gdelrosa

Wow... that last patient was a winner. Poor thing.

I've never done it on anyone. I'll put my fingers in the vag for the mom to feel where to push but I don't do the sweeping massage. I've heard in a class not to do it. Do a lit search and let us know what the research says.

Oh my... Your situation sounds very bad. I have no idea what to say. You are stuck in a rock and a hard place. No human could take what you did. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Gail

I think you have to walk when you work as a nurse. I wouldn't want to go to a program that doesn't have clinicals because that's when you're going to learn pretty much everything.

i had a year of tele experience before I started L&D. It is completely different than my old job! It's so different that I'm not sure how much my tele experience will help me other than I know how to assess for abnormals, start an IV, and read some kind of monitoring strip. Tomorrow is my first day off orientation so I'm kind of scared but excited too. Gail

I don't try to remember what meds can be combined in a line. There are reference tools in drug books. In my facility, we have Micromedex where you can plug the meds in and the program will tell you whether you can combine them in a line. If micromedex says that meds are not compatible or untested, I don't run them piggyback. Does this answer your question?

Thanks for the replies. I realize that 4 weeks is not a lot. This nurse has already been extended. She started around 4th of July and ended with me yesterday. She will be orienting on nights after this for 2 weeks. I agree with everyone that nursing school doesn't prepare you for actual nursing. Like another nurse, I had never started an IV or even put a foley in but I made darn sure I took every opportunity when I was precepting. I always felt wiped out at the end of the day but it gave me great experience. Unfortunately for me, my orientation was cut short b/c my preceptor left and they stuck me on the floor. I had to learn quick! So... I'm at a loss when I hear someone say that she's too busy to put an IV in or pull out a central line. These are things that she needs to know how to do. And talking w/ an educator will not make her proficient.

i work on a neuro/tele floor. if you want, pm me and i can give you some pointers.

Hi, To those of you who precept, where are your preceptees in their nursing practice before you turn them loose? On my floor, new nurses are oriented for 4 weeks on days and 2 weeks on nights. I'm the day portion and am expected to get the newbies able to handle 4 patients. (I'm on a neuro tele floor). My last one has time management issues and can do 2 patients with help. 3 and she has major trouble. Forget about admissions. She never got to those. She was always too busy to do IV's and ... she just has issues. Today was my last day with her and she's going to nights. Are 2 more weeks enough? I've already talked w/ my manager about her and she's bound and determined that she go to nights. I don't feel like she's safe and don't want to clean up her mess on days when she does go on her own. Long story short, how long is the orientation period on your floor if you have someone with issues. Thanks for any stories. Jokes and funny stories are going to be appreciated. I need a good laugh after this day.

Nathanielandarianna, I agree with your friend. The BSN will lead you into management jobs while the ADN will serve you well if you want to be a bedside nurse. However, we all start as bedside nurses so right now, I don't make much more than an ADN prepared nurse who paid community college tuition. You can always get your bsn as a bridge program later if you're short on money now. Eventually, I think everyone should get their BSN if they can afford it money and time wise. It's always good to get more education. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go to Samuel Merritt by the way. I'm just cautioning you into thinking seriously about being able to pay off w/in 1 yr like everyone seems to think that rns should be able to. By my calculations, it should take me 3-4 years to pay off my $25K loan and I pay off approximately $800-1000 per month. Gail

MSU is Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. I moved out of state for the 12 month program and I'm back in CA. I estimate that it might take me 3 years to pay off the debt. I found that it doesn't really matter where you go to school. Just that you can pass the NCLEX. It makes basically no difference in your pay whether you are a ADN or BSN. I get 4% more for my BSN but it works out to be $1 or $2 per hour. So... Samuel Merritt probably would be turned down by me just because of the expense. Everyone who says that you can pay that kind of debt off in a reasonable amount of time forgets that you have other expenses like car payments, kids, and you need to have time off. Once you start working it's hard to get the motivation to work extra shifts because of fatigue. I work maybe one extra shift a month for overtime or incentive pay but sometimes I don't. When you work extra a good portion goes to taxes so you don't even see it until next year. Ugh... debt sucks.

