ambiance

Like it was previously mentioned, what you use verses what you flush with depends on your hospital policy. For example, at my hospital we flush power PICCs with saline and neonate and infant PICCs with heparin (due to their small size and increased risk for clotting off). Hope that helps :)

I have to agree with iluvgusgus about the fact that nursing is a privilege. It takes a special person to be a nurse whether it is on the floor or in an ICU. Although I know that it is not the case for everyone, but the priority reason for being a nurse should not be money. Truly, as a nurse you are able to help people while gaining experiences that you can use both in the work setting and in your personal life. Every type of nurse has their own difficulties or set-backs. I do not think that an ICU nurse should look down on a floor nurse or vice versa. A nurse is a nurse. There is something we can all learn from each other. The fact that we are nurses means that we have the potential to work in any setting and, correct me if I'm wrong, hospitals know that. Why do you think an ICU nurse can float to the floor and a floor nurse can float to the ICU? Simply because we are all nurses.

Just as vintagemother stated, you will most likely find happiness working in home health. I can definitely understand the undue stress a person can have by being responsible for so many patients at one time. As a home health nurse, there is still a measure of responsibility, however many would agree with the statement that it is to a more managable degree. Home health nurses work in a case by case basis so you will still be able to get that "hero" feeling as you help individuals who cannot perform tasks on their own or without supervision. I think you should give home health nursing a try; you might be pleasently surprised :)

Hmm...I think what has happened to you (this is just an opinion by the way, not a fact)is that you have become tremendously down hearted. I may not understand your feelings completely, but I can surely take a guess that it's not easy to set your sights on something and see it not come to fruition as you would have liked it to. I really do wish that you wouldn't totally give up on something that was once your dream. In a way, I can see that you tried not to let go because not only did you obviously renew your license, but you continued to look for a way to use it. Please, don't let the experience at the SNF you mentioned taint something you once loved and desired to do. The user jadelpn gave you some suggestions on different ways of using your degree, but perhaps you might consider a different route. Maybe you could take a refresher course to help you to rekindle the love you had for nursing. I know that this may not be something you wanted to be told, so I apologize in advance for stating something you may not be interested in. I definitely do not mean to offend you in any way. I really hope my comment is helpful. Thank you for reading.

I have to agree with toomuchbaloney. It is not a violation to tell the patient's visiting child that it is standard hospital policy to screen patients for MRSA and keep them on contact precautions until proven otherwise. This shows that every patient is treated the same and makes the hospital norm no big secret. It would be a violation for the nurse to declare that the patient is on contact precautions due to MRSA to anyone who does not need to know or is not on the patient's disclosure list.

Isn't it better to be safe than sorry? There's no way to know how the people at the facility feel about beards unless you talk to someone who works there or go people watching. If this is not an option for you, I think that you should shave it off and see what happens. I understand that this might be an identity issue for you; however you stated that your career is very important to you. I guess it all comes down to what you're willing to do to secure a job. This is not say that having or not having a beard will get you hired, however I think you might sleep better at night if you know that your beard was not an issue for those doing the hiring. Trust me, depending on how soon you get a response will determine how much sleep you will get in between the wait. Don't let your beard keep you up at night with questions of "What if?" However, it's all up to you to decide what you want to do. Hopefully, you end up doing what you think is best for you, your beard, and your career :)

I am not an expert at interviewing, however I will try my best to advice you a little bit. :) When you are interviewing it is important that you prepare in advance. The more prepared you are, the more likely you will be at gaining a job opportunity. Preparation involves research. Look up information about the facility, especially the motto. If possible use it in some of your responses. Research any of the necessary certifications that the facility requires of the position currently and in the future. When you are asked what your goals are, be sure to use your research. Preparation involves practice. There are so many questions that can asked of you that it is important that you practice them in advance. It also helps to write down your responses so you are able to think things through. Another important step to practicing is using the opinion of others in regards to some of the responses that you thought about using. Have a practice session (preferably in your interview clothes with at least two individuals - most interviews tend to have two or more people). When interviewing remember to remain calm and to breath. Also, it would be a good idea to have a sort of reflective pause before your responses. It helps to show that you are a thoughtful person and gives you a moment to get your thoughts together (Ever heard the saying: think before you speak). Never forget to smile and to express how glad you are to be given the opportunity to interview. When your interview is coming to a close, make sure that you have a final response to give them in order to keep them thinking about you. Some people also send thank you notes. Hope this helps! :)

I think you should just do what's right for you. You know your situation, as well as your limitations. The people who are discouraging you are not the ones who have to live with your decisions; you do.

I've been looking into this issue as well because I have recently been hired into a cardiac PICU. Although I am not an expert, my research has shown that a lot of individuals like the Manual of Pediatric Critical Care as well as the Critical Care Nursing Made Incredibly Easy. I hope this helps! :)