TrevyRN

Who knew the size of the colonoscope was the big change” administration was talking about for the GI Lab?

I left my first nursing job with about 8 months experience for an equivalent job. Then I only worked at the new job for a few months before I had a medical problem, took a few months off, then got a third job where I work now. Extra, relevant certifications helped get my resume noticed. (CPI, TNCC, ACLS, BLS, PALS, ENPC, IV Certification, 12 lead ECG, blah blah) When people need employees and you have experience and qualifications, you can get hired. six months of experience makes a huge difference in a nurse when compared to a new grad. Think about how much you've learned since nursing school ended? How many meds you've drawn up and phone calls you've made and patients and doctors and other nurses you've interacted with. What are your reasons for wanting to work at the next place? Turn it more into wanting to work there instead of wanting to leave the other place. "I love the culture at your facility"... "I had a family member that loved working there "... "I had a positive experience as a patient at your facility"...or something. Turn the question into something positive. I dunno... why do you want to work at the other hospital? cuz it might not suck...? Not a very strong reason. :-p Have something genuine to talk about in that department, facility, whatever. Worst comes to worst, you don't get considered for another job for a few months while you get closer to that "magic one year" at your current workplace... at the very least, you will keep your resume and certifications current! :-) Don't let the fear of success or change stop you (unless you like maintaining the status quo). Best of luck to you.

Kidney stone patients are legit. I would never get mad at a patient for showing up in horrible pain with blood in their urine and uncontrolled nausea and vomiting. If they didn't follow up then I would be disappointed. But geez... kidney stones suck! And N and V suck and severe pee pee pain really sucks! Hope it doesn't happen again to you !

I think they should just shorten it to "Issues" :-)

LoL ... awesome.

Cheeseburger in Paradise Lost...

When it comes to studying in nursing school, I stuck with the habits that helped me succeed in other courses. What does the teacher emphasize? Are the tests and assignments out of the book, the power point, the lecture, or practice test questions from a test data bank? I would skim books, including boxes and diagrams to make sure I understood key concepts. If I had major holes in learning, I tried to fix them then and there. Some people are social when it comes to studying. I am happy locked alone in a room with a book or computer - but others thrive by bouncing ideas off each other. Do what works for you.

Registered Nursing is a very diverse profession. There is not just hands on patient care, but also management, school nursing, education, legal nursing, insurance, public health, surgery, etc. They're all very different kinds of work. Good news is, even if you loathed it for some reason, just being a nurse gets you lots of respect points if you decided to go into other work. And the skills you learn as a nurse never leave you.

" Due to medical expenses, my husband and I had to file bankruptcy. I'm terrified that my credit score will prevent me from getting a job :-/ " My *ahem* not so awesome credit never stopped me from getting work :-) . My honeybunches has no credit established and works in an awesome hospital in surgery. All it did was make it more complicated to get a lease to move next to the good jobs :-p

Yes MOI = mechanism of injury usually MR = Mental Retardation Probably not Mitral Regurgitation or Muscarinic Receptor haha. Definitely not Mature Ripening or Moonlight Rising :-D I did my preceptorship in the ER in my last semester - was intense and fun! Lots more opportunity to practice physical skills and lots of assessments. Something that helped me was to write down goals for each day and share them with my preceptor immediately so they were on the same page as me. It also puts them in the mindset that you're not just there to help them with remedial things like changing the linens and wiping the beds all day. You're there to learn and puts skills you've practiced into action. eg. Today - look up all IV fluids and safe administration (rate, contraindications, etc), hang fluids, learn to use and troubleshoot IV pump, start three IVs. Give one IM shot (correctly, heheh). Call report and transfer patient to another floor. Complete an abdominal assessment. Start a foley cath. Sometimes you don't meet goals because no one needs a foley that day or something, but at least if there was one, you knew you were going to jump on that opportunity. Of course, ask lots of questions and be gracious for the opportunity to do things and respectful and professional and all that good stuff. Best of luck!

This one fast food place has a french-fry-done alarm that sounds exactly like the abnormal BP alarm, instantly transporting me to imaginary work with all the imaginary stresses! Either that or whoever I'm eating with has to endure twenty minutes of bad BP related fast food jokes: "Burger Pressure is low - get another 44 oz bolus of Cherry Coke started" "This Fry suffered burns over 90% of its body - we better correct for the intravascular fluid volume loss before this BP gets any worse" "The high BP alarm is sounding and I haven't even salted my fries yet!" etc...

You're like, the good smell compounding pharmacy - or better yet, a dealer! Hitting the hard stuff, are we sharpeimom? ;-)

Are you actually conducting a Twin Study or was that just one of the worst pick up lines we've ever heard?

The only way he could tell Sara and Sharon apart is that Sharon constantly had her mouth open.

Seriously? The first thing you say to a set of blonde twins is 'Now you can clean up the code brown in room 5 twice as fast'?

