brewski09

I have my ADN and RN to BSN both from online based programs and no one ever even asked or cared. The biggest thing they cared about is the BSN. My program had hefty community and leadership projects as well as a number of hours I had to meet voluntee...

Isnt that what the ED is saying by hiring someone with no hospital experience? "we will take the time to train you because we realize you don't have the experience necessary to hit the ground running." And I also believe your preceptor is a teacher a...

This patient would have been an ERT (or whatever you want to call it) at my hospital and would have very quickly progressed down the ACLS pathway to pacing for symptomatic bradycardia. This comes from both progressive care/Stepdown and ED and it shou...

A previous ED I was in made the transition and now it bugs me that my current one doesn't scan (yet). I'll likely end up a superuser since so many are resistant. Scanning meds cuts down on potential errors. Also, there should still be an emergency ov...

I echo the question of what part are you having difficulty with because there are bound to be plenty of certified people on here that might be able to help with more info. I've yet to use any lido or other pain mitigating mess for U/S PIV insertion ...

It takes a fair amount of time to start an U/S guided PIV and it isn't 100% successful. Also remember that the PICC nurse couldn't do a PICC line in the ER (which I've never seen them in any ER I've worked in) so the likelihood of starting an ultraso...

When I was a new grad I thought I was going to be an ER nurse right out of the gate but due to better than expected retention they were overstaffed so I had to look outside my department. I ended up between SICU/NCCU and PCU/Stepdown. Both unit manag...

i would only expect a pay increase of the hospital says they give one. Otherwise it's still a good investment in yourself but probably not likely to get you a differential. It does make for a good bargaining chip if you are in a non-Union hospital co...

Whoa, lots going on here. I'm not sure this preceptor has the right training for the job. It takes an entirely different skill set to precept/train than we learn as nurses and it takes a lot of practice to get good at it. Ive been in the ED for 6 mo...

Seriously, 22 is not old. I was 28 when I started nursing school and left a career as a retail manager to do it. The oldest person in my class was 52 and the youngest was 26.

There are serious issues here as well as some thug a that aren't an issue. First of all, scanning mess and then not giving them until later can be viewed as a reportable medication error as well as falsifying documentation to the hospital and the BON...

At my old hospital my managers I interviewed with wanted a 2 year commitment to recoup the costs of training. This was for ICU & PCU. I took the PCU job and was a very productive employee, but still felt like 2 years was an appropriate amount of ...

Littman classic II around $80. It wirks well and I would get another one. Don't worry about a nicer one unless you get hired onto a cardiac unit. Then it's worth $150 or more. With that said, I still have my $10 stethoscope from my nursing school kit...

Was the patient having bigeminal PVC or PAC (really any premature beats)? I've seen something similar to what you described in adult patients where the second beat does not produce as big of a pulseox waveform because of the decreased preload caused...

I would go with the air. Great performance for the non-gamer, excellent battery life over 3 years out, the solid state components are more durable (think malfunctioning hard drive), and you can get a great cd/DVD USB driven player/burner for $50. Min...

I think working as a CNA is almost necessary in the current competitive market for nursing. Not only do you get to see the application if what you are studying, you pretty much need the relevant work experience to get a job these days. I was a retail...

Do you give this information to your employer? Not just he card proving you have some insurance, but the paper showing how much for each type of insurance on your car and home insurance. I'm guessing not that likely. Personally, I would never tel...

the hospitals in my area call them dynamaps, which is a brand name kinda like Kleenex.

we have a pill splitter/crusher available for each patient. if they don't need it, it doesn't get issued. We also have a silent night pill crusher where you put the pill in a thick plastic envelope and crush it in there if you wish to use it. the ...

There is something wrong with you. Was doing CrossFit during nursing school but stopped at the moment to focus on cardio (ran a10 mile race recently and have some more planned this fall. I'll start again as the weather turns. In Columbus, OH.

Okay, so your hospital will have a list of approved abbreviations. start there. beyond that, you have listed a lot of unapproved abbreviations and some that aren't even accurate anymore, but people still use. AC or a/c is the antecubital area. L ...

Is hand hygiene and a 'no touch technique' of the ports sufficient or is a sterile glove mandatory prior to every use of the port I don't think I have seen a policy requiring gloves to handle IV access, but if you were required to wear gloves, I can...

I saw something saying a Las Angeles woman may have named her twins orangejelo and lemonjelo after Freakonomics came out... (someone find me the facepalm please)

Native American by chance? I grew up with a friend that had a normal first name, but also went by a similar Native American name.

pens (one color is fine unless you paper document), stethoscope (I have a Littman Classic II and have seen many ED nurses use this one as well) (maybe not depending on your ED - they may be laying around everywhere), trauma shears, hemostats (always ...