tollern

http://WWW.KAPLANNURSING.COM

hello Susan & Vickie, what counties are you in, sounds like Susan lives in the Cary, Garner area I have found the Lee & Harnett County areas cheaper than Wake with easy access to hospitals like Wake Med, Duke, Cape Fear & Moore Reg. I live in rural Harnett county in a 2000 sq ft home (rental) 600/mth and very nice (want to buy it) it all depends on the area you choose...I could never afford Raleigh homes. Gas is killing me right now....because of the extra distance to work, what I save in housing is going into the gas tank.

Don't worry. Try to think about it from the patients view.....their graft/fistula is their lifeline. they have been taught to protect it, washing before cannulation, no bp's, no iv sticks, they rmember how long it took for a fistula to mature or may have had clotted grafts in the past.....it's just self-preservation on their part. I worked in dialysis for 2 yrs before nursing school and patients were always like that with new staff....just be patient, you know you can do it, convincing them is the hard part be proficient in other areas such as setting up and tearing down and they will warm up

Nothing is as bad as a GI bleed IMHO. Once I had a patient with a massive GI bleed and was having trouble holding it down since he had explosive diarrhea several times that day.....At lunch I got a pack a listerine strips on the advice of a 'seasoned' nurse - we all know those things burn the hairs out of your nose....well the patient was MRSA too, so I had to clean him up for the umpteenth time and I went too put a listerine strip in my mouth, i didn't want to touch them so I kind of tried to shake one out and ended up with the entire pack in my mouth, put on a face mask with shield and went into the room. Took about 20 minutes to clean the patient and change linens and every time i exhaled the listerine set my eyes and nose on FIRE. tears were running down into the mask and snot was dripping from my nose. I thought my instructor and staff were going to rupture something laughing at me.....BUT i couldn't smell the GI bleed (or anything else for the rest of the day)

best watches 1. stretch band for easy handwashing 2. large black numbers on a white background (cause I can't see for squat) 3. sweep second hand 4. military time (if you are like me and have trouble remembering MT) 5. cheap one that can be trashed if it gets "oozed" (quoting another poster) I have a great Timex from Walmart for less than $25.00 that has all of the above

when you actually have daughter, mother and father in psych unit within a one month time frame, but not all at the same time......with issues ranging from bipolar disorder to depression to schizophrenia to substance abuse......and they request the same meds as other family members "in case I run out"- this really happened during my psych clinicals :confused:

I posted this on another post about white scrubs, but I wear white nursing support hose under white scrubs, can't see panties lines and my legs don;t hurt after 12 hours on my feet.

wearing white nursing support hose is great too, for not showing anything under white pants AND my legs don't feel like white hot pokers of fire after 12 hours : )

Oh THE SMELL! My 16 y/o has the same thing......i've learned never to enter without FEBREZE......I've crawled around on hands and knees smelling carpet, smelled the sheets, under the bed, the trash can, you name it.....it's just there. Can't identify it, not really a bad smell.....but peculiar. Must be the hormones

I know this has been addressed before but I need your educated opinion(s). I went shopping today and "invested" in a pair of Dansko's. I also tried on a pair of Quark's and loved the way they felt on my feet. I was a little concerned about the light weight and the durability of these shoes. Has anyone worn these and how did they work out.....they felt very comfortable and are MUCH less expensive than the Dansko's.....plus they are available in lots of colors and I LOVE to color coordinate :chuckle Opinions please......

Oh.....another note...... Our school has the most requested applicants for employment than any schools in the surrounding 5 counties. Employers know that our program is one of the most difficult and the nurses come out well prepared for employment. Our nurses go straight into critical care areas and are in high demand!!!!!

I attended nursing school in a rural town at the community college. Our class started with 54 students. We lost the majority in 1st semester and then only a handful the next 2 semesters. Went into the Critical care/4th semester with 18...ended with 9 (6 dropped d/t failing grades, personal issues, etc. & 3 failed at the end). Graduating class = 9 of us but with 100% pass rate. Same for the previous year.....started with 60 and graduated 9 - 100% pass. Do not be discouraged. It's not about 'intelligence' although being smart is helpful. We lost so many because of the demands of the program....people just do not realize how demanding the program can be....we average 2-3 hours at home for every hour in class. For those of us with families it was very difficult. Some people just couldn't handle the stress. Of all the people that dropped and said "Oh I'll be back next year" - only one came back....and now is in the top of the class. Work your hardest! Do your best! There will be bumps in the road for sure....but that only makes the ride more interesting!!:chuckle

Run don't walk to the doctor. About six weeks ago I had a "minor" scratchy throat, achy, tired.....then I broke out in red rash all over my body and in the palms of my hands.....sure enough.....scarlet fever.....I spent a miserable few days. When my throat started to really hurt, it felt like I was swallowing razor blades. I am better now, but I did manage to infect my DH, and two children!

During school my class was plagued with stomach ulcers, depression, colds that would not go away, and during the last semester strep took over the class room with two of us having scarlet fever with strep rash and rash/blistering palms. Two classmates 20 & 22 y/o were diagnosed with stomach ulcers. It was ridiculous!

I think it is very interesting the the doc in the OP was female. I have seen behavior like this far more often from female MD's than males. Seems almost like they have something to prove to female nurses....on the flip side, they are never rude to male nurses. Hmmmmm:angryfire :angryfire