jansailsea

DONs & CEOs don't give a flying flip about the need to assign pt's by acuity so floor nurses duties are evenly dispersed. They have their own, bottom line criteria & hospital/corporate policies to follow. Even when it is CLEAR assignment by acuity means better, quality care for ALL pts. We're in an aged population center- we go "WHOOPEE", when we have a pt under the age of 65! Lots of Alzheimer, dementia, incontinent, & isolation pts who think they're 8 years old, & can walk. Try having 5 like that, & then getting 2 admits in a row from PACU or ICU with tubes, drains, & mortal pain. If one or two from the first group falls, rips out an IV, or pulls the pins out of their fingers... Sometimes, I will have a charge nurse or clinical mgr who actually helps. None of us are SUPERNURSE, we can only handle so much at a time & not compromise the health, well-being, & safety of our pts. Bless all nurses who care! jansailsea

i would be interested in taking the beginning micro course if i can still get in. i have gone to their website to research the offering. can you tell me the total cost for an out-of-state student? and do i have to apply, send transcripts, do any pre-reqs beforehand- or can i just register for the course & pay up? i'm older & wiser:chuckle, so i would be reliable study buddy. i returned home this evening after spending 2 days at the wild on wounds annual conference in orlando fl for wound care certified rns, lpns (me:nurse:) & pts. during the week, i'm going to inquire with excelsior if i can receive any credits for my wcc as excelsior is now offering an online wound care course! i desperately want to earn my rn, but hate the idea of attending the local community college as several lpns in our hopsital failed the nclex-rn several times over the last 2 years:cry: thanks in advance for any information you are able to give me:yeah: jansailsea

anyone attending the wild on wounds conference orlando fl sept 19-20th sponsored by wcei & the nawccb? as a florida resident who has been to orlando many times, i do not want to pay the price of the rosen center international drive hotel (approx $162 a night). if any female wants to share a room at a more modest hotel on friday night, i'd be interested in sharing. i'm already registered for the convention. jansailsea lpn-wcc sarasota-bradenton area

i live in ellenton, 15-20 min. north of sarasota. yes, it's the slow season, & nurses are being floated or cancelled on a regular basis. at some hospitals (blake medical ctr. hca), unit clerks are working as aides in order to keep a job & hours. if your friend were in tampa, it might be another story. sarasota-bradenton or sarasota-venice has always been dependent on snowbird winter season. it's much worse here with the housing market tanking. we've lost restaurants, construction related companies, & lots of attorneys' offices have their buildings up for sale. want a job? check the interstate for the housing markets across the nation most affected by the housing downturn: don't go there! good luck, jansailsea

I work Med/Surg nights in an acute care HCA Florida hospital. I hang blood with an RN, as we're required to have a witness/second party to do the checks & balances of hanging blood. I can't give Vasotec or Demerol IV & a few other meds are prohibited, like cardiac drips, etc. I can't declare a person dead. Pretty much, I can do most of the routine procedures required of an RN throughout the night. I do foleys, NG tubes, ostomy care, chest tube care, LOADS of IVs, you name it! Some RNs treat us like crap & feel we are taking "their" jobs away from them. But, the majority I have been fortunate to work with just wish the road to transitioning from LPN to RN was quicker, as it would help take some of the load/responsibility off of them. Many of the most helpful nurses I've worked with started out as LPNs:D jansailsea, LPN-WCC

Wound care: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/cpgonline.htm (http://www.hhs.gov site) Clinical practice guidelines on Pressure Ulcers http://www.npuap.org National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel guidelines & practices http://www.medicaledu.com Wound Care Information Network jansailsea, LPN-WCC http://http://www.nawccb.org National Alliance of Wound Care

sent the letter to my representative vern buchanan of the 13 th district in florida. i also met face to face in a meeting in which i lobbied rep. bill galvano of the florida state assembly in his office to pass the "patient right to know" act. this allows the patient to be informed of staffing levels in his or her facility of choice. peace & hope to all, jansailsea

Search Dept of Defense for government/civilian/military nursing positions available anywhere there is a US military installation such as: Aviano Italy; Ramstein, Landstuhl Germany; etc. Yes, there are LPN/LVN positions at these locations, whether any are available at this time I do not know. Qualifies as a US Gov't job with attendant benefits.

