pshs_2000

It depends on the type of research. I'm a research nurse (also call study coordinator) for heme/onc studies (mostly peds, but some adult) in a hospital setting. The hospital I work at has a research office that does research for cardiology, solid organ, cancer, stroke, and transplant. Typical duties for us include training hospital and clinic staff about the new protocols, collecting data and labs, writing study orders (for lab collection or medication administration), attending investigator's meetings to learn about the protocol/meet the sponsoring company/etc. I've also done research for chronic diseases in a clinic setting. This involved actively recruiting patients, maintaining regulator compliance plus all the other things I already mentioned. You could also be involved in research on the pharmaceutical company end as a clinical research associate or monitor. They typically help get various sites ready to open a study, are available to answer questions, and act as a liaison between the site and the sponsor. I also have my MPH in epi. I worked for 2 years at the health department doing "bean counting", but I also helped manage and STD clinic, did flu awareness surveys, researched TB prevalence in my area, etc. Just as in nursing, research is a wide open field. I don't think I would have gotten my current research job without having a nursing degree, but I know several study coordinators who aren't nurses. I find it helpful to be a nurse because some study procedures or labs I can complete myself in case a unit or clinic nurse is really busy. I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

Since you're in Texas you should be able to contact your regional state HD. If you're in El Paso that's region 9/10. I know that some HDs have used VOT in west Texas. I used to work at the HD and helped manage a TB/STD clinic. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

Hi, Based on you background, you seem like you would be qualified to be a research nurse. I'm a research nurse (also called a study coordinator) with a hospital system, so I see patients inpt and outpt. Hours can vary depending on the types of studies you do. Phase 1 studies can be very time and resource intense (lots of assessments, blood draws, etc). I work mostly with Phase 2 and 3 studies and compassionate use. I do heme/onc/transplant research. So if I have a new diagnosis patient on the weekend, I would have to be available to get them enrolled on a study. Transplant patients are planned/timed, so I can prepare for their enrollments (unless they become critically ill and I need to put them on a different study). Generally, I work 8-5, M-F. I've had to do a few weekends, stay late, etc. It's hard to explain, but feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Hi, Some things to think about during an interview are: the types of clinical trials you'll be working on how many studies you're expected to manage responsibility of regulatory requirements availability of support staff (data managers, clinic nurses, regulatory coordinators, etc.) budgeting and contracts recruitment Typical day/week at the office type of orientation and training percentage of travel (to investigaors meetings or conferencs) As far as your presentation: there are CROs (contract research organizations) that can help with organizations trying to expand their study portfolio, search for studies, help with developing protocols, etc. Patient recruitment can involve teaching physicians about avialble protocols, advertising in clinics, screening medical records, or attending rounds or tracking meetings to see if any new patients might be eligible.

I'm glad this thread has gained a little traction. I hope other users find it helpful. I'm still a dm newbie but I've learned alot.

@cynthiamc, I pm'd you.

Hello everyone, I had a phone interview and got a job offer from Mckesson (through a contract company) as a remote/work from home disease management nurse. It's 80% home based, 20% travel. I've been reading up on disease management (http://www.minoritynurse.com/disease-management/management-team is a great article) and searching through the allnurses archives to see what people have to say about disease management and Mckesson. I was supposed to decide COB today, but I asked if I could wait til Monday to make a decision. If you work in disease management what are the pros/cons? If you work/have worked for Mckesson, did you like it? Do you like working from home? Please pm me if you have any advise. :) Thanks!!

I think that infection control, her doctor, or the health department should have been contacted for post-HIV test counseling. HIV counseling is usually provided by the health department and the disease intervention specialists are great at it. I think that you provided some good basic info for her on communicating with her boyfriend and just letting her vent. I know that it's a touchy subject. If you have access to the internet at work the CDC has some resources on HIV counseling like the Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5514a1.htm). There's literature on the CDC website that you can print out and give to pts too.

I work for the state health department, and no one here knows of such a procedure. I hadn't thought about checking with the public health school. I will do that. Shortly after my posting, we had to quickly write some general epi investigation SDOs because of a potential outbreak situation where speicmens need to be collected. So now we have something, but I'm interested in hearing about other agencies experiences. PubMed is coming up empty for me. thanks

I am researching the utility of having standing orders for public health nurses to use during a public health emergency, specifically during a foodborne or waterborne outbreaks. The orders would be for collecting stool specimens and sending them to the state lab for testing. My agency covers and underserved area with few providers and it would be helpful if the epidemiologists doing the investigations could refer suspect cases for specimen collection/testing. I have only seen research articles about using standing orders for influenza or other vaccine preventable diseases. Does anyone have standing orders or using SDOs for a situation like this?? Thanks!

I'm assuming that this is a local city or county health department. In general the director of the health department is a MD. That person is usually responsible for signing off on standing delegation orders for immunizations, std screening, tb services. Where I work we are regularly in contact with the MD especially for chest clinic (tb). I think our SDOs are reviewed yearly and updated based on best practices (ACIP, Pink Book, CDC, etc.). The clinics in the region where I work accept people on a walk in basis but encourage appointments. I hope this helps!

