rayman356307

Just thinking aloud, if the concept is to prevent contaminating the pills, but you just went to the omicell/pyxis and got the meds without gloves so your germs are on the package of the meds, but then you reach into the bulk gloves to get gloves to wear to open and touch the package of the pills doesn't that make the whole original concept moot? Just playing devil's advocate. Now personally for me, I don't always wear gloves when I pass med. I will if giving something IV or some liquid PO. My thought process is if you're giving meds PO at least there's the whole digestive tract that will help. However as stated in a previous post those clean gloves aren't always the cleanest. This post also reminds me of what one of my RN school prof said "clean gloves protect you, sterile gloves protect the pt" or at least something to that effect ?

I don't think the language itself is going to pose an issue, and as previous posts have stated unless you're certified you shouldn't be put into a spot where you are doing medical translations. I personally speak Chinese fluently, but there's a different between medical Chinese and fluent conversational Chinese. Think of it as like you just talking to the patents in English. There's medical jargon and then there's "regular" English. However, I think I know what you're clinical coordinator is trying to do. It can be hard to advocate for your patients if you don't know what they want. Some times that extra understanding, even if it's not 100% the language itself, but the culture can really help. Although most of communication is non-verbal, that bit of verbal quite helps. Also, I remember one time we had a Chinese speaking pt. The pt was very hard of hearing and well our language line couldn't get loud enough to help communicate with the patient. So, I ended up getting the pt, but I felt rather awkward yelling at an old patient >.

ugh I hate albumin, those glass bottles are honestly the worse. The most annoying thing for me is priming the line, though I figured it's just easier to pull the albumin through with a syringe at the last port (where you usually give IVP) then pull maybe a couple extra CCs then push it to the end.

I got some grants through FASFA, and for the others they were based on need. I use the term "need" loosely, since they had more scholarships than applicants. The scholarship I applied for were only the ones that my school gave out, I didn't even look into external scholarships. My CC gave out a total of like 30 scholarships, that was over half of my class that was going through nursing school with scholarship (directly related to nursing), paying partial or even full amount of tuition. As for the covering of cost of education from your employers, I would say it depends. It's one of those you have to read the situation. During my on boarding process for work at my facility, HR came and talked about tuition reimbursement for further education. Some places are really good about it, some not so great. For example my facility covers for you to get your RN to BSN and various certifications, but won't cover masters, unless you agree to some other stuff, I've only heard of them doing it once.

I have a similar backstory to you too and mine started about 4 years. Finished colleged with a BS (and yes total BS) in Bio with minor in chem and chinese. I looked into accelerated programs in my area and they were significantly more expensive and like with you both time and cost were factors in my decision. I eventually looked into a CC and decided on an ADN program, which had an agreement with another college, which basically automatically accept you into a RN to BSN program. My previous degree covered my prereqs and then it took me 2 yrs to finish the ADN program. After finishing I allotted myself about a month before taking the NCLEX and then was applying for jobs as I finished. I got into one of my clinical sites and then start the RN to BSN program that summer. You had 2 options, 2 semesters or 3 semester to finish, I chose 2 semesters and started in the summer and finished before the year was over. All in all the road to BSN took me 2.5 yrs. However the costs for me were minimal. For the ADN I applied for scholarships and tuition was significantly cheaper (1.5k-ish vs 20~40k-ish) and for the RN to BSN about 7k so total about 9k. However, for the ADN the scholarships covered all of the tuition AND book. For the RN to BSN I paid out of pocket since I was working full time, which wasn't to bad for me I paid it off in about 3~4 paychecks. BTW if you go this route watch for the RN to BSN programs some don't take into account that you are working full time, mine did. As was previous stated, some jobs do pay for your tuition, so you can look into that, usually they require a 2 year agreement, look into Grow You Own programs (or similar programs) if you're interested in those. For the 2 year agreement do consider it as some facilities do bind you to the that particular unit, not to the hospital, so do read the fine print and best of luck in your endeavors. I'm sure we'll see you posting soon in a "Help I'm taking the NCLEX how do I finish in 75 questions?!!?!?" or similar post

You will make mistakes, your npo pt will eat, you will forget things. However, breath and just go onto the next step, you will get through it, and never forget to to document. Also, don't for a moment think that one unit at one hospital is the same as another unit at another. While they may share the same name, the feel and the why the unit is run may not be a good mix for you, you can switch and no you are not a quitter.

Unofficial IT guy on nights. The EHR/EMR and computers magically stop having issues when I am around.

I had an elderly pt try to set me up with her granddaughter and it even got to the point when I was making my last rounds before shift change she grabbed my hand to give me a handshake and quickly slipped her number into my breast pocket >.> I let my charge know about the situation and that I didn't want her my next shift and put the paper into the shredder. I'm here to work not be part of your family #sorrynotsorry

I'm a NG and I won't lie, I'm only month or so into my orientation and I've already had the thought, "did I make the right decision going into nursing?" I don't think the issue is the lack of support (at least at my facility). For me I feel like it's the discrepancy between these like things I feel like I'm suppose to know how to do and things I actually know how to do, and I'm patient with myself, I know I have a lot more learning ahead of me. Though I have found one thing to help, find a go to person to ask, it doesn't have to be your preceptor (though perfect world I guess it should) and it doesn't even have to be the same person. The point is to ask around, maybe you find a mean nurse, well that doesn't mean they're mean mean, they could be having a rough shift or something (though maybe this is my child-like optimism showing >.>).

You'll fill it out in the application. If you are called in for an interview there's no need to bring it up unless they do, since it's already done in the application. Also as mentioned in a previous comment the only thing that it'll really have an affect on is federal loans and grans (FASFA related), but that does not mean you can't get other scholarships. I finished nursing school this past December and I got scholarships to pay for a majority of it, I didn't get anything through FASFA since I already have a BS in Bio. The fact that you have another degree won't affect your chances of admission, it may even help you skip having to take pre-reqs, as it did for me.

I got my one point for it. It's not too hard, just after a few questions quite a few of the words start looking "right". Shoot for quality not quantity for the PSB.

If you look under your registration status on CougarWeb it'll give you the CRN codes for the classes you have to take and then go to the add/drop class thing and type in the CRN codes. I have 6 permits total from there, so 6 classes (totaling 9 credit hours apparently)

Yea the registration issue seem to have been a hiccup in their system. I just registered for classes and it worked.

I remember hearing that there's no envelope for the blue card. It will just be like an index card

I can't register either. It gives me the error that my major isn't nursing but I know it is, I doubled checked back in November :S