wsiab

Gotta love those "macrosomic" 6-7 lbers.

We have an 8 bed triage unit staffed with 2 nurses. It works great, the goal is to get an NST and assessment in 20-30 minutes. Women that get sent home are usually there from under 1 hour to 3 hours. For long term observation we will put them in a room based on availability. Women who get admitted are can spend 5 minutes to a few hours there depending on why they are admitted. Of course the clerks and charge nurses are very good about wheeling anyone who has that look (you know, like she is going to pop out a baby on the floor before she can manage to say her name) directly back to a room and getting help.

Holidays off....That's funny. We are required to get christmas or new years off, based on seniority. If your holiday off does not fall on one of your regularly scheduled days off, then you get signed for an extra shift to make up for the day off. Holidays off are like the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and magical chocolates that if eaten between the hours of 1am and 5am have 0 calories.

Definitely not. I took physics as an elective because I loved it in highschool, very fun class, challenging and stimulating but definitely not the most difficult course I took... It just requires strong math skills. Anatomy requires a lot of memorization and lab time, Physiology requires a lot of critical thinking and lab time, and Chemistry requires a lot of memorization, critical thinking, math and lab time. Physics is different than A&P and Chemistry, but not harder... It definitely doesn't stack up to the work load taking two science classes with labs in one semester. Hang in there, your friend is probably just venting.

We started with 36, lost 5 over three years (only one actually left the program, the others did not pass a class and wound up a semester or two behind us), we gained two from the semester ahead of us and one who transferred into our class with credits from another school. Mostly it balanced out, graduated down two total.

Our registrar's office had a form for requesting letters of recommendation that I found useful. On the form you put the reason you were requesting the letter, your GPA, organizations you belong to, activities you participated in, and specific skills or qualities you would like to have addressed in the letter. You filled in specific information the school or scholarship application was looking for in the blanks. I found it very useful in obtaining appropriate letters of recommendation for scholarships and jobs after graduation. Try giving the person an outline with your basic information as well as the information/attributes the school is looking for in the letter that you would like them to address.

You have a patient that wants everything natural...Charge Nurse calls you and asks if you are going to need the anesthesiologis soon because a)he or she is going to bed or b) "we are looking at possible back to back csections soon...If you tell her no....Pt will demand an epidural now, as soon as the anesthesiologist has gone to bed or OR.

Hi Shannon, I don't know if you finished your program yet, but you could talk to the person handling your training program and see what the unit has to train with. We have those plastic dilation models in each room so that if you are ever unsure about an exam you can double check (they can be photocopied and kept in your pocket as well). We also did a skills day in our training program and practiced ve's with boxes that had rubber heads, cervix, etc. Do as many as you can, triage can be a good opportunity for practicing early ve's. The advice about walking your fingers to the cervix is good. Also for a posterior cervix you can try lowering the head of the bed all the way and having her put her fists under her hips. Also could try feeling circular objects around the house and trying to guess the diameter without looking. Hang in there. BTW Congrats to you and family.

Try looking at the patient's diet (specifically protien intake), BUN can be increased by a high protien (meats) diet.

When it comes down to poking eachother, you are usually at a point where you know your classmates very well. There is the expectation that if you are going to learn on someone else that you will allow someone else to learn on you. However, some people absolutely can not deal with being stuck, and I am sure that no one will want you to pass out in class. When we practiced injections and IV's, people that had serious problems with needles were up front about it and there was usually a friend that did not mind needles so much and was willing to be practiced on by two people to balance things out. I volunteered for a few additional injections/venipunctures, the fewer people that have to be picked up off the floor the better. Just be upfront with your peers and instructors. P.S. don't feel bad if you do get sick or pass out. For venipuncture in particular, there were a few people that had never had a problem before and still did....It happens.

Bricklayer's Lament by the Cory Brothers

I agree with Heather and Caroleann. I am just finishing up a three month L&D training program (including circulation for sections, and mom/baby recovery)and that seems to be the norm. We had a couple weeks of classes and then switched over to one class per week and 3 clinical days with preceptors. 3 months does seem kind short to do L&D, post partum and nursery. Congratulations on Graduating, and good luck with your new position.

San Francisco Bay Area, California. $24-$28 plus differential.

A&P can be difficult, but I do agree that if you are doing well in A&PI you could probably handle A&PII over the summer. We seperated A&P, I took anatomy over the summer (5 units in 6 weeks) and still did well. I would recommend taking algebra another time if you are taking A&P over the summer if at all possible, especially if math is challenging for you. Summer units take up a lot more class and study time per week. Look at how many units the classes will be combined, if you are trying to cram over half of a regular semester's full time units into 6 or 8 weeks, study time and scheduling the courses may be difficult, especially with lab courses. I did summer classes almost every summer while in school and it did help cut down on my general ed load so that I could focus more on my nursing courses. Good luck, it can be done. [This message has been edited by wsiab (edited March 12, 2001).] [This message has been edited by wsiab (edited March 12, 2001).]

We had to do the same thing for our rotation, our instructor provided us with a list of common OB meds to make cards for (it wasn't very long, maybe 20-30 meds). The meds can be found in you standard drug hand book. If you are looking to cut down on prep time, consider splitting the work with friends since you all have to make the same cards. Also if you can't find one or two of the meds in your drug book, ask a friend it's probably in theirs or look online.