Have you tried doing a literature review with PubMed or Cochrane Reviews? Here's an abstract of a publication being released this month: Am J Crit Care. 2010 Nov;19(6):e73-80. Cleaned, ready-to-use, reusable electrocardiographic lead wires as a source of pathogenic microorganisms. Albert NM, Hancock K, Murray T, Karafa M, Runner JC, Fowler SB, Nadeau CA, Rice KL, Krajewski S. Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA. [email protected] Abstract BACKGROUND: Cleaned electrocardiographic lead wires are a potential source of microorganisms capable of causing nosocomial infection. OBJECTIVES: To examine fungal and bacterial growth on cleaned reusable lead wires, determine if microbial growth is associated with hospital site or work environment, determine the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and learn if antibiotic-resistant bacteria are associated with hospital site and work environment. METHODS: Cleaned lead wires (N = 320) from critical care and telemetry units, emergency departments, and operating rooms of 4 hospitals were swabbed and the specimens cultured for microbial growth. Bacterial species were grouped by their risk for human infection: at risk (n = 9), potential risk (n = 5), and no risk (n = 10). Work environments were compared by using pairwise contrasts from a generalized estimating equation model. RESULTS: Fungi were rare (0.6%). Of 226 cultures from 201 wires (62.8%) with bacterial growth, 121 were of at- or potential-risk bacteria (37.8%). Urban hospitals had less growth (P ≤ .001) and fewer bacterial species per wire (P ≤ .001) than did community hospitals. Presence of any bacteria (P = .02) and number of bacterial species per wire (P = .002) were lowest in operating rooms; emergency departments and telemetry units had more growth than did critical care units. Among specimens of staphylococci and enterococci, 6 each were sensitive to antibiotics; of 4 resistant staphylococcal species, 1 was not a human opportunistic pathogen and 3 were potential-risk species. CONCLUSIONS: Bacteria are common on reusable, cleaned lead wires and differ by hospital and clinical area. Cleaned, ready-to-use, reusable electrocardiograph... [Am J Crit Care. 2010] - PubMed result I actually just found the link to the full article (Cleaned, Ready-to-Use, Reusable Electrocardiographic Lead Wires as a Source of Pathogenic Microorganisms â€" Am J Crit Care). You can look at their reference section for additional articles. And here is an abstract from some kind of conference: A Survey of EKG Telemetry Harnesses as a Reservoir of Resistant Noscomial Pathogens. MAKI DG, BROOKMEYER PR; Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (43rd: 2003: Chicago, Ill.). Abstr Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2003 Sep 14-17; 43: abstract no. K-746. Univ. of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, WI. BACKGROUND: Electrocardiographic wiring harnesses are a ubiquitous feature of modern-day medical care, especially in the ICU. In most centers, lead wires are reused many times, with cleaning prior to reuse. To our knowledge, no study has prospectively examined the prevalence of contamination of telemetry wires by antibiotic-resistant organisms. METHODS: We undertook a microbiologic survey of freshly reprocessed telemetry leads ready to be applied to a new patient, in our ICUs. Cultures were obtained by wiping the entire length of each lead, including connectors, with sterile saline-soaked gauze, which was then incubated in TSB. RESULTS: A total of 50 telemetry leads were cultured. Nine leads were positive for VRE (18%) and four for S. aureus (8%), (1 MRSA); Pseudomonas species (4), Acinetobacter (3), and Serratia (1) were also recovered. CONCLUSION: In this study, 1/3 of reprocessed reusable telemetry leads, cultured at random, yielded multi-resistant pathogens such as MRSA and VRE. Reusable telemetry leads, which are in direct and intimate contact with the patient, are a significant potential reservoir of resistant noscomial pathogens. They are, unfortunately, difficult to reliably clean. Disposable leads, or better, the use of wireless telemetry, could obviate the risks posed by this newly identified reservoir of multi-resistant noscomial pathogens. A Survey of EKG Telemetry Harnesses as a Reservoir of Resistant Noscomial Pathogens. Hope this helps!

As someone else mentioned there is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Basically, if you work full time in public service (like nursing) for 10 years, and while you are working you make 120 on-time payments, what ever balance is left will be forgiven. This is for people with Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans, which include - Subsidized Stafford Loans, Unsubsidized Stafford Loans, Federal PLUS Loans - for parents and graduate or professional students, Federal Consolidation Loans (excluding joint spousal consolidation loans), Federal Perkins Loans, and Certain Health Professions and Nursing Loans. The process for requesting this forgivness is still a little murky because it just became law back in 2007 so the first group to request forgiveness won't be until 2017. It's recommended that you keep track of your full time employment and perhaps have letters verifying it. You can read more about the program here http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/LoanForgivenessv4.pdf and IBRinfo :: What are these new programs?. As far as Sallie Mae, I'm assuming those are private loans. If so, then you can probably request lower payments due to financial hardship or request forbearance. If you know you're going to working FT as an RN for the next 8 years, I would recommend that you pay only the minimum for your Staffords (because they would be forgiven) and put the extra towards your Sallie Mae loans. Hope this helps!

Working at the health department at any level (local, state, fed) would probably have the most opportunities for disaster preparedness. Many localities got grant funding that can only be used for that purpose. I work at a regional HD in public health preparedness as a epidemiologist right now. We keep track of potential foodborne and waterborne outbreaks. We also have a physician who works the the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). I'm not sure what the requirements are to be a SNS coordinator. Many other organizations (school systems, hospitals, universities) also need disaster prep staff. What type of organization did you work for before? Do they use any masters prepared nurses there? Hope this helps!

I had the same problem when I was in school. I think it's common to have a hard time focusing some times. I created the 10-10 rule. For me that means no non-school, non-work computer use or tv between 10 am and 10 pm. (now that I'm working it's no computer/tv from 10pm to 10 am). I would only check my email once every few hours and try really hard not to sign into facebook. The second thing I learned was to study really hard for shorter chunks of time (30-40 mins) followed by a 15 minute break (check email, facebook, eat). I preferred to study at Panera (usually near a starbucks) because they have free wireless. I also would try to study with one or two other people. Somehow that would motivate me to focus and study more if I was around them. Of course we had conversations and got off topic but we were focused most of the time. And it was a good way to see if we really understood whatever we were studying at the time. Sometimes I would go to bed early so I can wake up early to study early while my mind was fresh (5 or 6 in the morning). I hope this helps!