Cehurstrn

What is your hospital doing with nursing for patient function/mobility outside of the critical care area? Do you have a nurse driven program or protocol to mobilize patients? I am working on developing a program that will focus on educating nurses and patient care technicians on the importance of maintaining function and preventing hospital acquired deconditioning. I think we incidentally developed a culture within our hospital that is so fearful of patients falling that maintaining ambulation and self care abilities of patients fell to the sideline. I want to get our practice realigned and I wanted to see what differing hospitals are doing. I know my outcomes will include: Completion of daily shift assessments on functional status Inclusion of addressing function during daily unit huddles/physician rounding Decreasing use of catheters/bedpans and increase in taking patients to the toilets/showers Increasing time out of bed including sitting up in the recliner Nursing being able to identify when to request PT/OT/SLP consults if issues are noted My main curiosity is how nursing determines which patients are appropriate for ambulation and how their relationship with rehabilitation therapists are in determining this. Thank you!

Hello, I'm curious to hear from fellow nurses how you decided to go into management versus other areas of nursing. I was a charge nurse and I was presented the opportunity to be thr assistant nurse manager. I was promoted, and I am not only adjusting to the change, but I am also liking it. Currently, I have applied to a MSN/MBA program, after having a heart to heart with my director. I had planned to be a nurse practitioner prior to my promotion, and I had never thought of management. A part of me is wondering if this is the direction I want to go, but I am enjoying my role and I am curious to see what the future holds. I plan to be promoted to nurse manager next year. Have any of you had difficulty deciding between management and mid-level, or any other area? How did you decide management?

Thomas University is the program I've applied. It's local, accredited, and doesn't charge out of state tuition I believe, although it is private and tuition is higher than some of the other universities I've looked at.

I am currently attempting to implement a better way to capture the burden of care with ADLs. Our RHS techs are typically completing the baths, so the nurses aren't always involved with ADLs in the morning, with the exception of toileting, because they're giving medications and obtaining labs. We have a bath book that they use for charting baths. However, because there is no guideline, many of our techs are logging "sponge bath done" or "assisted with bath." It doesn't give me an idea of how much the pt is able to do. I want to start capturing bathing, grooming and dressing in a way that is down and dirty, straight to the point, so that it's not a lot of documenting on the tech. Any ideas? I was thinking a sheet that has an image of a person and the tech can circle what the pt washed, rinsed and dried, or check next to what the pt did for grooming, etc.

Have you figured out what you are wanting to do? I feel your pain in attempting to make a decision. I am currently an assistant manager on my unit. It's a small inpatient rehabilitation unit and I absolutely love it. I was working as a charge nurse for several months prior to being presented with the opportunity for manager. I was hesitant at first, because the aspect of my job that I love as a nurse is the direct patient interaction and care. With that said, I was concerned I would lose this. However, I find myself on the floor a lot of the time, because I purposefully make rounds to check in on the patients and their families, and I also attend change of shift report in the morning, morning huddles between nursing and therapy staff, as well as team conference that's held twice a week with the attending physicians. Overall, I'm really enjoying the transition. I had a heart to heart with my DON, who is an amazing leader and she is highly experienced. My debate has been between NP or continue with management. I'm still trying to figure this out, but talking to her allowed me to look at things in a different light. I am seriously considering about a MSN/MBA program because I feel that is most marketable and in addition it will have better longevity. Plus, administration seems like it is going to have a continued job growth, as well as the area I live in I forsee a saturation in the amount of NPs. Many are going back for their MSN, especially primary FNP, and I expect many will have to commute an hour or more for jobs.

Are any of you in the A-G ACNP program? I am curious to hear what your experiences are with the program. I have been looking into it as well as the program at Maryville.

I became FIMS certified a few weeks ago :) That was a surprisingly challenging cert but I learned a lot from it. Our unit director taught the class and she did such an excellent job. I definitely plan to stay in rehab while I go to school for my MSN to be a NP. I definitely love the rehab life!

I did part time and it was definitely manageable working full time, even switching jobs. I think you'll like the program but it can be challenging with papers. Just be sure you don't wait to do things last minute. The instructors are kind to send you a syllabus ahead of time if you ask. If JU offered a MSN program for Adult-Gerontology I would have stayed - I'm very proud to be a JU alumni :)

Congratulations and good luck! I'm assuming we won't hear anything until June or July, which is nerve wrecking. I'm looking into other programs just in case but I hope I will be accepted. I believe all Fall applicants take the beginning classes together before going into our specialties, so I may just see you on the forums in the few months :)

I have applied for their AGNP Primary Care program for this fall :)

I'm planning to go the route of AGNP primary care, and I may go into an adult psychiatric–mental health NP program post-master's option. I have a high interest in adults and aging population, and I want to focus on providing services to them. I had debated about FNP but I agree that if there are areas you do not have an interest in it's best to go with AGNP. And Tammy, you said end of life care is an interest, the school I'm looking into has a subspecialty in palliative care.

Congratulations on this! That is fantastic! And thank you for posting this. :) I'm applying to the Adult-Gero Primary Care program for the fall of this year. My question is where did you do your clinical hours - were they all in the ER? I am wanting to start gathering preceptors for my clinicals, but I wanted to ask someone who has gone through the program where they had done them.

I graduated from JU December 2012. I liked the program and I'm glad I did it online. The instructors were very understanding of how busy our schedules can be as nurses, but they also expect you to be organized and independent. I appreciated how they were often available for questions and involved with us on the forum. (I lived in Tallahassee, then moved to south Georgia while I was attending.) You write a lot of papers as you go further into the program but that's expected. The tricky thing was getting a preceptor for your clinical hours, but, they allowed me to do them at my job through my clinical director. Btw, I suggest renting your books online! I have a website I recommend so just PM me since we can't post links on here.

I was wanting to start a thread to get in contact with those who are applying for a graduate nursing program at the University of South Alabama. I am applying for the Adult-Gerontological Primary Care NP for entry this Fall.

That's really great. I'm really hoping that the hospital I work at will do tuition reimbursement with SU it sounds really good. Congratulations on your admission and good luck with it!