OMG... I don't know anything about OB/Gyn orientation since I'm not an L&D nurse but this sounds like it is totally inadequate. Can you talk to a nurse educator or your manager???

Hi, I was in the same boat as you, having a BS in engineering and wanting to become a nurse. I did a 12 month accelerated BSN program at MSU and am now working as a tele nurse. I don't know if it matters in terms of getting hired for your first hospital job whether you have an AS or BSN degree but I heard that having a BS will help you advance if you no longer want to do bedside nursing. Also if you plan on getting your masters it will put you one step closer. As for me, I probably would have done the ASN if I could have gotten in. There is a wait list of 2-3 years at the community colleges in my area. If I had waited to do that, I would still not be in school. I would go wherever I could if I were you. Gail

You can definitely have a middle class living on the salary you'd be getting in SD. The bay area has to pay you more cause you have to deal w/ the housing prices. I am in the same situation as you. If you want to earn more money you can always work an extra shift once in a while.

I got accepted to this school in 2005 and I didn't end up going there because of the cost. I ended up going to MSU and came out with $20K of debt. I'm paying $1000/month to get rid of it and it's going down soooo slow. Just a caution for you in case you don't want to be dealing w/ student debt for the rest of your life.

I would wait. I also was told to come back to get my 3rd shot 6 months after my 2nd one. You can get the 3rd one pretty much anytime. One of my classmates had his 3rd shot 1 year after the 2nd.

Hmmm... I always shower after work. I'm also one of those who keeps an extra pair of shoes in the car to change into so I don't spread germs to my car. I put my work shoes in a plastic bag

I work on a neuro tele floor. My unit/hospital is stroke certified by JCAHO so we get a lot of strokes. But we also get post op neuro surgeries after they get out of the ICU. I also take care of pre/post cath patients, MI, chest pains. Anything that needs tele. Even some that doesn't. Good luck. I found that this type of floor was a good starting place for me.

wow... why would the physician feel threatened by the doula? I think your friend should ask her OB why he/she isn't wanting a doula at the delivery. It's kinda suspicious...

Wow... this is great information. I signed up for an orientation session to become a volunteer doula. I'm very excited and see this as my "baby step" to becoming a CNM. I'd love to hear others' experiences as a doula.

I'm sorry about your bad experience. I had a great one so I know that it makes a difference. I am precepting a student right now and I hope that I'm helping her. I told her to speak up if I'm doing something that she didn't like or appreciate. Since you're preceptorship is over, just put it behind you and be the best nurse that you can. Maybe she felt pressured to take you on. Like some of the other nurses already said, taking a preceptor involves a lot more work than most new grads realize. I appreciate my preceptor a lot more knowing what I know now. Take care.

Hi... Most nursing jobs provide benefits including health/dental and retirement benefits. Working for an agency means that you work wherever the agency needs you to work. Ditto for per diem except you work for a hospital and the hospital decides where you work. For example, one day, there is a need for a nurse on a tele floor. The next a med/surg. You have more flexibility as you can choose when you work but you don't have consistency. I happen to work a regular job on a tele floor so I may get corrected but this is what I understand. Gail

I've been told by a doctor over the phone that I can take a verbal DNR order over the phone if I get another nurse to get the order from her too. She wanted to make sure that we didn't try to resusitate the pt. I told her I was uncomfortable taking the order over the phone and she needed to come in to write the order. She wasn't too happy w/ me but it turns out she already wrote the DNR order when she saw the pt in the ER so she was covered. In our facility, the DNR order needs to be written and a purple DNR band placed on the pt's wrist. The band placement needs to be verified by two nurses at the start of every shift w/ the written order.

I just started precepting a student nurse yesterday in fact and I was a bit worried because I've only been a nurse for about 9 months. I worried that I wouldn't have very much to teach her. She says that she had a good day w/ me and I'll be precepting her again. How do I give her good experiences? I'll request light assignments until I can really get a good idea of her skills. Her school hasn't given her a password to our charting system so I can't really have her doing that. And I'll have her do procedures as appropriate. What is the best thing I can pass on to my student?

I passed also. Yeah... i can't believe my license was decided in 75 questions. But it's over. What a weight off my shoulders.