AllieRat

I did the syringe jello shots, I made up Hazardous Waste buckets for a game, I got these darts from a dollar store and made up a dart board showing a MD's BUTT, and made a pinata out of my old ATI books that we beat to all heck.. I ordered some blood bag candy bags (can't remember where now) that I put in party favor bags along with medication looking candy and chocolate bandaids.. Man hard to believe that was almost a year ago.. time flies.. Kudos to you though on throwing her a party!

I do the same thing.. If it's not my patient I can think when it's mine I go into shut down mode..

At my old hospital I was post-grad newbie at six months and was placed in charge.. Then was subsequently in charge afterwards because of the fact I was the only RN on staff during that shift.. I HATED it and still HATE doing it but it's part of the expectation. New place you have to be at least a year.. WHEW!

Almost to my first year... I too worked my way up was a nurse extern (basically a CNA but was shown helped out with nursing activites) before getting my RN... Kudos on the aides comment..

I have had a few deaths I've assisted with as an extern going through nursing school but it was never the patient I was caring for or that I had developed a bond with through providing care for days on end. Well yesterday morning I came into report with the news that one of my patients was not doing well and more in likely would not make it through the shift. It was a patient I had the day prior that in my overall assessment of her I felt that more in likely she was in her end of life stages. When I came into her room after report she was near death, shallow breaths, and no detectable B/P. Now granted the patient was in her later years of life and had a slew of co-morbities but I was shocked in general as to my reaction to her death. Once she passed I kept it together doing post-mortem care, calling the family and letting them know, etc. Well my charge nurse and I are talking about it while I'm still trying to keep a brave face and our case manager states "Well she finally got discharged" how callous is that? After that I about lost it and retreated to a private area to grieve as I felt like I was going to pass out and got a whopper of a headache. Although I know my reactions willl get better with experience in my view she was still a human being and ought to be respected and grieved for

Per day or week? Man I've had one hell of an orientation.. my original preceptor got put with an extern whose in her last year. I get whoever wants me which means I'm doing their job and learning on my own instead of them showing me how to do things. So far I've been yelled at by a doc for a midnight nurse not following the proper prep and the patient went down at the start of my shift so somehow it was my fault. Been yelled at by the manager for not making sure my aides have charted the weights and have been struggling with doing both nurse and aide work as my aides are either on extended breaks, off smoking, or doing god knows what.. SIGH on Friday I just about broke down at work and wanted to give notice and leave. Right now I'm looking for another hospital and or requesting a transfer off the floor so that I might have proper orientation. I start my third week of orientation tommorrow I just hope it goes more smoothly.

I Passed!!!! Whoo Hoooo although I could pay the $7.95 for the unoffical results my license number popped into the state site this morning. After nearly suffering a nervous breakdown and dealing with three years of nursing school drama it is offical.. I'm an RN

OMG I never thought I'd wish for an ATI exam. Mine shut off at 75 questions I lost track of the number of SATA's but they seemed to come one after the other which is either a good or a bad thing. I had two drug calcs and about four pharm questions two of which I never heard of one put steps in order question, and a few delegation, prioritization, and assessment questions. Basically ten minutes into the exam I just wanted to THROW up. I'm crossing fingers that I passed... I don't feel confident but know if I didn't I'll have to explore what I did wrong in preparing. Should know in less than 48 hrs. Course a small word of caution in using the supplied ear plugs they don't block out the sound of a racing heartbeat (lol) :redbeathe

LOL I blame my brains which are currently recovering from being fried... I bow down to the CNA's though that is some tough work.. my poor bod is still sore I just don't know how they do it and I for one will remember what I go through as an aid so that I can help out my assistants when I get that RN after my name.. :thankya:

LOL almost sounds like last night. I'm an extern on a renal med-surg floor and due to my education I am constantly abused ie:nurses know what I can do so they know I'll volunteer to do it. Last night the nurses had me doing their dressing changes because they didn't have the time, I assisted in a wound vac install, did post-mortem care, had to run to lab and central supply several times. Out of my 15 pts I had seven completes that were either on vents, had trachs and all had feeding tubes, foleys, rectal tubes, etc. that had to be repositioned q2h on top of doing vitals, food tray passing, etc. Before I left the aid said the nursing manager wanted to make sure that we emptied all of our garbages and made sure the rooms were clean before we reported off. I'm like sure I'll add it to my other hundred jobs.

I've only done it for my clinical instructors and its always a group gift. If the individuals want to chip in they are welcome too but I've never gone over $10 mostly its just a basket filled with goodies that are a particular fit to the instructor. For instance just finished my peds rotation and I put together a basket complete with coffee, a mug, and chocolate (our instructor is a choco/coffee nut).. It was a small jesture but it was enough to show our appreciation.. Now I never expect anyone to contribute and I say if they want they are welcome to but its not expected. Course we're talking at the most $1-2 each so that won't break the bank for most students. I try to bring goodies as well for the unit even though they are not always receptive and for the most part have been nasty IMHO to us as nursing students I get more respect at my job as an extern which is really sad. Course have to add I only do it for those instructors that embody the type of nurse I'm striving to be! Enough of the damn "real world" already.. I'm so tired of nurses who use that as an excuse to substandard nursing care.

