RNAnna

I am a 41 year old novice nurse. New Grad working in Med/Surg in a very rural 18 bed facility. So we do absolutely everything. We cover a lot of different disciplines all in one place. It can be very overwhelming and I've been thinking that it wo...

Hi, Ok, so I'm in my first year of nursing. This is a second carreer for me and I really don't know anything about how various branches of the health care field organize their orientation. Mine seems to be a bit screwed up. I have to say that I di...

Hi All, I've been reading a lot of posts about the NCLEX in this forum. Everyone is really nervous and hung up on how many questions it takes to pass or fail. Believe me, I was the same way. I admit to every sleepless night, and every tear I cried...

Let's hear it for being a "do gooder"! I would rather be labled as a "do-gooder" than go against my pricipals, beliefs, and the law where people's lives are concerned. I know and understand the need for Hospice care and comfort measures - I adminis...

Hi I actually took a year and a half after I graduated to get my first job. It was a year after I was licensed that I started. Everyone wanted to know what I was doing during that time. Actually, it really is none of their business. They can't te...

Hello. We don't tape our reports. We do them live, which has it's own set of anxiety provoking symptoms. I'm always afraid that I'm going to leave something out, or that someone is going to ask me something that I don't know. Anyway, the report f...

Hi. I've been having a hard time lately. Not only because I am working way more hours than I am scheduled for and we are really busy at the moment, but also because at our rural hospital (25 beds) we also have some hospice pts that come in. A coupl...

My favorite is that nurses are able to give medical advice in the grocery store. I live in Rural Iowa and in small towns everyone thinks that they can "get that looked at" by the nurse next door. Or the person who says "My sister-in-law says that s...

It is really difficult to have that chatty pt and have to leave because you have other pts to care for. I just got off orientation and admit that was one of my problems too. I'm just tooo nice for my own good. I don't want to cut someone off and ...

I had to grin at Haunted's post. I'm just off of orientation, but I am an "older new nurse" so I can understand the humor and smile with her. We all go throught the time management crisis. The thing that bothered me soooooo much while in school an...

Hi - It sounds like a lot of you are from central and southern Iowa. I feel like the lone person from the beautiful Northeast Iowa bluff country - where nursing is not bluffing. It's Decorah for me. But I work at Mercy Medical in New Hampton, Iowa...

I just got off orientation. Things are going great. I love my job. I love what I do. I just am really frustrated giving report to the next shift and the new "know it all" who is just orienting. She is being oriented by an experienced nurse who w...

Gradiated compression knee hi's. I broke my ankle in three places in November and I have to wear them to keep the ankle stable and to keep the swelling under control. I've tried lot's of brands. In fact, I was wearing Nursemates when I broke the a...

Ok, so here is the delema. I have several charge nurses that are telling me different things about piggybacking meds. I'm a new nurse and trying to do everything right which is impossible since we are all human, but I am getting frustrated by this ...

Hi Redred, The Nursing made Incredibly Easy series of books has one specifically on charting. I've never looked at it myself, but I've heard good things about it. There are also quite a few books about nursing and the law - which is what charting i...

At our facility we always ask the pt on admission what meds they take and when they take them. So, if the pt isn't taking X,Y, and Z together at home, they aren't taking them together in the hospital. I think every facility has thier own times as t...

It seems that there are quite a few of us that look at ourselves as the "old new nurse". I'm 41 and in my first nursing job. Sometimes I wonder why. I remember in school when we all were excited about the prospect of finally "being there" and now ...

Believe me I understand how you feel both physically and emotionally right about now - or at least I have a bit of understanding. I'm 41 yrs. Three days after I was hired for my current position, I fell down some stairs (not at work) and broke my an...

Do you have a preceptor??? Your preceptor should be guiding you through the first few weeks so that you can start to make your own goals. I am also new to nursing, so take what I say with a pillar of salt, but I would spent the first week trying t...

I know of one hospital - one of the larger in the country - that has a M/S psych floor. You may be able to combine the two and get the best of both worlds. I personally agree. I love psych. I want to work psych, but I am in a very rural area and ...

While looking for a new job, I would also say that this needs to be reported to someone. If going up the chain of command is not an option, I would be thinking about talking to the state board of nursing and making them aware of the situation. We a...

Thanks to both of you. It is difficult to have a couple of days off and have to think about how to address this situation before I go back to work on Friday. I've had a few really resentful and angry thoughts toward my preceptor, and toward how my ...

I've posted my woes on the first year RN forum, but I would like the opinion of all of you more experienced M/S nurses out there. I've been having a rollercoaster of an orientation. just when I think everything is going well, and I'm getting the han...

Ok, we've all had those feelings. The nasty nagging feeling that you're just never going to get it right no matter what you do. Bingo. Ding, ding, ding, I've just won the jackpot. I had a meeting with my manager and chief nursing officer (aka DO...

Hi Grace, Each facility has their own policies on orientation. It does seem that the larger facilities have longer orientations and preceptorships. Personally, I think it should be standardized, but that is just my opinion. Just think of the confi...