reagansm

Hardly anything was given to us. We had access to everything on "Blackboard" if we needed to turn it in we usually had to print it ourselves. If you wanted to write on your syllabus you had to print it yourself. I think I would have rather purchased the syllabus, it would have saved me A LOT of time!

I heard of a PCT who had some 1100 to 2300 shifts - sounds like the perfect rotation to me!

I hate working 12 hours and not being able to do anything else on those days, but mostly I just hate working nights. I would put myself on the list to switch to days, but I need the extra money. All that said, I would hate working 5 days a week even more. I would only look for an 8 hour shift job if I had family responsibilities and I could get days shift. Actually, if I was married I would be looking for day shift.

Whether or not you can work while in nursing school all depends upon you. I have friends that worked practically full time. I worked in a nursing home through out nursing school. I worked 2 -3 days a week my first year, and a lot less the last year. I looked at what I had going on and scheduled myself accordingly. Nursing school is about sacrifices for most of us, but you have to choose what you will sacrifice for your education.

I just took my final exit exam for nursing school at 38. I earned a Bachelor's degree in four years right after high school but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Nor was I that good of a student. I was smart but I did not know how to study (I never had to study in high school). When I finally decided to go back to school I was much more mature, and better able to handle the course load of nursing school. I was in an Associate Degree program (RN) and most of my classmates were older than 24 and at least half, I think, already had degrees.

I am a Christian and I served in Christian outreach for 10 years before deciding to go back to school and study nursing. The only fast Bach program in my area was at a Baptist university that required religion or Bible courses as a pre-req. I decided to stick with the ADN program partly because I did not want to have to deal with Baptist indoctrination (been there, done that, and left it a long time ago). That said, nursing school is a juggling act no matter where you go to school. My spiritual beliefs have set me apart from a lot of my class mates. I am friendly with most of them, but we are not close. That is OK. I am there to get an education, and to become a nurse. You will survive this and become a great nurse. It is important to know yourself and what you believe. But like the poster who is an atheist said the care you give is about your patient, not about you, so it is important to learn how to speak therapeutically without offering your own religious views and opinions.

There may be no grounds for refusing to place the PICC line. But I think that you are going to far to say that as a nurse you have no right to refuse the order. We couple of months ago I attended a mock trial presented for the Texas Nurse's Association. The nurse lost her license because she followed a Doctor's order that she had strong doubts about. The nurse had questioned the Doctor twice and the Doctor insisted that she give the Med. The patient died. If you have doubt about an order - QUESTION IT. If after getting an answer you still feel that the order is wrong, refuse to carry it out. If it is a med, make him/her give it. If it is a procedure make him or her do it, or let your charge know. I also, heard from a the CNO of a major hospital relate a case of two nurses refusing to carry out a Doctor's orders that they knew to not be best practice. Their charge stood by them, their unit manager stood by them, and ultimately the CNO stood by them. The Doctor stood corrected.

I graduate in less than a month and probably will not get to take NCLEX before the end of January. I will study but not like in nursing school. I will not be opening up my MedSurge or Peds book. We have a mandatory NCLEX review the week after thanksgiving, and I am signed up for Kaplan. There are practice test included in the Kaplan class, and I think that I have access to some stuff with the other review course after we have taken it. I think that the test I have taken in nursing school have prepared me well, but I am not going to leave it at that, and wait a month with no studying. So I will study my weak points from ATI and HESI and Kaplan and NEC.

I have had good experiences and bad in clinical. This my last semester and I was really scared about getting my preceptor for this semester. My preceptor had never precepted before but rose to the challenge. The first night was rough because of computer problems and no orientation to the unit prior to the first night, but the second was really good. I am looking forward to a semester of learning with supportive nurses to work with. (All of the nurses on this unit are great!) My experience in nursing school has made me want to be a teacher, even if it is just on my unit with students. But maybe even to teach nursing as my profession.

I am not sure about assisted living, unless it is one of those Assisted living plus kind of places. I am a CNA in a nursing home/skilled nursing facility (also about to graduate from nursing school) and there someone should stay in the dining room until everyone is through because of choking/swallowing issues. Many geriatric clients have difficulty swallowing and if someone were to choke and no one was there to interceded ... However, I always tend to think of assisted living is independent but I want someone around in case I need them. Where I work you are not eligible to live in assisted living if you can do for yourself. If you want a CNA to come help you with your shower you get charged for that. If you want food delivered to your room, you get charged for that. You also have to remember to come get your medication, they do not take them to you. So it seems like the dining room would be more like a restaurant or cafeteria and you would not be expected to be present.

I am not an LVN but I work in a nursing home. In my state, most LVN jobs are in nursing homes (not all). In most nursing home the shifts are 8 hours, not 12. You should look into before and after school care in case you need it, but it is better than 12 hour shifts. Also, you can look into hospice, the shifts may be even more flexible.

Ideally I sleep from midnight to 8. However, that does not work out if I pick up a 7 - 3 shift, or Monday nights when I have to volunteer on Tuesday mornings at 8, or even on Sunday if I am going to go to church. ALSO, I am starting my last semester of clinicals this week and I have night shift. So, I am attempting to sleep during the day. Last night I made myself stay up to 3, slept until 11:30 (my cats did not like this and woke me up around 9). Tonight, I am going to try and push it a little farther, all to get my self ready to stay up all night on Friday. Should be easy to sleep Saturday and then I get go back that night. I'm more than a little nervous!

Look for a PRN job, possibly hospice? That way you can work more hours now, and work occasionally when you go back to school.

Like the first respondent said: brown bag it as much as possible. Ordering out is ridiculous, hospital food will get expensive, and your lunch break is not long enough to warrant spending half of it going to get food. Buy a bunch of Lean Cuisines for when you need to grab something fast. Leftovers The occasional sandwich Fruit and yogurt bag up your own snacks: I like to mix up almonds, life cereal, dried blueberries, and chocolate chips. Bottles or cans of diet coke, because vending machines are to high I have to have a mid morning snack because if I eat breakfast at 6 or 6:30 I am going to be hungry around 10, and starving by the time I can leave for lunch. These suggestions also, fit for clinical. Often in clinical I could not leave for lunch until around 2. This is my last semester and my clinical is night shift, I am still working on how that is going to work out.

Pt does not sound AOX4 to me. There is a lot missing in this scenario. As others have stated, if pt was really AOX4 then call the MD and get an order for different treatment that pt agrees to, or get them discharged. That seems to be the 2 options: change plan of care/mode of treatment or discharge.