bagface

On her facebook she was extremely vocal this weekend about her opinion. Since Monday though nothing - can't help but wonder if she was terminated over her post. There's no take backs on social media!

It depends on my mood honestly. A lot of times I'll eat dinner foods before going to bed (my system says it's dinner time). Which can vary from a salad to soup to any sort of meat. If you're looking for more breakfast type foods I use the carnation breakfast packets - which are AMAZING! I have all the flavors but my favorite is taking the chocolate packet and mixing it with powdered PB2 peanut butter. It's like a chocolate peanut butter milkshake. Generally I drink this on my way to work anyways but it keeps me full for 4-6 hours. I love these things. The carnation packets I recommend getting at a Costco or Sams club (you get bulk for like $10) and the PB2 I recommend getting off Amazon. You can get two huge containers for $15.

Here is the original post: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet - hope it doesn't violate TOS.

I think it depends on the program/person. For example: 1) Our school refused to accommodate a fellow classmate who had cancer - she needed the cancer removed - urgently. She took two tests three weeks before the semester was even over, only for the program to come back at her and tell her she needed to take the final before she had her surgery (this surgery required her to miss a week of school). 2) During my time in school nothing was excused - the following things happened: a student's parent died, some were hospitalized for appendicitis/pancreatitis, another student's son died because she ran over him with a car accidentally trying to leave to get to clinicals on time. Our program made zero exceptions for these people. 3) Your life is going to be hectic. Is it worth it? Yes. But my years through school were hell. And to be honest I don't know if I could do it again if I had to. If your life is in a good place - do it. If not - fix all your family drama/children needs/spousal support/savings accounts prior to starting. This will set you up for success in the future. Good luck!

I wanted to say I am sorry you are going through this hard time. However, please know that this mountain is not unclimbable. I was a single mother, my son's father left when our son was about 6 weeks old. I was working as a 911 operator (which was amazing BTW), and I lived in a house with an air mattress and an infant swing. I had nothing else, my son's father wouldn't let me take any of the furniture and left me pretty much bankrupt as I had unpaid maternity leave (I was at my job for less than a year so my vacation time barely covered any time, plus I had to be on bedrest, etc). It was a mess. When my son turned 1 I signed up for college classes. I started taking it one class at a time - year round, until I could apply for clinicals. After that I started working 20 hours a week - at a local hospital who had tuition reimbursement. I continued through school and made it through. It took me FOUR years to get my ASN, but you know what? I did it. What you're about to go through is harder than anything else you will encounter. But if this is a dream you really want, go for it. You don't need to work in a hospital right now, just start checking off classes. You'll get there when you get there. Good luck :)

Bingo.

Thank you for this. We also give back all belongings at discharge regardless of whats in them. The links were helpful - thank you for the detailed information. Heron, it really is a "bucket of stinky worms". I know if I were a patient in the hospital and I were alert, awake, and oriented x 3 and saw someone digging through my belongings I would be giving them an earful. I don't carry anything illegal or participate in any activity that is such, however as a patient I have rights and I don't feel like being treated like a criminal just because I've been involved in a "trauma". Definitely a bad situation all around. Thank you all for the replies and links - much appreciated!

I work in a very busy ED, my husband works in another hospital in our area that is also a very busy ED. While we were talking something he said caught me off guard. His hospital searches their patients pockets if they are a psych/trauma/intoxicated patient. If they find any illegal contraband they call the police and give patient information to them. Is this actually allowed? For our hospital we scan patient belongings in a psych/trauma/intoxicated patient and give the items to security. We don't ever call the police for contraband. We service a very poor/high crime rate/high drug rate population. However this community trusts us and knows we don't turn them over to the police. When a shooting happens or something of the like we always bag our items for evidence and obviously police are involved. However we do not call if we find marijuana products on a person. Actually because of our relationship with the community members we have had a decrease in "drive by shootings" (you know where they push the victim out of the car and speed away so they aren't involved). We also release information if there's a bad batch of heroine going around and notify the police of that. My question is, where can I find the exact fine line on this on the HIPAA guidelines website? It seems like it's a gray area and there is no definite answer. However I definitely feel it violates patient rights to have their pockets gone through simply because they are a "trauma" patient (coumadin + fall = trauma). Thank you for your guidance on this matter.