I had a similar experience watching a thoracentesis.. almost passed out.. even the dr. said no one passes out on my watch.. LOL needless to say my instructor was worried about me the rest of the day. I think I just got overheated and dehydrated since all that visual stuff interests me. :)

Started my psych rotation yesterday and the home we were assigned to was staffed by one RN and six Psych-Techs. The staff seemed very unprofessional and untheraputic towards how it treated its patients. One even got argumentative with a patient over his delusions. Although the experience did start to solidify my thoughts of becoming a psych nurse. :monkeydance: But I was wondering what exactly a psych tech was and what their qualifications were. Needless to say they didn't seem that knowledgeable (most had been in employement for 5+ yrs) and while we were dressed in business causal (per clinical requirements) they were in jeans and hole ridden t-shirts yet they expect their residents to be dressed appropriately and were making comments when one resident had a stain on their shirt.

Our school required an abuse background check prior to admission and a criminal background check prior to start of clinicals that has to be redone every year you are in school. We have to pay for it ourselves but luckily it's only $7. It used to be done once on admission but the clinical sites changed the request to yearly.

The hospital I'm externing at has their new grads hire in at $23.75/hr with shift/weekend/holiday differential. They said in the two years it will take till I graduate it will probably go up. Not bad for Indiana!

Thanks guys I tried the suggestions and tips and they worked. I have to really strain to hear the first sound since I always want to go early but I'm paying attention to the pressure needle and the sound before doing the reading. I had another duel stetho day today (different clinical) and actually was able to get an accurate reading.. 2 Cool!! :balloons: Then I was showing my fellow clinical mates how to get a good brachial reading from the advice I was given on here, I was even able to feel the pulse on my lab partner who's really hard to palpate. It helped a lot of people since they were able to palpate without applying as much pressure as they had been before.. :) So I'm back to practice practice practice and giving my ears a rest.. I'm having a slight earache so I'm sure that's impacting my auscultating ability as well. :chuckle Thanks Again you guys are GREAT!!

We had our vital signs clinical today I could get everything but the freaking BP. I could do the technical part (putting on cuff, positioning stetho, palpating for brachial pulse) and according to my instructor I had that part down pat but I'm having a hard time hearing the sounds. We did a brief video before starting so we'd know what the sounds were and I managed to get all of those right. Is there a trick to placement to hear the sounds and or any special tricks to the cuff? I'm having a hard time getting it to deflate just right either I'm doing it too slowly or too fast. I felt like such a failure since out of our group of eight I was the only one who had issues. My instructor is confident that I just need practice its just so frustrating

You are in charge of four patients all who have pushed their call light. Who will you see first? Patient A has to use the toilet Patient B doesn't have his glasses or hearing aid Patient C has just been given a morphine injection Patient D has a restraint vest on in a geri chair I'm going through the ABC's and Maslow and can't figure this one out. I think I'm reading too much into the question. I was thinking Patient C since he was administered meds but was told that the injection would have been monitored.. Help :)

She dropped the program :) decided she never wanted to get into Nursing so why bother with it... Sad thing is they didn't pick anyone in her place so our class this year is 2 people shorter due to early drop outs and they didn't choose replacements. Semester is going well though not feeling overwhelmed (yet) :chuckle

Classes start Monday, we had an all day orientation last Friday and I'm getting SO nervous. They had us all stand up and commented that we should be proud to be there since it had been a very competitive year. SO I want to be the best I can be and would like to know any tips for studying and retaining read information. I have a hard time keeping myself focused and find my mind wandering after a few pages. Also since my Prof. does not allow the tape recording of lectures any note taking strategies? Thanks!!

Hypothetical Situation but would you report a cheater if you weren't sure if they actually cheated or not? Let say you see a student writing down the conversion tables from their nursing text onto their desk in pencil. During the test you're too absorbed in getting a good score you don't see them use the written table. Upon leaving you see that their desk is full of erased pencil marks. Do you point this out to the professor without knowing if they used them for sure? Do you assume the professor is already aware of it and pointing it out will make them think less of you. Or do you let them hang themselves since if they doesn't know them now they'll more in likely fail the final which will make them inelligible for the program?

it has this swivel part near the bell end that you can turn side to side...

My mom's hotel was going through their supply closet and had a box of left over guest items that had never been claimed. In it was a Littman stetho, how can I tell if it is in good working order and what model it is?? It has green tubing and a rubber cover on the end of it with a heart on it. I could hear some really good sounds but figured if it was in good shape I'd take it for clinicals since they were planning on throwing the box out.

I had my first shot last month, I go in for the next one in two weeks and the last shot 4-6 months after that one. As long as you get them when you're supposed to (your individual school will tell you) you'll be fine. For instance on my health record I had to have a slip filled out and there are two attached slips to turn in at a later date. I'd double check with your program just to cover yourself but I'm sure you'll be fine :)