lilredrunner

Don't think it helps one way or the other getting a job, but I am of the firm belief that nurses, ALL nurses, should be CNAs first, and have the experience, because it builds the foundation of knowledge and appreciation for all aspects of nursing. Al...

One of the things I've realized, going from a CNA to an LPN and finishing my RN, is that all patients are risks for falls. Every darn one of them. Just because they don't fit all the criteria for higher risk, they are still risks, largely for one rea...

Check the facility procedures and policies. Cover your butt by knowing them before you perform anything.

Many workplaces require BLS as a healthcare provider to even work as a CNA. Depends where you go, but I would take the course to have the background, as even if you don't "need" it; the perspective will help you out in caring for patients.

Smell that would NOT get out of my nose even when I got home was an AWFUL sinus infection on an unconscious ICU patient who was on a vent. I had to put menthol chapstick beneath my nose the entire time I was working with him, because the entire room ...

Big, sticky issue there.. Back in the 80's, when my mom went through nursing school, she had to get on Lithium to get control of her anxiety and depression issues. That was pretty much the only thing that got her through, and then she was an RN for 3...

There are very few patients I remember well enough to know, so most of the time if I see them and they say hello, I just try to play off my lack of memory of them and hope they don't notice. I don't mind seeing them at all in the real world, and usua...

We have an awesome fellow in our class who just retired after 30 years of teaching high school before going into nursing school. He's in his 60's, and graduating this May. Plus the youngest person in our class is 22, and she's the youngest by at lea...

I'm in an Associate's program, and have done pretty much everything except hang and administer blood products. I also can't draw blood from central lines, but have drawn labs peripherally. I've started, run, and maintained IVs, hung secondary lines a...

I think there are some clarifications about being a CNA that I had to do before I went on to being a nurse. I LOVED being a CNA. Loved the patients, loved the interactions, and loved the caregiving. I felt like I belonged in patients rooms, that if ...

100K for a BSN?! I have about 25K in a two-year, and at the end of my four year BSN, I'll have about 50K in debt, which I can live with. 100K seems like a ton of money to me for that..

I'm a redhead. One of my favorite songs is a song sung by Sam Cooke called "Little Red Rooster", wherein a rooster keeps everyone in the barnyard upset in every way, and is too lazy to crow for day. The runner part is because I'm a runner.

You're going to have conditions and workplaces that suck. You'll have coworkers and bosses that just take the life out of you, and you'll even have patients you loathe to the bottom of your soul. But you'll also have some really awesome patients, and...

Depending on how your program does clinical hours, it may work, or may not. We've always had 12 hour clinicals, usually at least two days a week. Add that on to two days of lectures that are usually four hours long, and working is VERY difficult to g...

I think it's different for everyone. I had an easier time with the muscles myself, for no other reason than I just could picture them more easily and connect them. Good luck!

Before they switched formats, we used ATI for benchmarking based in levels. Have us a decent idea of where we were sitting compared with either students. They aren't that great for students, honestly, until you're closer to graduating or prepping for...

Never wear them again. Probably donate them to a local thrift store or first year students. Or have a bonfire. Because I want that satisfaction, can't lie.

I have a pack belt that I found on Amazon (like $15) that I put everything in. I have a hemostat, bandage scissors, penlight, marker, pen, highlighter, alcohol wipes, bandage tape, 2x2 gauze, and a small notebook for vitals (there are some great ones...

I have a calendar to count down every single semester, too. Finally in my last one.. Once you're in it, you will spend most of your time looking forward to being OUT. Enjoy your free time. Nothing you can do will entirely prepare you for it, so you ...

People that believe that nurses are people who couldn't hack it in medical school always baffle me. How many times have nurses had to catch the mistakes of doctors, apologize for the doctor's horrible bedside manner, or explain everything all over ag...

This semester is the first time I've ever had a teacher that did a test review like that (and it's my last semester), and I personally hate the subjective push. Before this semester, it was always by statistical analysis, and they used an objective r...

I started my RN program with 27 in our class. Right now, we're at 20 in our last semester, and that's with a few people injected into the second year as LPN students. It's tough to see them go, because it's so high stakes, and everything rides on tho...

Double post.