momo72

Is it possible to take a mini stay-cation? Working excessive extra shifts will burn anyone out quickly! I used to work 4-5, 12 hour shifts a week in the ER. Then I got a huge reality check handed to me by my body. Take care of yourself first. You can not give good care to your residents, if your not there to give it! Stay away from extra shifts for a while, just say NO when asked!

Bless your heart, Air Force wife here. We moved a lot but wow, not that much.It's going to be hard for you to even apply to a university type of nursing program. I personally went to a private nursing school. With having my needed "degree" pre-reqs out of the way I was able to get my ADN in about 15 months. It was an accelerated program and also very expensive. But I was able to contact the school before getting there. Staying behind a few months, might be something you need to think about. I know it's not something you want to do as a military wife, but we ( meaning us the wife )often have to make sacrifices for the sake of our family. This is something only you and your family can decide. I waited until my children were in middle-high school, I have 3 children, My son has Aspergers that was my main reason for putting my passion for nursing to the background. I'm sorry I can not offer you much advice regarding your schooling. I just wanted to let you know I understand your lifestyle and the different stresses you have regarding life, love, and the pursuit of following YOUR dream!! Being a military wife is a job all on its own!! My husband retired 2 years ago, that was a culture shock for him, big time!! Good luck to you, let me know if you need to vent, I have been thru 20 years as an AD/AF wife, along with a few overseas assignments and just a few ( 5) Iraq deployments. Take care!! Michele RN

I'm sorry that you had a bad last semester, but it's in the past. As far as test taking tips, I would stick with the same ones that have been around for a long time. Don't stay up late cramming the night before, just makes you tired and stressed! Do you feel as though you are a terrible test taker? If so is it possible to get some feed back from your professors regarding your test scores? I found it helpful to read the test taking tips at the beginning of the Saunders NCLEX book. I was able to apply some of the test taking strategy's to non nursing classes. Also don't stress yourself out with regards to having to get the highest grade in the class. Grades, alone, will not dictate the type of you will be. Michele RN

Wow, your story sounds exactly the same as mine a few years ago. I was made charge after 3 days ( worked 11p-7a ). I found out very quickly to worry about myself, and my license, the facility doesn't care! I had to use my basic nursing assessment skills from school and looked up any medication I did not know. I also learned to just listen to my gut. I busted my butt for 8 months. I was over worked and over stressed!! When I was given the chance to leave that nightmare I did. Look for work now!!! I truly feel for you, I am also so sad places like this are allowed to stay open. Just remember to CYA through great documentation, if given the chance they will throw you under the bus, especially if they think you are trying to report their poor treatment of the patients. Good luck to you! There are good LTC facilities out there, may just need to keep looking. Take care. Michele RN

In response to smartnurse1982- you are ASSUMING, that I was referring to accuchecks and meds that need to be given Michele RN

I have worked LTC before, I understand how crazy medpass's can get and how far behind one can get. But I'm sorry Brandonlpn, your reasoning for having a resident soil them self, I don't understand. If your in the room already and your behind already, taking 10-30 minutes to help a resident toilet is NOT going to hurt anyone! I'm sure the CNA's you work with, will also appreciate NOT having to clean the resident after they have soiled themselves and the bed. This is just my thinking..... One of the "oh no the nurse, did not do that" moments, was seeing documented by a new lpn "full does of Lantus 150 units not given, due too PT fs of 110 @ 2100. Lantus 75 units given instead, for PT safety." Yes that is exactly what the nurse had documented! Yes I felt bad showing the DON, as this was not the first time this new nurse changed orders on her own. But we both had a SMH moment when we saw the MAR! Michele RN

My hope is that the higher up's of hospitals, that force bedside nurses to focus on customer satisfaction scores,will realize that a bedside nurse with outrageous and unsafe nurse to patient ratios will have better satisfaction scores, better patient outcomes and a happy staff once they give bedside nurses safe nurse to patient ratios. Maybe the hospital will see a return on their investment from new grads and less turnover in the unit as a whole. Just my 2cents! Michele RN

