Summer Days

I concur with the OP. It sounds easy on paper but the lab portion of those classes will have you spinning rollercoaster style. I'd say you split two classes in the Spring & the other 2 during summer. Good luck

Welcome to nursing, where your shift starts with a 89 yo pt on a cardiac monitor running normal sinus rhythm, alert & oriented x 4. Labs were collected right at change of shift. 30 min later, lab calls you with critical lab values of lactate 5.4, potassium 6.0, wbc 18.0 positive UTI. You page the doc. Pt is now running sinus tachycardia between 140 - 160s. Orders are in. You are executing them. Just then you hear hyperacute stroke being called on your other pt. Your third pt is 30 min away, the secretary just informed you....I hope you get the picture I'm painting here. It's complete chaos but we navigate and manage it everyday.

Ideally, your nursing responsibility will focus on the system(s) in which the critical lab value affects. With regards to UTI, you will continue to assess urine for sediments, odor, & color. Assess VS & compare with pt's baseline. How old is the pt? In the elderly assess mentation for we know they present with confusion in active UTI. For hypocalcemia, look up in your text book. What does calcium do? When a pt has low calcium, how do they present? The symptoms they present with will be your focus for monitoring. Are s/s improving or worsening? Hope that helped. Good luck

It will entirely depend on what kind of a studen you are. While others could work full time and attend nursing school, some cannot even fathom the thought of it. I would tell you to go thru the route of no debt at all. With that comes the warning that doing both will leave you with few hours to study and feeling exhausted all the time. But if you are a diligent student and plan well you will make it thru. Do keep one job though. Good luck :)

Sounds to me you worry excessively. Some worry is ok, too much negatively impacts you. When was the last time you stopped worrying and actually did something fun, something unrelated to nursing school. Even the brain needs a break. You could be the best student ever. But when the brain is constantly tired, you perform poorly. This is an indicator you should perhaps step away from studying for now. Find something you love to do and do it. Spent time with friends and family. Incorporate some exercise. Endorphins have been known to boost morale. Then 2-3 weeks before school resumes, resume study and begin by studying your favorite topic. Have a study plan and check off completed tasks as you go along. All the best.

Not sure what the assignment is. By definition, health assessment will go from head to toe. As you assess, you are to note what's normal and what's abnormal for each body system then report your findings. If your assignment asks for focussed assessment then you would assess further what the pt is presenting with, which in this case is celiac dz. Utilize look, listen, and feel as you go down head to toe. For example, look at the head, do you see anything out of the norm? When you palpate the head, do you feel any masses? Proceed this way for each body system and ask questions for any abnormality. Your findings become the health assessment. Hope this helped. All the best.

Pt: I am an intelligence analyst. I search and find information on people, even info people think cannot be found about them. What's your name again, nurse? Me: (Very wide-eyed) Um (insert first name only).

It would be nice if you show us your work first. But really it isn't that hard if you give it a thought. Pretend I'm the LVN. " Summer Days, please insert a foley catheter for Mr. English in room 123 by 0900 and report back to me when completed. Can I get a read back?"

And it can be especially true for the pt with morbid obesity or one with ESLD with distended abd.

I studied differently. I used 4 books to study. Davis Q&A for the nclex rn, Saunders comprehensive review, Lippincott's Q&A review for the nclex rn & Nclex RN Q&A made incredibly easy. Pre-lecture, I would do 100 questions from incredibly easy for the corresponding topic to be lectured in class the week ahead. Then I'd read the rationales, both wrong & right , typing what I felt was important. Next, I read the corresponding chapter from Saunders review book, adding to the notes I took from the rationales. Armed with this, during lecture, I fairly knew what was being lectured. I also brought my questions to class. Post lecture, I did 100 more nclex questions of the corresponding chapter from both lippincott & davis, compiling more notes. It was these compiled notes that became my bible. For the weekly exams, I went from 15/20 to 18/20 or 19/20. That's when I knew this system worked for me. If you do have summer holidays, I suggest you find a system that works for you. All the best, cheers.

Hint: what is our major worry with a pt who is vomiting? What is the pt losing and how could this affect the labs?

Here you go. I think one of the links are for those in CA only. The rest can apply to nursing students nationwide. Good luck Financial Aid Information

There will be a lot of patient teaching opportunities in primary health care/health clinic. In child health for instance, parents, new and old, will have tons of questions about immunizations so brush up in those areas. Particularly, arm yourself with governmental websites that you can refer patients to. Good luck, cheers.

First off, diarrhea is a medical dx, not nursing dx. So deficient fluid volume is correct. Refer to your nanda book for examples of supporting evidence for deficient volume. Since this pt is female, you do have to take into account the age. Is she still having menses? If so when was her last menses? Hgb 10.5 is not uncommon for a female pt who is still menstruating. Check trend of hgb to help r/o active bleeding. You do have a priority problem with that WBC. Find in your nanda book a nursing diagnosis along with supporting evidence and interventions. Good luck.