Laurenburg & Lumberton are a whole different part of the state. Lumberton straddles I-95, Laurenburg west of it, but smaller. I've lived in Asheville, Raleigh, & Fayetteville- I could never see myself living in Laurenburg or Lumberton (sorry- WAY too redneck for me). Residents who can go to the beach most weekends, some like Myrtle Beach as there is so much to choose from & do there on weekends. Asheville's housing has become resort priced in the last 5 years: my parents' 2 BR, 1 & 1/2 BA in West Asheville, which went for way under the 80ks in the mid 1970s, now appraises in the over $200k range! Oteen VA pretty accessible from I-40, Mission in Asheville not close to interstate. Asheville has changed so much since I was a teenager (particularly the last 5 yrs), I don't recognize it when I go back to visit. My sisters & I HATED it there in the 1970s & 1980s as we had come from Dallas Texas & Atlanta Ga. with all the amenities of big cities. Or we lived within an hour ride of Edisto Island, or 2 hours of Isle of Palms, SC. We all moved away from Asheville immediately upon finishing school, none of us liked the cold, dark winters. Asheville used to be the hotbed of Republican conservatism & clannishness for AGES. Now, it's gone all New Age, & accepting of diverse people. And if you are into mountain scenery & cold drizzly dark winters, more power to ya! We can't all be beach bums! Good luck, janet

just mailed in my enrollment fee to excelsior. am ready & waiting to get started. once you've made up your mind to pursue something, it seems like you can't get the wheels turning quickly enough. i really like that it can be done on my timetable rather than waiting each week for classes to take place. good luck to all, janet

I attended a Wound Care Education Institute seminar for a week in Raleigh NC. Classes are held throughout nation to prepare nurses, PTs, etc. for National Alliance of Wound Care certification exam.

While near the end of our LPN classes, a classmate & I attended a Blake Medical Center "Open House for Nurses". We came after class & were wearing our student uniforms. Two DONs escorted us around their units, & gave us their company benefit package portfolio. Each said they would be glad to interview us after NCLEX confirmation. I suppose it helped we were both over the age of 49- looked mature, & expected to be mature. Another hospital flat out told me they did not hire LPNs. But when the winter High season in SW Gulfcoast Florida approached, LPNs were accepted gladly as RNs were in short supply! Good luck

i lived in raleigh for 14 years & loved it there. with all the colleges in the city limits (nc state, meredith, peace, shaw) (+ wake tech is sort of east & south), there are plenty of young people, activities & nightlife to go around. it's a family friendly area with a strong recreation & parks department, magnet schools, year round schools, private schools, etc. outdoor ampitheatre concerts or the rbc center concerts, the state fair is a blast every fall, & carolina hurricanes hockey is a great show. then there's duke university in durham, & [color=mediumturquoise]uncarolina in chapel hill, 45-50 minutes away, with the attendant football & basketball rivalries. glenwood avenue south is a hot destination for restaurants & bars, pubs, etc., quite a few with outdoor seating for people watching. living inside the beltline can be pricier, but more desirable- just be careful of nc state western blvd. area, as it can be the rowdy party area in the apartment sections. otherwise, go for suburbs in cary, morrisville, or raleigh going out us 70 west from crabtree mall, north raleigh city areas - the west of atlantic avenue - not capital blvd area outside the beltline. as research triangle park between raleigh & durham consists of it, medical, pharmaceutical, & manufacturing facilities, there are good jobs & a diverse population. plus a wide variety of healthcare facilitites. good luck, jansailsea

