TypicalFish

:yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat:

:yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat:

I'm proud of what I have learned. I don't have them on there to impress anyone; I earned them and it makes me happy to see them on there. (No, I've never had a pt ask what any of the initials stand for-they could care less) :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: You have the best attitude r/t this topic.

If you do things "just to pi$$ people off" you must be a joy and a pleasure to work with; a real professional. Letters after your name shows that you went to school and studied and accomplished something; it does not in anyway show whether or not someone provides positive care. I have worked with some excellent ADNs and BSN and even CNPs; I have also worked with some pretty crappy ADNs and BSN and even CNPs.

I started school at 40. I had been a ST for 15 years. I was worried about being older-but about half of my class was near my age ( incl. two men) or even a few were older. You CAN do this. It takes a lot of hard work, but you can do this. I started nursing school at 20; met my dh and quit to move; I started at 25; had a baby and quit; I started at 30; had my third child and quit. I am 43 and now have an excellent job as a critical care nurse working in a 28 bed ACCU; you need to realize that with your age, you bring your life experineces and maturity-a benefit to you as a new nurse and to your unit; it can be a plus to be older; think about it. I am working on my CCRN and plan to go back to school this fall for my ASN to MSN degree. I wasn't-I thought I was too old. But I am not, and neither are you. DO not let anyome talk youout of it, if it was something you want to do. Best of luck, and just go for it.

Victor- There are two things that I find r/t the topic of your article; usually, and very generally there are two kinds of patients; the ones that are naturally compliant and those that will likley never be compliant with care. You could add a third, "kind of compliant"-but generally there are those two. Most patients that I deal with have a strong sense of the present, and a lack of belief in their mortality (it is a known fact to them that all people eventually pass, but not them, and certainly not now or soon). For some people, it takes a major event for them to really want to comply; and that's the thing for many people-as long as they feel "fine" or can "get around" they do not believe that they are "really" sick. They treat their disease based on severity of symptoms, or even on decreases in quality of life, but there is a qualifier to even that-the sicker that some of them get, the looser they define "getting around" or for the elderly it is either so gradual as to not be noticeable as a vast change, or they and their families feel that it is simply "getting old"; which leads me to my sort of point; you can educate a patient about their disease process, but until they are ready, you'll be able to teach them nothing. And often, as in the case of acetaminophen, pts can make things worse by treating themselves with OTC or even self-change of Rx med schedules. They don't always connect feeling poorly or having a headache or being dehydrated with CRF, or trouble breathing with CHF ("oh, I just get a little winded now and then")-they can isolate the symptoms and disassociate them from disease process. Also, just as we often need to continue to review and learn as nurses, or go over something several times before we learn it; a patient will not absorb, comprehend and integrate everything in one, or even two sessions, so it is a continuing battle to create a baseline of understanding to build on. Plus, sometimes you are asking a patient to change a lifetime of habit-and then throw in culture, faith, family, educational abilities, and finances (If your patient can't afford their meds-what steps do you take to help them before you even teach?) I'm not sure if I have helped very much-just kind of my ramblings on the topic. Yes, very often pts do think of their diseases as separate symptoms and not as a physiological whole-but for many different reasons.

I can't think of many questions and answers except to have a clear idea of what you goals are and why you want them-and while it is a given that you want to help people, try to also think of other reasons; for me it was the growth and being able to use critical thinking skills that nursing provided. Also, even if you are nervous, sit up straight, make good eye contact, and smile (when appropriate): often what separates your answers from others is the first impression and how you carry yourself; they'll remember that. It would also really help if you knew a little something about the program that you are entering, and comment on it. Something about the history of the program, or better yet, something about what it is currently doing. ex "I was reading about how students from the program, do classwork as well as clinicals; how does that work?" Ask them a few well thought out questions, showing that you are interested in their program. Best of luck. Let us know what happens. And always thank them for the opportunity to interview.