Honestly a head to toe takes me less than 10 minutes, usually around 8 minutes give or take depending on the patient severity. When I did med surg in school we would have 4 patients assigned to us and their full care was ours and ours alone. I always did a focused assessment first, did my med pass, and then went back and did a head to toe. A lot of people say they do head to toe first, which is practical when you have 1-2 patients. Not so much when you have a full section though. When doctors start rounding I didn't want to be the one that had no clue why or when patient in 421 had strayed from his baseline, and I didn't want to not know what I was facing when the doctor was coming around. It'll get easier. Practice practice practice. You'll go far :)

Life is life.. you are going to get terrible instructors. Unfortunately this will happen. I had an instructor that had it out for me because I reported her for unethical behavior (she made me take patients who didn't want a student nurse and then when I told her it was against patient rights to force me on the patient she said it was my fault that I wasn't "confident" enough, she made me miss lunch so I could do physical therapy with my patient - fine and good - but then afterwards I told her I needed to eat because I am diabetic, she shoved me in the nutrition room and told me to eat some of the food they give out to patients, she also would scream at my classmates on the floor, belittling them in front of patients and staff alike, among many other horrors). What did she do then? She held onto a paper I did for 7 weeks. She held onto it until ALL of my grades were put in, and then put my grade in failing me by 0.5 points. That's right, I failed a clinical rotation by 0.5 points. I told my husband I was quitting school after that, because honestly why pay another $10k to a school that supports that kind of demonic behavior? My husband told me he would support me and told me whatever I chose to do he would be there for me. In the end after taking a break between semesters I decided to enroll again and try again - this time I was not assigned the abusive instructor. Bad instructors exist. Then again, so do bad nurses, so do bad coworkers. I wasn't going to let them pee on my dreams. In the end I will never have to see her again, I will never have to work or do business with her again. I reported her all the way up to the dean of nursing. Nothing ever came of it. Now she's stuck in repeat mode all day every day, trying to find a target to be a part of her little game, but you know what? Not my problem anymore. I've gone on to bigger and better things, and in the end I look back and laugh at how miserable her life must really be to pick on others. I mean seriously - you're going to throw away everything you've worked for because one woman/man has permanent sand stuck up their genitals? Not even worth it.

Pretty sure this is going to be all the costume rage this year...

I am so sorry for your loss. My husband and I have had multiple miscarriages and one ectopic. The hardest part about the ectopic was after years of trying to conceive we had to willingly terminate the baby we spent so long to conceive. We've undergone fertility treatments - everything short of IVF (but we will be starting that next July thank the Lord!). Nothing makes the pain of infertility away. Nothing takes away the pain of losing a child you so deeply longed for. I still have little charms/memories of when I was pregnant with each child and save them in a special place. I also pray to the children I've lost frequently and tell them I still think of them and love them. A mother's love is eternal, regardless if you held them in your arms or not, you held them in your heart. I hope your days get easier and your able to carry again soon. Good luck to you and your husband.

Although I don't camp out in the breakroom this has been a huge issue in our school. I've had to leave the OR during an active procedure because I had to go to post-conference, I've missed out on cardio cath's because if I went it meant not completing my paperwork on time and failing an assignment, and the list goes on and on. I've honestly gained more skills as an ER tech in the past year and a half than I've encountered in my 3.5 years of nursing school clinicals. I can interpret EKGs, do foleys/straight caths, successfully draw labs on a heroine addict, change a bed with little to no assistance, etc. After our last batch of new grads though I think this paperwork trend is common. So many of them are completely unprepared for real world floor work. I saw a new nurse not clean a member properly before attempting to cath him (I say attempt because she stopped when he started screaming - she didn't hold it straight up), I've seen new nurses avoid patient care because they are so uncomfortable in front of them because they've been so busy doing paperwork/patho maps/care plans they don't have bedside manners yet. It's sad. I hope more instructors like you are out there though - Lord knows we need the good ones now more than ever!

Windsurfer - I care because I'm on a committee that students give feedback to the college on policies that are developed each year. Several of us were handpicked from the beginning and we have made a huge difference in the current practices/policies that do exist. That's why I was CURIOUS as to other colleges and asked their opinions. As someone who works in a hospital already in a very busy ER I know what professionalism is. I have been working for over 15 years at this point in my life. I know how to handle myself in a proper manner at this point in my career or I wouldn't have made it this far. In the end they aren't able to work with me for my illness. However my doctor is FINALLY clearing me for school again with minimal restrictions so I'll be able to participate in clinical. Hopefully no more acute pancreatitis attacks are in my future!

Ours also discourages working. However if you work at the hospital affiliated with them you get a 90% discount off tuition so -- why WOULDN'T you work with that discount? I work for a different hospital in an ER as a tech and I love it. I think my hospital experience brings a lot to my education. I feel far ahead of my peers at clinical. I can do a cath in less than two minutes, I can draw labs first try, I can interpret EKGs without using my guide book. I work per diem at the hospital though since I don't really need to work (my husband has two jobs). However I love what I do so I pick up 12-20 hours per week during the semester and go full time during breaks. If you ever get the chance at a tech job - take it