Hello, I work for an HCA hospital (Blake Medical Ctr) in Bradenton FL. GSR in Myrtle Beach is in the same corporation. We have Computer-On-Wheels with electronic EMAR med scanning/pt. ID bracelets. Meditech DOS based software to do our documentation. Accu-Dose machines to pull meds. I honestly don't know if all HCA hospitals use the same systems. I'm a SC native, so on a trip to visit family, we drove by the GSR- it is not a large hospital. Check out the website http://www.grandstrandmed.com & they'll be happy to answer any questions about their particular hospital systems & policies. I contacted them Fall of 2006, explaining I was working MED/SURG in an HCA hospital down here & was interested in transferring spring/summer 2007-TRIED TO HIRE ME PRONTO! http://www.conwayhospital.com is about 20 minutes away on US 501 in Conway SC, not far from the US 17 intersection. http://www.lorishealthcaresystem.com is in Loris SC, northwest of North Myrtle Beach, & RN students from HGCC like doing clinicals there. http://www.gmhsc.com is in Georgetown SC, south of Myrtle Beach, before Charleston SC. They also own Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet, private not for profit in Murrells Inlet, just below Myrtle Beach but before Georgetown. Their webpage link can be accessed on the Georgetown site. A couple of travel nurses have said they liked the friendliness of Georgetown Memorial. GOOD LUCK! jansailsea

Would those of you who are employed as wound care nurses give those interested an idea of the types of positions, conditions of the job, you are currently experiencing? What is a typical day for you? Thanks for sharing!

Sickle Cell Crisis pt... absolutely one of the nicest people I've ever had for a pt gave several of us Thank You cards. Another pt was really having a difficult time, widowed, only child deceased, in pain & up for surgery-I grabbed his hand, told him that he was in alot better shape than most of my pts & I really felt he was going to have a good result. Next day, he grabbed my hand & told me, "I couldn't have done this without you- you made the difference." How nice is that!

Sarasota - Bradenton is a lovely area for the beaches & weather... Average pt age is 68 to 96 Lots of obese, diabetic, & many, many, many dementia pts (did I emphasize dementia enough?) Bedridden or unable to walk without assistance- oh, my aching back! And all of them try to get up to use the bathroom, not the bedpan or bedside commode, or go home, sending you racing into the room to catch them before they fall Pt ratio Dec thru April is 6/7/8 to 1, with only 1 aide on the floor practically every night Pay is lower than in St. Pete & Tampa, which is lower than Miami EXPENSIVE to live here as affordable homes start at 235k Good luck

http://www.sciway.net South Carolina Information Highway (internet) site Lots of links & ways to view & research SC cities & counties. Greenville, Spartanburg, Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach most popular for either their lifestyle, job prospects, or amenities. Just call me a Sandlapper - SC native, Hampton county.

I can be a "spelling police person" too. I make typos frequently: I can say what I'm thinking faster than my ability to type it; my distal fingers don't strike the keys as hard or well as thumbs & forefingers can. Usually, I am the person my coworkers will ask to spell a procedure or descriptive term. I don't always get it right if I haven't read the word at least once. Particularly if it's not being pronounced correctly, & I'm unfamiliar with it. I can then only try to spell it phonetically at best. Unfortunately, writing skills have gone by the way side in American culture. Friends & family love to receive letters from me but don't reciprocate, & want me to write their papers/reports for them on a regular basis. I've written Inservice documents, don't get credit for it other than, "Thanks, this looks good", & have learned not to say yes anymore. It takes time & skill to research & write documents that can stand up to the scrutiny of hospital bureaucracy, thank you very much! Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice shame on me!