Take a look at these, hope it helps. How to Add Narration to Powerpoint (2

The final year is, indeed, stressful. The mountain is not at all impossible to climb if you could manage to encourage yourself and keep a positive mind. You are your best encourager. Focus on what's due NOW and plan accordingly. Write down pending tasks, cross them off as you complete them then reward yourself. Worry not about what's due in November because, ahem, it's February. When feeling down, remind yourself why you wanted to be a nurse and let that renew your hope. I wish you the very best in your final year. Cheers :)

Yes it's the pt with hgb of 6. That's a critical value, need blood transfusion. HbgA1C tells you whether their diabetes is controlled or not. Take heart. Hope you passed, fingers crossed.

Honestly, your supporting data for risk for impaired skin integrity is very weak and I would encourage you not to use this ndx. Major risk factors (among others) for impaired skin are moisture and inability to shift weight while in bed or while seated in a chair, and you have shown that he can ambulate on own and prevent incontinence by going to the bathroom. Now you mention he is not at risk for falls. I can tell you that any patient with medication/tpn running intravenously and continuously is a HUGE risk for fall r/t tethering device (IV pole and pump). Now can you also look into the pt current medication list and see if he is on any medication with side effects of hypotension (he does not really have to be hypotensive), dizziness or lightheadedness, sedation, or diuresis. Major culprits are B/P meds, antipsychotics, opiates, antianxiety drugs, and sleeping meds. These meds increase pt's risk for falling. Hope that helped.

I like to visit National Patient Safety Goals website maintained by The Joint Commission. Here is the link National Patient Safety Goals | Joint Commission Also I like to visit Institute for Safe Medication Practices. This website provides plenty of medication information. Here is the link Institute For Safe Medication Practices

First off, attend an information session. Find the schedule on link 1 below! Bring all your questions regarding applying to your school's nursing program. Then again if you carefully read thru the traditional BSN page (link 2), most of your questions will be answered. They have provided information on Second Bachelors, which I believe will help you decided whether to finish your biochem major or swap to pre-nursing. Are you referring to admissions and records having discouraged you from swapping to pre-nursing or is it only Chemistry counselors? If it's the latter, by all means you can swap your major. Side note: always do your own research first! You will get more done that way. All the best in your endeavors. 1. Traditional BSN Advising Schedule 2. Traditional BSN

I chose to do my precetorship at night. I say it will depend on the unit/area of nursing you will be assigned to. I was placed at a stepdown telemetry unit and about the only shift I remember having some breathing space was when I was assigned to follow the charge nurse. The rest of the shifts I recall hitting the ground running till start of day shift. In addition, I was paired with an awesome preceptor, who kept challenging me each shift. So as you can see there are variables as to whether you'll learn during noc shift or not. All the best.

Take blank paper charts and bring them home with you. Study them, especially the rows you are likely to fill out. Practice narrative writing when you are home. Be familiar with your patient population and the skills you do the most. If at all feasible, bring the paper chart with you to pt's room. Whichever skills you perform while in that room, do not leave the room w/o having documented them in the chart. Try it. At first you will feel slow, but once you get the gist of it, you will surprise yourself at how fast you chart. All the best.

Booked the next flight outta Cali to Virginia. While there I visited Washington D.C. and Annapolis, Maryland. Student life had not afforded me much of vacay.

In nclex world, LVN's scope of practice as far as meds go, they can give topical and PO meds. Anything invasive is outside their scope of practice. IV meds are invasive, so nope. Both LVNs and CNA can reinforce teaching. Hope that helps

Definitely review your A&P as close to nursing school start date as possible. Sounds easy, huh, until you are thrown in the mix and say, you are going over disorders of the central nervous system and you cannot tell apart the functions of the different lobes of the brain. Hell, you cannot remember what the tubules do for the life of you. Aha, which one has three lobes, right or left lung? Sounds simple but many of us forget, myself included haha. Many of the nursing school books include a review of A&P at the start of each body system because they know we've long forgotten these stuff. Second, review college level chemistry. Understand acids, bases, pH & buffers. Understand chemistry bonds, ATP use, and Krebs cycle. In microbiology, review gram negative and gram positive microbes, know differences between bacteria, viruses, and fungi as you will encounter them throughout nursing school. I find that pharmacology is better and well retained when learned side to side with corresponding nursing school lecture. Thus, I would not advocate to learn pharm before nursing school. Some nursing schools incorporate pharm into their curriculum, others do not. So find out if your school does. All the best, cheers :0