shellbeach

Absolutely, flexi seals are the best, but what do I do before I get an order for that?

Love them, appreciate them. We need more of them.

Please help a new-ish nurse out! I work in the ICU. Most of my patients are on a low air loss mattress, the kind made of blue nylon type material. On top of that, we are only allowed to use a short draw sheet and one extrasorb pad. No diapers allowed, no extra linens per hospital policy. This works pretty well for most patients, but when a patient has severe diarrhea, it tends to pool in between the patient's legs. The extrasorb pad doesn't do much to actually, you know, ABSORB the diarrhea. So we use a ton of washcloths (maybe 10? or 15?) to soak it up and then change the patient as usual. The washcloths then go in the trash. We don't have any disposable wipes. So as you can tell, this is messy, wasteful, and just all around frustrating. In between changes, the patient's skin is coming into contact with liquid diarrhea. We do use barrier cream, but it can only do so much. I know there is some old school nurse or CNA out there who knows all the tricks. Please, any tips or ideas would be really appreciated!

Just want to say thank you for the reply :)

Hello! I know this is a very small specialty and I don't anticipate a lot of responses, but if there are any addictions nurse practitioners out there, can you please tell me more about what you do? I'm contemplating a career change and ANYTHING you can tell me about your profession would be helpful and deeply appreciated. Just to help get your creative juices flowing, I came up with a list of questions: Do you like what you do? What career pathway did you take to get to where you are now? Do you use medication assisted treatment with drugs like baclofen, naltrexone, suboxone, etc? Are you seeing good outcomes with this form of treatment? Do you see a growing need for addictions NPs? How hard was it to find a position? How is your relationship with MDs who specialize in addiction medicine? How much autonomy do you have in your practice? What don't you like about about what you do? If you had the power to change something about your work, what would it be? How much stress do you feel? Do you feel like you have enough down time? Do you feel like you have a natural talent for this type of work, or was it something that you developed over time? If you had it to do over again, would you choose this line of work? If you plan to do something different in the future, what is it? Thank you!

Not yet! Still waiting for my schedule.

Hi everyone! If you are currently looking for a job as an RN, LVN, or CNA and have not had much luck, here is a lead. A new hospital just opened in Long Beach, CA called College Medical Center. It used to be the Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, but College Hospitals just purchased the facility and they are looking for new people, especially for the Behavioral Health Unit. As far as I know, they are not advertising the positions, so that's why I would like to get the word out there. I know there are a lot of unemployed nurses that are desperate for jobs because I was one. I just happened to click on their website and saw that they were hiring and that's how I got the job. The requirements are: an application, a license/certification, a BLS card, and proof that you have the right to work in the United States. You must speak excellent English, but if you are bilingual that is a huge plus. If you apply in the near future, you have a very good chance of getting hired! Good luck! If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, but I'm a new employee so unfortunately I don't have a lot of specifics. Their website is http://www.chc.la/lonHome. PS - I can't answer personal messages because my account is new. I think you have to have 5 posts before it will let you answer PMs.

First of all, thank you for your reply! You touched on the concerns that I'm worried about. I'm not sure about the legality of owning IV equipment without a script, but I'm really hoping there is some sort of loophole for RNs who are just using it for their own educational purposes. When I was in nursing school, other students often took home the supplies we used in class so they could practice, and the professors knew about it and encouraged us to do so. And I know that home health nurses often carry some of their own supplies in their car. Do they get it through their agency or do they purchase it themselves? I'm shooting for a position in a new graduate residency program at a local hospital and if all goes well, I will get a ton of training there, but like I said, I would feel so much more confident if I could just practice at home without, you know, a group of people standing over me and time limits and stuff. I just learn better that way. Anyone have any suggestions?

Hi everyone! I'm an RN who graduated in 2010 and unfortunately I have very limited nursing experience. I used to work at an SNF where I didn't get a lot of opportunities to start IVs. Now I'm taking a nurse refresher course and I'm hoping to get back onto the job market very soon. My problem is that my nursing skills are very shaky right now, specifically when it comes to finding and putting together nursing supplies and equipment. In my refresher class, we only get a few minutes to practice with each item. I watch online nursing videos and I'm re-reading my old textbooks, but I know I would feel so much more confident if I could actually buy needles, syringes, vacutainer tubes, IV start kits, etc. and practice with them at home. If I were working at a hospital, I'm scared that I would grab the wrong item, not know how to put something together, or accidentally touch something that should be kept sterile. I'm in the LA/South Bay area and the medical supply stores I know of sell walkers and neck braces, not this kind of stuff. I know there is Ebay, but the shipping and handling fees would add up because I'm thinking of buying a bunch of small, separate items. If you know of a good store or website, please let me know! Thank you!