I'd just like to know the basics (Ive read things online, but its better to hear from real working nurses). Is it real stressful, is it busy, are you always moving, are you treated well as a nurse by your co-workers and doctors, do you usually get attached to patients... you know all that. Thanks! Alice; I work in a 28 bed adult critical care unit; we see everything from cardiac patients to trauma. I am lucky to work on a unit where there is a team approach; we have a team of intensivists (doctors who specialize in critical, or intensive care medicine) that are in our unit everyday-they rely on the nurses as a part of the treatment team. That means that we don't just do the physical aspect of nursing (bathing, cleaning, turning, assisting patients) we are expected to be critical thinkers-use our knowledge to help the docs create an effective treament plan, and then we implement that plan. It's really great-when I first started working there and a doc would come up and want to discuss a patient's status, treament plan, etc with me, I would be like "why is he talking to me?", now I really enjoy the chance to learn more and feel like I count. Most docs seem to understand now that the nurses spend much more time with the patients than they do; we have a good understanding of how they are doing, reacting to treatment, what they may need, so it is very positive. Also; as a nurse you can really go anywhere, do anything-be a bedside nurse, giving care; be a nurse educator; go into management; be an O.R. nurse; creat you r own job-there is a huge need for diabetes educators; there are countless specialties, but you always have a job. You're young-try travel nursing and see the country. It a wide-open field, full of choices. The other side is of course, that it is hard, back-breaking work; and some days you think "I did this on purpose?"; You follow a nurse who might be slightly less tidy or efficient than you are; Your unit is understaffed and overworked-the stress level is through the roof; You have pts that are incontinent "code-brown day"; who are unpleasant; you lose a pt who you fought for; You go home and worry about something you forgot, or did, or didn't do; a family member drives you nuts and then complains about you; you don't get a break all day; but then there are the days where a family member thanks you, sends you a card; you leave know ing that your hard work helped keep the "code brown" pt clean, human and kept their skin from breaking down; a cranky pt is actually glad to see you are back again; an eldery pt holds your hand, you realize that you helped a pt die with dignity and supported their grieving family afterwards. You laugh about not getting a break all day with you co-workers, you go into your rooms to find a co-worker has gotten all the linen and trash bags out, or goes in to that demanding pts room one more time, so you don't have to; someone makes a fresh pot of coffee; you go home feeling like maybe, just maybe, you actually made a difference in someone's life.

WHen I worked L&D, a nurse I worked with had a great answer when someone asked her a health question-like at a party or something; "honey, I'm a L&D nurse, and unless you have a baby coming out of it, I can't help you." In addition to that, on our unit we used to keep a notebook (this was pre-hippa) that was entitled "I can't believe it" that we recorded the obvious....it was so funny

I meant that all authorities should be notified, but not in your suggested order; we had an incident here where the local school board hired the dh of a teacher as a teacher "to help her out"; he had a AS in agriculture from an "open university"-he couldn't find work. when a parent found that her child was being taught by an unlicensed teacher and went to the school board first, by the the time the state got involved, all of a sudden the dh was an "aide" helping out-even though he had clearly been a teacher for several months in charge of students-the documentation now stated otherwise. that would be my only concern with going to the school first-if this person has been subbing there as a nurse for years-or a long while-how quickly would the school board realize that they have left themselves open to legal action-and suddenly, it is all abig misunderstanding; she's not a school nurse, she's an "aide" or "health room tech" and the op is made to look silly.

Don't give up; I can't say that it will be easy, but you need to go in and talk to the program director and find out what they suggest that you do; at my school, students who failed out were given 1st prefence for admittance the next semester. One girl I knew failed the final exam to graduate; they didn't tell her until we were reviewing for the NCLEX a week later. She cried for a week. Then she picked herself up, and applied to a 4yr program. She is doing great now, and has one semester to go. Do not lose faith in yourself. You can do this-just find out what you need to focus on, what you need to do to suceed and don't give up. I started nursing school when I was 20; met my dh, moved and quit; I started three more times, and either had to quit due finances or a new baby (usually both). I am now a critical care nurse, and love it. I would not change the road I took to get here even though at times it seemed like it would never happen. Best of luck, and a big hug.

First off-"I know in the grand scheme of things nothing related to my mom was a huge deal..." it is a big deal; your mom wasn't getting good care, and having the ice packs changed, nutrition and pain management taken care of would facilitate her having a positive outcome. And then, well, it is easy to sit here and say "do this" or "do that" but if you had a concern about the roommate (and transfusion protocols and pretty much the same everywhere); you had an easy out "Excuse me, I'm a nursing student, and I noticed that (whatever) wasn't done; are the protocols for giving blood different here? In school they teach us XXXX." or something similar, as in "I'm just a curious nursing student, and I'm not saying that you are wrong, I'm just trying to learn" And yes, you are hyper-aware; it is a career-hazard. But a good one-one day you'll walk into YOUR patient's room, and use that hyper-awareness to be a great nurse. Hope your mom gets better soon, and good luck.

. " can you pass this information onto the school, the BON, or an anonymous letter to the dept of education? " Sorry to post again, but I would skip the notifing the school or board of Education-they are guilty, and would likely (to my cynical thinking) be more in a hurry to cover it up than to rectify the situation. I'd go right to the BON, the news, or even, if you can find them, some parents of the children attending that school.

License = Nurse No License = Not a nurse What this woman is doing is illegal, and if the school knows about it, they are in trouble as well. I would report this this to the BON at the very least; it would be one thing if this woman was presented/presented herself as an "aide" or something but to be called a nurse, call herself a nurse and to practice as one requires a little thing called a license. As an aside, I would also be concerned about her doing what she is doing while stating that she let her license go because she "lost faith in the medical community"-Then why even pretend to be a nurse?