I hate it when someone brings the same DNA to work as me!

I accidentally copy-pasted myself in the EMR.

Is that an absence seizure or just an uncomfortably long stare?

I don't believe professors lie on purpose. But I did have some tell me the following ...err...mistruths: Jack Lalanne is dead; his exercise and dieting didn't save him from a heart attack at an early age. (he was alive at the time I was told this fact and when he did die, he died of pneumonia at age 96) You can shoot a gun in outer space (NO! There's no oxygen for the combustion reaction to take place). Why the heck were we talking about this in class anyways? The ratio of infant CPR is 2 compressions to every 15 breaths, and she insisted everyone perform it that way in front of her to get a passing grade (***!? Don't worry she was fired almost instantly, haha). How did she get hired? APA form "just means put it in bullet points".... (NOOOOooooooooOooooo! Papers were subjected to bizarre grading with disastrous consequences. We complained - some grades were salvaged.) These are extreme examples, but I hope you get the point. Professors can be wrong, like everyone else. You have to be responsible for your own learning and check into your own sources. Skepticism is a human trait. It doesn't make you a jerk or mean if you are skeptical. It makes you grounded and practical and scientific-minded. It does threaten egos though - use it wisely, haha!

I think in an interview process you might stand out more because you're a male. Aside from that - ehh... not much else. But, hey, this is only an opinion! If you stand out from the crowd, it's your job to show the person what you've got and what you're capable of. Can't fake GPA, experience, personality, professionalism, etc Then again.... >:-D

Learn when to hold your breath strategically! Also, I wouldn't say that "embrace" different smells... I think the word I'm looking for is "understand" different smells... they mean something. C diff doesn't smell like normal BM. Smell enough urine or wounds or breath or whatever and you know the difference between healthy and unhealthy or even which organisms might be suspect. Don't like take giant whiffs unless you're into that, but if you think of your sense of smell as another form of assessment, it can be useful (unfortunately). DEAL WITH THE SOURCE ASAP or prevent smells if possible. Teamwork helps. More of you working on cleaning up a smelly situation, the faster it gets done! Ask for help on the code browns and help others - makes things go faster. Make sure everyone has access to vomit bags/bins so it doesn't get on the sheets or the floor. Then the whole floor/room/facility won't be a stinky nightmare, haha! :-)

Vancomycin 1 gram in 750 cc of Mountain Dew to be infused over 1 hour STAT that would help your pt - LoL

I'm a West Coast University BSN graduate. It was hard work, like any nursing program, but I was happy to get out and be done with it instead of sit around on a wait list and delay entering the career I wanted. Other programs might be cheaper, but I figured time is life, eh? All nursing programs have the same drama (annoying assignments, subjective grading, nervous-diarrhea-inducing tests, the occasional ego-crushing grade, huge time commitments, stress stress stress etc), but they also have the positives: You're challenging yourself, you'll get close to classmates, you'll get sh*t done you didn't think you were capable of, you make patients smile, you learn tons of crap really fast, and you know that one day you will in fact sit and take that NCLEX and be done with it all! Stick with it and you'll get those RN letters after your name and be just as much of a nurse (well, legally haha) as your instructors. Even though it was kind of sad that your mom didn't think you could, It's rad you embraced it as a challenge instead of getting discouraged. In nursing school (and life too I guess) people might discourage you, but do what you did earlier and use it as an "Oh yea! You're wrong! I've got this" kinda moment. Getting extra study books helps a lot, especially ones that are actually enjoyable to read. Genuine interest in the subject goes a long way. The ATI books were depressing but to the point. I liked the "straight A's in Nursing" series for once you get into the core courses. One of the most important things you can do is make friends (preferably ones with good study habits) during school. Discussing the topics with other students, asking questions, and asking for help, and helping others makes a huge difference. You're gonna go through the program together, so reach out to others and have each other's backs. Buy people coffee or bring a snack for everyone once in a while. Make people laugh. Don't be afraid to ask questions in class, even if they seem dumb as f---. Ditch your ego (or at least put a silencer on it, heheh.) The class under my class made enemies of each other and were all cutthroat and competitive and crap - and for what?! It wasn't a bell curve system - it was pass or fail! It served no purpose. Help others succeed. Most important thing - take things one day at a time. I literally was crossing off everyday on a calendar in the last year of school and making little to-do lists to keep myself organized. I hated being so organized - not endemic to my personality at all - but the one day at at time to do list thingy - saved my sanity. Hope this, like, helps...? :-) WCU was stressful, but I love my RN work (money is nice too)- I wouldn't take my WCU experience or degree back. Proud of what I accomplished and happy to know others will weather the storm after me and come out as awesome nurse peeps. Best of luck!

25 years old when I started my BSN program. Ages at our school ranged from 20 to mid 60's. I think personality, stress management, and study habits were a bigger factor than age when it came to student success. Everyone was awesome. I felt really lucky to have met and worked closely with so many cool peeps.