porterwoman

I work inpatient, 3 12s a week, but I've saved up my PTO so I'm on a paid leave of absence during a big chunk of my final semester. Highly recommend doing that if you can.

You can get on the Duke HR site and look at the bus routes that service the medical campus. You can also look at the Durham Area transit website to familiarize yourself with the areas around campus. Check out Bob Schmitz Properties--they rent a lot o...

Patients on oncology units have to use the toilet A Lot. IV fluids= have to pee...chemo/radiation=diarrhea. I deeply appreciate an aide who willingly helps those unsteady patients to the bathroom again and again. Remember that the nurses can help out...

OP, yes, sometimes it is completely acceptable and necessary for the patient's safety to yell. It goes kind of like this: Mr. X, Open your eyes sir. Open your eyes. Can you hear me? And then I might yell at my coworkers:I need help in here right now....

zenman, may I pm you too? I would really appreciate tips on utilizing my bedside time while in NP school. I'm in the 3rd semester of my adult/gero NP program. Thank you, and sorry to highjack the thread, Rebecca

I had a great experience with WCU. Well organized, very dedicated professors. I recommend.

When you tour the unit, ask to speak to some preceptors & charge nurses. Ask how long they've been working there & how long they've been nurses. I think it's telling if a unit has nurses taking leadership positions with relatively little ex...

I was taught that MAC stood for multiple access catheter; 4 or 5 lumens, as opposed to the standard 3. A cordis line could fall under that category, I suppose, since it has multiple lumens, but not all MACs are cordises.

Head lice. Walking around, visible from a few feet away, on a patient that had been in the ICU ~ 3weeks.

OP, are you asking about implementing hourly rounding in a long-term care facility? I don't see how it would be humanly possible. The bits of evidence I've read about it were specific to hospital settings, so I don't know how well it translates int...

Oh, and I really want to point something out: Delirium=fast onset, temporary, fluctuating altered mental status due to a treatable cause (such as lack of sleep, UTI, medication, dehydration, on and on) Dementia=gradual onset, permanent, continually...

Hey, thanks a bunch for the info! Good luck to you too!

sweepea or VickyRN, either of you may know the answer to this question: what documentation would I need to provide to show my hours of gerontological nursing? I've worked in med-surg, progressive care, & medical ICU full time for 6 years; natur...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1298101/pdf/11089480.pdf Anticholinergic effects are amplified in the elderly related to a variety of factors. The article above is really informative.

Oh, great site. Thank you!

Hey, good suggestion. Thanks!

Has anyone tried it? I want to get some Danskos, but I don't know if I can ride a bicycle in them. Thanks.

zenman, your presence in this world lights up my life & inspires me more than you will ever know. Namaste!

Thank you for the new forums, moderators/allnurses staff.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/video?id=8162701

Sunday brunch at the Pinhook. On me. Just sayin. Okay, sorry, back to your regularly scheduled topic.

I think I've heard that it takes about 2 years to "pay for" the orientation costs of a new nurse. I could be totally wrong about that--any managers know more? I get antsy too after I've reached a plateau in my learning on a unit. I've tried to find...

Well hey there! I'll see you in a few months! Rebecca the porterwoman in Durham

I have the good fortune to live close enough to work that I can bike there. Riding my bike home in the morning, after a rough night, I sure am grateful to be alive. After one particularly horrific night, I was grateful for the cold rain on my way h...

One thing that really helped me when I was having those out-of-control too-many-things-to-do moments was to stop and take two minutes to make a little list on a post-it note of the things I had to do. It helped me prioritize, it helped me figure out...