amandaRN411

ORTHO nursing is physically demanding. And like one post earlier said, it's a lot of pain meds, pca's and pt usually works with the patient first. They will tell you how to move the patient and if they are a 1 person assist and so on. It's not so much that these patients are walkie talkies. It's the high acuity of the patients. On our floor, we only have 4-5 patients. And if we're desperately short we take 6. The usual length of stay is 3-4 days. Most of them are elderly patients. I haven't had a patient younger than 40. Usually these patients are very needy and sort of lose their will to live because of a loss of independence. But that's where ORTHO nurses come in to play. We must encourage them to heal and believe in themselves that they can do it. And we have to be a supporter. I have learned since working on ORTHO that you have to be am advocate for your patient more than usual.

I'm looking for ways to raise money for our nursing program graduation. We had some ideas like raffle tickets and food sale. Any others that would be great to do and not I time consuming, please let me know!

I would take a vacation and relax as much as possible because when you start nursing school, you will always be tied up studying. I am always studying and going places with friends to study. But just take your time, it will come and be here, and be over before you know it!