MikeyJ RN

I am finishing up my BSN program, however, I have a desire to pursue my MSN and Ph.D. in nursing (i think anyways.. time will tell). Anyways, I was always under the impression that the pay scales in academics (especially starting out) is mediocre com...

One of my nursing instructors told our class that she has acquired a smell for cancer, and when she walks in a room she can tell immediately if a patient has cancer. Do nurses typically "acquire" these intuitive smells after many years of nursing??

Hey are there any BSN students here deciding to shoot for a minor as well? If so, what are you going to minor in?

Generally speaking, how long after laparoscopic surgery should the patient begin passing gas? Is there a general rule as to how long before the doctor should be notified? And finally, any nursing interventions to promote passing gas?

If you look at a President or Provost's bio, you will find that all of them started off as an assistant or associate professor and went up the ranks until they got full professor. They then usually start taking leadership positions within their depar...

2/3 of posts relate to being sued and losing license? I actually cannot remember the last time I read a posting related to either of these topics. I have only been a nurse for a few years but have never known anyone to lose their license or get sued.

Most nursing students do not get a whole lot of exposure to blood draws & IV's but do not fret... you should get a lot of experience when you begin working as an RN. As a student I probably did 2 IV sticks on patients and 2 or 3 on fellow classm...

When you find an easy nursing school, let me know... :) And when you find that "easy" nursing school, you better check out how many students are passing their NCLEX licensing exams. There are schools that make it easier on their students to pass bu...

I was required to do it in nursing school and did not find it helpful at all. If you refer to the NCLEX discussion forum, there are quite a few threads on NCSBN, Kaplan, etc. :)

With any state board of nursing, you typically need to do finger printing, go through a background check, and be able to prove you are a U.S. resident or citizen.

I will only be applying to one, and it is the school I graduated with my BSN. Reason I am only applying to one is because I am locked into a 2 year contract with my hospital and cannot realistically move at this point. If I am not accepted, my school...

University of Nevada Las Vegas

I am unaware of any standing orders on my floor for labs with the exception of drawing a lab after a rider has completed.

I am jealous of some of your hospitals! Our hospital is dead broke and we have very little in our patient kitchen. I rarely take anything but I at times need to suck down a grape juice or apple juice when I become hypoglycemic.

It depends on the extent of the head injury. With a severe closed injury, you usually have increasing ICP (intracranial pressures) which can damage brain tissues and cause herniation if not treated quickly enough. Severe CHI usually include intracran...

That makes no sense but with the financial crunch some hospitals are facing, I am betting more hospitals will be reducing their per diem rates.

I am on orientation right now, thus it hasn't affected me yet... but I think it will be not so great once I am scheduling myself and can be bumped around because others have seniority.

My unit uses self-scheduling based on seniority. We do monthly schedules and you schedule yourself for whatever 3 days you want to work and you mark what days you would like to be on-call and what days you can to overtime and you mark if you have any...

I was always taught to watch the patient take the PO med -- you should never leave them at the bedside. I work with ped's patients, so it is a bit different... but with the older kids, if they are not ready to take their PO meds, I put them in their ...

I agree that you may not always get blood return from a PIV. As long as the IV flushes with ease and no signs of infilitration or phlebitis, I still use the IV.

The big difference (for me anyway) was that it was a change assessing someone who could not communicate their issue to me. Thus, when you assess a child, try to do a more thorough assessment... in the adult population, they can tell you what is bothe...

It will all depend on the unit -- for example, the unit I worked as an apprentice nurse was AMAZING! The nurses worked together so well and everyone was friendly with everyone else. There was no back-stabbing and everyone was supportive. Now that I ...

It baffles me why people argue whose program is "harder" or more "demanding". I think it is a matter of personal perception -- and furthermore, why argue about it in the first place?

You will find many previous posts on this board of me elaborating on my plan to start my med school pre-req's after working as a nurse for a year -- that was my plan throughout nursing school. Becoming a physician was something I have always wanted t...

It also depends on your state -- some states do not issue Interim Permits. The state I live in automatically issues an Interim Permit upon graduation from a nursing school and it is good for 90 days and is not renewable. If you take the NCLEX within ...