ketonesRN

Bought my husband an Ipad to thank him for supporting us while I stayed home with the kids for the past 12 years. The rest of my checks this year will go to pay off my nursing school loans.

I'm coming off next week also. Feel like I could vomit just thinking about it. Heres hoping this 1st year goes as smoothly as possible for both of us!

As a new grad in the ER...I am having a hard time with medications. I will see that one nurse will hang 3 antibiotics at one time while another will hang one and wait to hang the next. I've noticed that some antibiotics are hung wide open while others are on a pump. I never know what drugs can be mixed and what can't. Cardiac drugs and any drug that gets titrated to nursing judgement...ugh...super scary and yet another issue for me as my nursing judgement is in the infancy stage. The medication thing is zapping a lot of time because I am constantly having to ask questions or go online to a clinical pharmacology site for answers. My question finally is this...do you have any good tips or 'rule of thumb' that are easy to remember concerning any type of medication. Do you have any good books to recommend that deal with ER meds and particularly administration from a nurse that would be helpful. I've looked at a lot of books, but they all seem to be missing the NURSING aspect I need. Thank you to anyone who has any tips!

No not that far South. I don't know if you can message me as I am not a paying member, but if you can...I'll reply with the hospital.

diva rn... I too am on the South East coast of Florida.

I don't really know how to answer this. Maybe I should not have used the word "protocol"...all I know for a fact is that our hospital does not ever require an RN witness when hanging blood. We as RN's walk to the lab with our pts sticker...they issue the blood...we scan the pt and 4 bar codes on the bag of blood, put in pre-blood vitals and hang/administer. I guess they are counting on the computer/bar codes to be the second check.

Not true Esme. I work in a ER in Florida and we give blood with no witness. Even in a non-emergent case. In fact that is the protocol for the entire hospital. I was shocked when I first came to this hospital and found this out.

I moved to a different state the day after graduation (ADN). Passed my NCLEX the week after that and then started sending out applications. Took me 2 1/2 months to be brought in for first interview. Got the job during the interview.

My advice is to schedule your test for as soon as you can take it. Get it and the stress of it behind you!

Maybe I need to check my math...but, wasn't she about to give 4 times the ordered dose and not double as everyone is saying? She drew up 1 ml...and was only to give 0.25. Confused.

My advice is to take the job offered. I also think its best to try and take the NCLEX immediately after you graduate. Don't prolong it!

Your posts have given me some hope! I'm happy to hear that new grads have made it in the ER and with only 6 weeks training. After reading different threads on here...I was really starting to believe that it was impossible and I was setting myself up for failure. Thank you both for the tips...I will use them! I'll let you know in 7 weeks if I sank or swam!

hi! i am a new grad (dec. 2011), new poster on an, and was just offered my first position in the er. after sending out over 100 apps, this was the one and only interview i was called on. most of my class was able to get jobs in the hospital we did clinicals in right away, but i moved out of state the day after graduation. i was shocked nonetheless at how hard it is to get a new grad nursing job. obviously i took the er job and now i am starting to panic as i only get 6 weeks with a preceptor. this seems like an unbelievably short amount of time compared to other new grad orientation programs. i have gone back and read pertinent threads from the last 25 pages on the er section. i've been taking notes and buying the books most recommended as well as studying up on the drugs you all have put as common er drugs. i've been watching common er skills on youtube. those previous threads have also scared the life out of me. i am scared that by taking this one and only job offered to me, that i might be setting myself up for failure. i wonder if i should ask to come in for free on off days just to log more hours and get more practice. can anyone think of anything else (maybe even outside the box) of what i could do to make the most of these next 6 weeks. btw...i am looking for honest help...i've read enough of these posts to know that many folks have strong feelings against new grads in specialties. if it weren't for the desperate spot many of us new grads are in (i have 3 kids and big private school loans due in 2 mos) ...we'd probably agree with you. thanks in advance to anyone who took the time to read this or offer any ideas!

My theory is that those nurses who have to convince people that they are "indeed great nurses", know deep down that they are not. However there are a certain few folks on these threads that pounce at any little comment. Maybe they are trying to lesson the inevitable pouncing!

I just graduated in December with the second highest GPA in my class and I do not feel one bit ready to be a nurse on my own. This is not because of entitlement or for lack of trying. I studied my butt off and our clinical tools (paperwork) consisted of 25-35 pages of care plans and research (it was very common to pull an all-nighter the night before it was due). I can tell you everything you'd want to know about a disease, but have no clue how to put an NG tube in (unless you count the 15 minutes of putting one into a manequin). I've also only put one foley in. Is this the nursing students fault that there was no opportunity (if indeed that nursing student asked for any and all opportunities to practice skills)? The hospital we did our clinicals at had a plethora of schools to accommodate. The nurses on the floor (not all, but most: in my experience) were not very kind to the students and didn't make it an easy learning environment (I understand their frustration with having to share computers and machines to give meds etc). We had 8 students to one frazzled clinical instructor and the most patients we'd be assigned (even in our final semester) was two. I hope that one day when I am an experienced nurse...I will remember what it is like to be a novice nurse and take the time to take a new nurse under my wing. The better the nurses are that work around you, the easier your job will be. (This comment is not directed to the OP...just an observation I've made on these threads referring to nurses eating their own!) I was in a very good program and am confident that everyone in my class (except 1) passed the NCLEX and mostly with only 75 questions however there are only a handful (those with prior CNA or LPN experience) who are actually ready to be a nurse. The original poster's nursing school experience doesn't sound that much different from mine except you were given many more patients than I was. I'd like to know if the nurses just graduating 25 years ago had the amount of responsibility and skill set required of nurses today? Did you have to know the amount of drugs that we have to know in two years or have they been added during your career and therefore more easily learned? Possibly these are some differences.