Never_too_late

So how do you cope? Move on? I have lived such an experience lately. A short staffed night with a highly acute pt requiring one on one care and the other patients on the unit (palliative care unit -hospital setting) paying the price. So many things w...

Hey everyone, Living in Canada. Male. 47. Single parent with 2 teenagers. Graduated July 2006. Passed Boards in September 2006. Got a full-time position (permanent!) at an adult teaching hospital. Work in the oncology/palliative care unit (presently ...

Change the catheter every 3 days???????????? That's bizarre. Ummmmm.. not where I work. The dressing gets changed by Pain Service when needed but the catheter stays in as long as it works or whatever is planned for. It sometimes takes a while to get ...

I would guess that a 'typical day' differs from one institution to the next. Here is mine: unit has 14 pts daytime ratios: 3-4 pts / nurse + 1 PAB (4 nurses) evening/nights: 4-5 pts/nurse + 1 PAB for evening only (3 nurses) nights : 7 pts/nurse + 1 P...

I'm certain I read a thread about this over the holidays: Giving report about a patient over the phone to a doctor. I don't know how old the thread was and can't find it again. It mentionned the details that should be transmitted to the doctor and it...

I'll be graduating next summer. I'll be 47 when I graduate. I did a 2 year accelerated program at a college (I'm in Canada). Other than being told: 'Gee! Your older than my dad!' a few times too many :), the experience has been overwhelming in a very...

Thanks VickyRN! It wasn't the exact same post but it gave me the acronym: SBAR. I was then able to find the thread again, it was tips for first year nursing.. Maybe the SBAR is of interest to others again so I repost it here from the original threa...

OK, I miss having time to develop and nurture a new relationship. My wife and I split 6 years ago. My new girlfriend made a run for it after 3 years once I had made up my mind (or lost it, she would say) and left my high paid job to go back to scho...

PICU! PICU! PICU!!!!!! I've been working in that unit as a part-time patient care attendant for the last year. I did most of th eother hospital units (except ER) before that. I don't really want to be anywhere else. They are waiting for me (nursing...

Teachers may go off on sick leave, for example. Not much you can do about that. So, yes, changes can occur. Aren't you happy to get a new teacher if the ousted one was not providing you with good teaching? When you talk about failing, you mean this...

What you need.. every minute: determination: its not always easy but its worth it. hourly: a reality check..'I am not losing my mind, i am just in nursing school'. daily:a hug and a smile from someone who cares. weekly: a review of your planning and...

I have been a Patient Care Attendant for just about a year in a pediatric hospital. Of all the units I have worked on, I have found PICU to be the most fascinating. Being responsible for 1 patient only, having access to a doctor 24/7 to discuss the...

Well.. I cover ALL my books. Don't we pay enough for these books? I want mine to stay clean and last a long time. Another plus is when textbooks circulate in the class because so many fellow students didn't bother bringing theirs, mine sticks out li...

I'm an older student also. Our student ID number begins with the year we first attended college...which in my case, was, ahhhhh, a few years ago. Grades get posted in the halls, so it didn't take long for people to figure out who had the student nu...

My first clinical was med-surg on a cardiology ward..by the time the clinical was over, I had given out some 50+ different drugs.. no top ten there. By the time, I had made it through my second clinical, I had added another 15. This is in a 4 month ...

This is my particular problem: a central auditory processing loss. I have been checked out by an ENT and an audiologist. I have borderline hearing but do not yet need hearing aids. The quickest way to describe it is that my brain receives all sounds...

Hello everyone, Don't know if this one has been done before... I am completing my second clinical and have yet to apply many skills in a hospital setting. I took out my first IV line today..sigh... Things are so slow, I wonder how much practice I wi...

Excellent post! thanks for the great advice. I guess its pretty basic common sense that knowing what to do..but not being able to recognize when to do it .. is a problem. So that makes assessment most miportant of all. I would have then asked you ...

Thanks to everyone for answering. There is good advice in these posts. Assessment is very important and skills will come with time. I guess to put my question in context: I am in an accelerated program. In my first clinical Cardiology, we were giv...

Yeah Z!!!! I knew you would make it!! Congratulations and enjoy a lazy summer! Its funny how we all come to doubt ourselves at some point only to be contradicted by the outcome of events.. is it like part of the basic makeup of nursing students to fr...

Nylon belt and belt bag that carries stethoscope, scissors, tape, gloves, pen... Not too big. Would be perfect but haven`t seen anyone fashionably wearing one of those in a hospital uniform... N_T_L

We don't inject anything. The seringe is empty (no fluid, no air). Its a matter of going through the motions: clean, poke and pullout :) and we do this 2 at a time under very close scrutiny from our instructor. One girl almost fainted while sticki...

I don't know if this is the best place to post this but here goes. I am a first year student and have been practicing vital signs. BP is a real problem for me. Usually, in a quiet room, I make out the sounds fairly well. In a lab where there is ...

Over the last week or so, I have consulted my school lab techs, various manufacturers and suppliers of electronic scopes, and you here at allnurses. Last week, on loan from the store, I took a Littman Cardio III home. Higher end acoustic scopes pro...

Vital signs (BP, temperature (oral only:) ), pulse, O2 SAT) Breathing sounds Palpation and... in class (SQ and IM) in lab (SQ only, but including also microperfusor (if my translation is correct)) I think that's about it. N_T_L