RN_2_B_2006

I've only been a NICU nurse for about 5 months..soooo lemme see... -Trying to figure out why a baby's isolette is going nuts...and look inside to find the baby with the temperature probe in her mouth, sucking on it like a pacifier -Monitor leads stuck to a baby's forehead -One little boy who was on phototherapy and a nurse wrote "Name Me Daddy" on his eye patch because Mom and Dad were still deciding on a name -A male nurse looking absolutely furious and when asked what's wrong...he replies "I've been peed on" -Baby sleeping with a pacifier in the nostril lol

Hey guys! I just accepted my first job as an RN in a level III NICU in Charleston, WV. I graduate in May of this year and I start my job the first week of June. I am beyond excited....and a lil nervous! Good luck to all of those hoping to work in a NICU!

The GRE really isn't all that bad. I bought a Kaplan review book and studied from the powerprep disk that ETS sends you and I did really well. Good luck to ya! :)

Wow..what a good idea for a thesis! lol. I know plenty of workplace bullies. Might have to do something w/ that when I start grad school next fall. One incident that sticks out in my mind was between a new grad and an experienced nurse. Dietary had stuck an extra food tray in our break room because the patient had been discharged. Usually, on our floor, if you want the extra tray, you take a piece of paper and put your name on it. Well..."experience nurse" set a banana on the tray that she brought from home instead of her name. "New grad" saw that the tray had no name on it and ate it for lunch, thinking the banana was part of the tray. Well, "experienced nurse" jumped "new grad"'s case sooo bad...that she made her cry and made her go buy her another banana. It was aweful.

Do u guys think I should ignore her when she is talking about her illness, since she may be doing this to get attention? She's also told me that she has never had a seizure while she has been alone either, which I thought was also strange. I wanna help her but I don't really know how. Any clues on how I can try to get her to talk about it without actually asking if she is faking?

I've been friends with a person for 10 years. She has this seizure disorder that no one can figure out. Even when we were 13 years old I could sense that something just wasn't right. She has been to four or five different states to receive treatment. She gets so mad when the doctors tell her that they can't find anything wrong with her. Her symptoms have changed so much since she first started having seizures. She has told me that it was neurologic related, cardiac related, musculoskeletal related, and GI related. She had symptoms such as her legs hurting, headache, back pain, stomach ache, memory loss, numbness, chest pain, and many others. She's had tons of proceedures including a heart cath and multiple MRI's and EEG's and still no one has been able to diagnose her. She's even told me that doctors have suggested psychiatric treatment and she gets very very mad and offended. I NEVER would accuse anyone of faking something so serious but just some of the things she says makes me sort of suspicious and uncomfortable. She came to visit me and a bunch of us went out, including her ex-boyfriend that she is still crazy about. She went on and on all evening long about how she hadn't had a seizure in so long. Then, she started to seize in a bar. She was taken to the hospital and when I went in to see her the first thing she said was "Well, I guess (ex-boyfriend) knows how sick I really am now. Maybe he'll treat me a little better." I'd been very supportive of her until then. Now I just try to change the subject when she wants to talk about her illness (which is just about all of the time) and she gets very aggrivated with me. I don't know what to do. Is there anyway I can know she isn't really having a seizure? I just started researching Munchausen's today and I had never heard of it before. If she is truly faking it, is there anyway I can help her?