datalore replied to Elizabeth Lewis's topic in Stress 101
I've had an anxiety disorder basically from the moment I popped out the womb! I had to wait til I got mine under control enough to finally follow my passion. Sounds like you're working hard. My only additional advice would be that different care sett...
datalore replied to elizandajd's topic in Relations
I think it's appropriate on a group-by-group basis; my current work team does it well, but I've seen it crash and burn with other worksites. I go out for dinners when it's a large, all-people-were-invited work gathering and no problems in 2 years (ye...
Among other things, we've all joked before about how doctors only ambulate patients on Grey's Anatomy. We have a surly, nurse-frightening, House-esque doc that not only regularly ambulates our elderly patients, but I also caught this doc helping my p...
Most of the questions I got asked (I work tele) were about patient safety, willingness to accept feedback, how you'd handle an emergency, handling difficult patient situations etc, and way less about tele-related stuff. Basically "are you going to be...
You're going to see many a coworker do things in a way that you don't prefer and/or that gets bodily stuff on you. It's not always carelessness or being incorrect. I've seen everything on that spectrum, like someone focused so much on the patient tha...
datalore replied to lovingnurse1967's topic in Nursing
I work in cardiac intermediate care (stepdown) and I'm only "ordered" to do q2-4 vitals and assessments - sick enough that they are moderately septic, bipap-requiring, titrating cardiac drips, unstable angina... etc. (Of course I do as often as clini...
For me it was undeniable interest in an area long before nursing school. Significant family history of strokes and heart failure makes me think that hearts, lungs, and kidneys are cool... so for me the cardiopulmonary unit in my hospital was my only ...
In the grand scheme of things, a NICU preceptorship is not likely to be the resume line-item that gets you directly into a NICU after graduation. So, although it's a serious disappointment as you likely would've loved the hands-on experience NOW, it'...
datalore replied to WestCoastSunRN's topic in Nursing
I keep a ziplock baggie in one pocket of my scrub pants, one that is covered by my top anyway, but I hide a granola bar or something in there for when I'm on hold on the phone for a minute or charting furiously and I don't want to run all the way to ...
For the heart muscle portion of this... Hypokalemia (and/or hypomagnesemia) prolongs the QTc -- in less wonky terms, it increases the absolute rest period of the heart muscles; the time during which they cannot contract again. In hypokalemia and/or h...
Wage/salary-wise, I can't give a number because the cost of living is so vastly different all over the US. I make peanuts compared to what other states pay their RNs, but I feel like I have a ton of monetary cushion because I live in a cheap area and...