sc native sandlapper currently in southwest gulf coast fl, moving to myrtle beach sc in spring. house prices, property taxes, & property insurance here unreasonable- the news reporters call $285k houses affordable, taxes can be $2k-6k a year, & most insurance companies have opted out of florida. not what i'd call affordable on an lpn's salary! my family is located in asheville, charlotte, raleigh, nc. hubbie's family is in raleigh & fayetteville nc. we're golfers, so mb is a good fit for us. plus, it's not too far for weekend visits from family, & i will be happy to run the resident b&b! the pay range doesn't sound like it's all that different from where i work now, but there's more choice when it comes to housing prices. i'd like the 29579 zip, carolina forest if possible. understand us 501 traffic horrible, but it would put me in 15-20 minutes driving distance of gsr & conway hosp. (night shift). any suggestions or recommendations regarding workplace or neighborhoods will be appreciated!

I can't tell you if that's true or not about the 5:1 patient ratio. Makes me wonder if it's truly the standard, or gets stretched when patient census if up. Come December, it's High Season here, & the snowbird population influx really drives pt. census up. I chose not to work at Sarasota Memorial as I'm easily a 35-40 minute drive north in Ellenton ( I hate to drive), Blake is closer, smaller, private vs. public. Sarasota has a health care insurance plan, if I understand the articles in the newspaper, include using its' own facilities. My hubbies' insurance with BCBS of FL is better than the plans at Blake.

FYI: Sarasota FL has LOTS of Brits, Scots, Irish, French Canadians, Germans, Ukranians, & other former communist bloc members. Sarasota Memorial would probably love to have you with your experience- Sarasota Memorial Health Care System Good Luck, jansailsea

I did clinicals at SMH, work at Blake Medical, 2South MED/SURG nights. Patient ratios are generally eith 6 or 7 to 1 in MED/SURG units. The bad part with it being so high in this area- lots of dementia / Alzheimers' pts. who try to climb out of bed during nights when they haven't walked in years! Your assignment can easily include 3-4 Contact Precaution pts. Plus, there may be only one aide on the floor for every 4 nurses. SMH, a public hospital, is generally well thought of in the area. Blake staff just voted in the union.

SARASOTA COUNTY TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, Sarasota FL http://www.sarasotatech.org/ MANATEE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, Bradenton FL Manatee Technical Institute I graduated from SCTI in 2006, facility is older & so are labs & equipment. Clinicals at Sarasota Memorial, Venice Regional ( a drive!). They are tough on expecting excellence- dropouts & cut students often go to Manatee Tech. Females had to wear a housekeeper's vest type uniform, reminded me of what the cafeteria ladies wore in high school! Manatee Tech (Manatee County's tech school) is where I would have gone if I knew they existed at the time- new facility, new equipment, friendlier staff, plus the female uniforms are not so dorky. Clinicals at Blake Medical (where I work), Manatee Memorial. I work with mainly MTI graduates at Blake & they are certainly as qualified as I am. Sarasota & Bradenton are expensive West gulf coast towns to buy a house. Sarasota is upscale (think the Ritz-Carlton), Bradenton more working middle class (Applebee's, Chili's). The beaches in the area are very pretty, Tampa & St. Pete 30-45 minutes away depending on where you live from in Sarasota & Bradenton. Good luck! jansailsea

When I come home in the morning: shower, brush teeth, put on pjs, a soft, cushioned eye mask, ear plugs, & a fan (pointed away from me) running in the room to block outside noise. If I think I'm going to have problems going to or staying asleep, I'll cut a Benadryl in half & take it. Doesn't happen more than once a month, so I figure it can't be that damaging. Thank goodness, I have no trouble getting deep, restorative sleep. The afternoon I'm returning to evening shift, I'll take an hour long nap. It seems to get me through the first night back without a problem. As long as I get a minimum of 6 hours sleep each work night, I do fine, course- 7 hours is even better! I slept today until 3pm on my first day off, & it's 0018 now. I'm actually feeling sleepy, ready to hit the hay now. Don't have caffeine within 4-5 hours of when you need to sleep. Too little sleep wears the body down, scrambles the brain. Good luck! janet