leopold

Today, for the fifth time in the past four months I hit the floor. Literally. Ended up in ER where they told me yet again that I am suffering exhaustion. Called my doc. Explained what happens -- Feel a wave of incredible exhaustion so strong that I can't hold up my body or move, fall to the floor, conscious but difficulty responding. Lasts about half an hour, fall asleep after. He thinks I might be having some seizure activity and has scheduled some tests. I know nurses don't dx and I'm not asking for that, but what I want to know is, I start clinicals in two weeks. If these are seizures, what does this mean for my nursing career? Is there tx for this? I'm pretty freaked out here. Not to mention all the class I'm going to miss in order to have these neuro tests done. Or, if it happens again. Can someone give me some words of encouragement? I know, I'm having the crisis before the crisis, but it is very hard not to stress out about this.

I took it, it was kind of easy going but the tests were hard, especially the section on young children where we had to learn all the milestones and develpmental theorists. Everyone failed that test so the teacher decided to grade on a curve (the reason partly was we went a month without class, came back and immediately took the test). We had to do a case study which was fun and a presentation on one of the develpmental stages (me and my fellow group members had age 7-12 and did The Cat in the Hat and tore up the room). My teacher told us to learn the theorists backward and foreward cause they WILL show up on the NCLEX.

Go to your state board of nursing website. Look under info for CNAs. They usually post a practice test for written and a set of step by step instructions for the skills you need. Very helpful, you can just print it out for free.

I knew I was in trouble when we spent the entire first day of class going over school policy. There was so much information that I don't really remember anything. Have had to ask teachers when issues come up, and they would get annoyed and ask "weren't you paying attention the first day of class?" Well, yeah but after the first five hours I just gave up. All I know is I'm not allowed to be late, absent, cheat, have cell phones or wear spaghetti straps. :uhoh21: Of course, now that I've been through the first 6 months they have turned around and changed the whole thing so we had to go through another mind bending tour of the politics and policies of our school. THis time I just signed the sheet and handed it in. :bowingpur

LTC, things to look for. 2 CNAs for 22 pt is OK, whatever the number of CNAs on the floor, more than 11-12 pt/CNA is too much. Ask about teamwork. You will never be able to do your job if you can't count on your co-workers. On your tour you should be looking at the residents, asking in a subtle way how many are total care, levels of independence. Take note of this because you do not want to end up with 12 total care residents. Find out about availability of hoyers, policy (are two people required to use it? IMHO a CNA should never operate a hoyer without an assist. Just my opinion from experience) What is the nurse/pt ratio? Does the facility provide hospice care? How long do they train you -- BIG ONE. I worked at a facility once where they trained me one day then threw me on the floor with 12 residents and it was a nightmare. They should train you a minimum of 3 days. What the job requirements will be for your shift -- they are different for each shift. I know people with kids who work night shift. They do not seem to ever sleep because they go home and the kids need them. Did you say whether your kids were in school? I think you said they were toddlers. If they are in day care or school, try to plan your work around that. And of course, benefits, in addition to the health, sick days, and vacation, etc., a lot of facilities will reimburse tuition to nursing students who have a year in on the job.

I was told one time that I had hypothyroidism, for the three month period they spent watching my tyroid levels (they said it was mild and they didn't want to start me on anything yet) I ate about 5000 calories a day and did not gain an ounce. I could not get a straight answer from my endocrinologist about that, but it was probably the most glorious time of my life!

Hey, payback's a b*&%@! :rotfl:

Lorel, I was thinking about you while I was waiting for a bus today. Imagine that! And I don't think I really have a good grasp on what you are dealing with in your marriage, but I am going to assume that for the sake of argument, despite this disagreement you have with your husband and his controlling nature, you are committed to this marriage. I think you have placed yourself in a position where you feel that either you do as your husband says or you get a divorce. I'm not sure if that's your only option. Have you considered that you and your husband are equals and that if you set your sites on nursing school and jump through all the hurdles (and believe me, there is not a one of us out there who hasn't had to jump through some major hurdles, including cantankerous husbands) and just tell him that's the way it's going to be, then maybe, after some uproar, he just might settle down and accept it? I guess there's a possibility he will decide to get a divorce, but that's HIS decision, not yours. If you don't want a divorce and he doesn't want a divorce then the two of you have come to a crossroad and it's time for you to take a stand. Honestly, it WILL happen at some point in your marriage. Maybe for some other reason. It happens to all of us. Might as well do it now. Just a thought. :)

Come to think of it, we did have to dissect a person for A&P, well actually assist one and handle all the organs and put them back. I must have pushed that one back into some far off corner of my brain.

I've noticed that there are a lot of research jobs out there for RNs. Some through hospitals, others through companies. Might be worth a look.

why was the cna suspended? It seems like he/she reported it on coming on shift.

I think NancyK made a very good point. The facts are the facts. You need to sit down and distance yourself from the religion, husband, kids, etc. issue and make a decision about yourself. These issues you bring up, of course they are facts. They are important. BUt what you are struggling with right now is a completely different fact. You. Your goals. Your hopes and ambitions. Because, and I don't want to sound critical, I have found myself doing this many times myself when I am confused, but it seems like these issues are acting as a way to sidetrack you from the question at hand "do I want to be a nurse." In addition, you're talking about going back to work but I get the impression that the way things stand right now, that money will not be going toward you, but rather toward the family. That's OK, nothing wrong with that. But in that case, the issue at hand is "Am I doing this to make things better for my family?" You can also make things better by being a nurse.

100% on drug calc? I can see why that's important but if we did that in my school we wouldn't have any students left. An uncorrected mistake in lab or clinicals can get you booted out so ultimately you better know those calcs, but wow.

Thanks. It makes a lot of sense to me to double check but the fact that the facility I worked in didn't made me kind of worried that that was the norm and I would be thrown into a situation where I would have problems with that. I will definitely avoid facilities where there is only one nurse per unit!

I'm doing lab right now on injections and we are being taught that when we draw up heparin or insulin we have to go to another nurse and have the dose and med confirmed. I have never seen that done where I work. In fact, there is only one nurse per unit so it's not possible that it could be done. Do you practicing nurses out there do that?