nurse__joy

Hey, I know it's been over a month, but I just wanted to let you know that I got the job!! I had my first welcome/orientation session today. Thank you for all your advice and tips! :)

Thank you for the advice! I'm just now seeing your comment because I'm horrible at checking this account. I got the job and started orientation today! :)

Thanks! I just now saw this. Fortunately I got the job and attended my first orientation day today! :)

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply!! I'm definitely planning to play up the chemotherapy certification in my interview, especially given that our unit has to occasionally administer multi agent chemotherapy regimens for patients in the MICU. I know my face is recognizable to the MICU night staff because I've come up numerous times to administer chemotherapy and also to transfer our patients on a fairly often basis since they're so medically fragile and prone to decompensation at times. In fact, I had to administer GU VIP last night for a MICU patient, so I was up there four times within the span of four hours! Also, our rapid assessment team (same thing as rapid response team) has their office located on our unit. We know the staff really well, and I'm well regarded by the team members. I used a couple of the nurses as references, so I know that gives me huge brownie points!! I hope you're doing well and enjoying your new position!

As an oncology nurse who also has experience with transplant nursing, I would say technically no. True neutropenia is generally considered to be an ANC (absolute neutrophil count) of less than 1.00. Typically you'll see that more often with patients on "count recovery" following chemotherapy/biotherapy treatment. However, that being said, AIDs and transplant patients are certainly immunocompromised and could very possibly have an ANC of less than 1.0 at some point. Either way, I would advise increased vigilance when monitoring these types of patients since they're all at a higher risk of infection. I hope that makes sense and/or answers your question.

Hi! I've been an inpatient oncology nurse for nearly five years. I've always worked as an oncology nurse, and I have both a chemotherapy/biotherapy certification and my OCN. I've always wanted to do ICU nursing, but it's difficult to get your foot in the door sometimes. However, my hospital is now offering an ICU fellowship program for experienced nurses. I applied to the MICU fellowship and I was invited to interview for one of the positions on Wednesday. I'm really nervous! ICU nursing has always been my dream job, and I finally have the opportunity to interview for a position. Do y'all know what kind of questions they'll ask? Any interview advice in general? I've been practicing questions by recording myself, and I'm practicing with my mom via facetime later today. Any advice/tips are greatly appreciated!

Hi! I've been an inpatient oncology nurse for nearly five years. I've always worked as an oncology nurse, and I have both a chemotherapy/biotherapy certification and my OCN. I've always wanted to do ICU nursing, but it's difficult to get your foot in the door sometimes. However, my hospital is now offering an ICU fellowship program for experienced nurses. I applied to the MICU fellowship and I was invited to interview for one of the positions on Wednesday. I'm really nervous! ICU nursing has always been my dream job, and I finally have the opportunity to interview for a position. Do y'all know what kind of questions they'll ask? Any interview advice in general? I've been practicing questions by recording myself, and tomorrow I'm practicing with my mom via facetime. Any advice/tips are greatly appreciated!!

My hospital has a large parking garage for patients and visitors that we're not supposed to park in. It's a flat $5 daily fee, but staff members are not supposed to park there even if they're willing to pay. It's understandable in my mind since we're a HUGE county hospital for a major city. We have thousands of people in the building at any given time. Employees have free parking in a lot somewhat farther than the other parking garage. I make it to my unit (on the 14th floor) in usually less than 10 minutes, but I walk fast.

Hey! New grad here w/ about six months of experience. I usually give all my morning meds and just tell my patients to take them with a small sip of water if they're NPO per procedure. The general surgeons at my hospital are fine with this and usually will write "okay to give PO meds with small sips of water on morning of surgery". Now, I will withhold certain meds (such as xarelto, PO diabetes meds, etc.) or if I'm unsure about giving a certain med before surgery/procedure, I'll ask my coworkers about it. I've never gotten in trouble or yelled at for doing this, and the other nurses on my unit do the same thing. Better to control pain, blood sugar, BP, etc. before a procedure than to let it go uncontrolled because the pt was NPO. At least that's my view.

Austin, TX (does not pay very well b/c the market is oversaturated w/ nurses) New grad/1-2 yrs home health aide experience $22.18/hr + $1.90 differential for evening shift (1500-2300), $3.00 differential for night shift (2300-0700), and $2 differential for weekends Oncology/hematology