Best advice I can give you is, while orientation ask specific questions regarding residents you will be passing meds too. Some need crushed or like to have a specific drink with am meds, or even to be woken up last. 11-7 shift, can make you feel like you are not using your nursing skills, but you will be. Many demented residents will be up and wondering, helping change residents will give you practice at performing skin assessments. Doing the 24h chart checks will give you a chance to look up meds given for certain disease process and how it affects the entire human system. Lab results will be coming in, don't just look at values, if you see an abnormal result on a resident, don't just call doctor look at past results and the residents diagnosis. Some abnormal results are expected. You may not be performing "hospital nursing skills" but you will be able too learn so much more than just skills. Skills come with practice, all nurses have to practice. LTC & SNF units do offer LOTS if different types of nursing skills. You just need to have the desire to want to learn these skills. Unfortunately less nurses like to learn about the residents PMH and what to expect. These are the nurses that sound like idiots when calling report to the ER they are sending a resident too. They know nothing about the resident or even understand what's expected from the different disease processes. I enjoyed 11-7, I did lots of reading and performed any assessment I could, this made for an easy transition into the 3-11 shift. Once I received my RN I was able to transfer into an ER setting, with a good solid base in geriatric care. Which in the ER is about half of the patients. So take your learning opportunity and run with it. You will be glad you did!! Michele RN

My biggest pet peeve is with management and the new rule of having our ER pt's with admit orders, be placed in their rooms upstairs within 30 minutes of getting the bed assignment. We don't have transporters or extra staff to cover our other pt's. How they expect this to happen, I don't know. All I know is I have never been able to accomplish that rule. Personally I really don't care if my times are too long, I know all my patients are being cared for, and when I get the chance to transport that patient, I will. Michele RN

If IV Rocepine is pushed too fast (should be super slow ,10 minutes) the patient WILL vomit! Thankfully I learned this after another nurse gave it too fast ! Michele RN

I work in the ER, and I must say the staff consists of both male and female nurses. I have never seen any of my male co-workers discriminated against or had any of them say anything about it. I do notice that the male nurses get along with the male doctors much easier than the females. I have noticed that the male nurses I work with, tend to be more protective of us females if we get a drunken male as a patient ( one never knows what a drunk will do ) I love the fact that my male co-workers instinctually want to protect us females, I have actually seen other female nurses become upset when a male co-worker tries to look out for her. I don't understand why on that one. It's always better to be safe than sorry, I say! See guys your not only needed for lifting, your also good at holding drunken flailing arms still to start a line, and tackling that psych patient trying to make a quick get a way!!! Lol. Michele RN

Make sure your friend reads the tips on how to break down the NCLEX questions. So helpful, these tips can be found in most NCLEX prep books. Best part is it teaches you how to weed out extra information in the question that is not pertinent to the actual question. Good luck to your friend!

What trauma level are you at right now? I know it doesn't matter to much, even level 4's. Get the severe train wreck pts. But it seems like your documentation is over the top!! Is it computer charting? I felt the same way about being overwhelmed with all the charting, and trying to give the best pt care as possible. It's very hard at times. Then you throw in those stupid times for your admitted pts, that have to be in the rooms less than 30 mins. I feel a lot has to do with the nursing team as a whole, when I first started in ER fresh out of school we had a great team, would get help if struggling, fast forward to 1.5 years later and It was every man for themselves. I felt so incompetent, most days. I ended up leaving the ER for personal reasons, but was considering going to another unit, to get my basic skills mastered and the computer also. I am almost able to go back to work, still feeling the same way, like a tele unit. The ER I feel can take years to master, tho I do love the fast pace and excitement. Have you thought of going to another unit? I think once you master that computer you will do just fine in the ER. Would be terrible to lose your license due to a mistake made in pt car because you where on the Computer trying to catch up. I'm sorry you feel the way you do. We all have at some point. Have you asked another nurse how they are able to keep up with everything ? I hope you are able to figure out what you need to do, so you are not making short cuts that are the wrong ones. Good luck & take care