!

I am an LPN in LTC with a day shift pt ratio of 1nurse to 38 residents. It is the most BS thing I have ever seen. I've worked in LTC for a while and usual the nurse to pt ratio is about 1:20 which is still keeping you on your toes. 1:38 is impossible on days and PM's. I'm sure many treatments and assessments are being charted though not necessarily done.

For Versed and Fentanyl reversal meds (narcan and flumazenil) what types of patients would we never use these for? For Flumazenil is it in patients with seizure risks? Thanks :) Also...how common is it in GI for a nurse to be administering conscious sedation w/o the doctors orders 1st entered. I am told that the physician enters the orders for the dosage after he sees what we gave and their is a very trusting MD/RN relationship (which I don't feel comfortable with).

Unfortunately Nursing School is an entirely different animal than other types of schooling, especially HS! I'm in my 3rd semester (ADN program) and have seen so many intelligent hard workers fail out. I'm not trying to discourage you though. It can be done! You have to figure out how to answer the questions. Many of the answers will be "right". You need to pick the one that is most right! The instructors and my peers all joke about how nursing school really causes mental illness. I never became depressed, but I seemed to have developed some pretty significant anxiety, and I NEVER became anxious before nursing school. If you are feeling clinically depressed you need to see your doctor. Give it your best right now, and go to class!!! You have to go to class, no matter how crappy your feeling. If you end up failing a class, it sucks...but you just pick yourself up and take it again. Good Luck! Everything will work out the way it's supposed to.

I am taking my PN boards in 2 weeks and I'm thinking I'm not studying much before hand either. I'm glad to hear that worked for you! I think if you know it, you know. I tend to do well on tests in nursing school (all NCLEX style). Please post what you chose to do and if it worked! Good luck!

I just wanted to leave a message of hope for anyone out there who is freaking out over an old criminal record (possession of drug paraphenalia) and being denied by the state board. 15 years ago I was arrested for a pot pipe. I was 18 yrs old at the time, young and dumb. I recently graduated from the PN program. I sent my application in, and told the truth on my background check. I was terrified to learn that the board liason wanted my application to go before the whole BON for review at their monthly meeting. My name was listed on the BON agenda with only a few others. I was so scared that the past few years of my hard work in school (along with tuition $) would be flushed down the toliet, or I would have to move to another state to work. A week after the meeting I was emailed the results. They approved me to take the NCLEX!!! I'm telling my story because these past couple weeks I scoured the internet reading people's stories regarding criminal records and the BON, and I usually ended up in tears feeling as though their was no hope for someone with a drug related charge. I think if your charge is old and not a felony you'll be alright.