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What is the on call policy in your department? Do you have someone "on call" when things are slow that can be retrieved at any point of a shift? We have always had on call coverage for an entire shift (12hrs/shift ), we are a rural hospital without MDs or surgery in house after hours, we often get patients un-announced, and occasionally they come in precipitating (assisted another RN with a "door way delivery" once). Administration is now saying they will only pay for 10 hours of on call (we are only paid $4/hr as it is for Pete's sake) in interest of saving $8, because "that's the way M/S does it" (surgery has 24 hours on call and ER doesn't take call at all, they are always staffed). We are conceded about this 2 hour gap between shifts where there will be no coverage.

When I was in nursing school they told us "we are not going to spoon feed you this information"...I use to joke and say "they should have said 'you have to buy the gun, assemble the gun, hunt the deer, skin the deer, and cook the deer yourself in order to eat it; we will just give you a 1000 page book on how to do it so you can figure it out' " remember, most of your teachers are nurses, just that...my best nursing instructors were the few that had a masters in education. You have to learn to study smart. It took me several semesters to study the right way...no one can read all those chapters. Read the boxes and info in the margins, if it doesn't make sense THEN read the whole page, and always read the summary at the end of the chapter; and ALWAYS read before class, you are better prepared and can ask questions about things you didn't understand

Did the baby pass it's "car seat challenge"? Most babies that small go in a car bed

I started out in a specialty unit ((LDRP). I graduated with honors, sigma theta tau, took extra clinical courses through an additional collage, took a beginning midwifery course separate from my nursing courses, and became a certified doula during nursing school. There are your average students and your above average students. Some new grads do great in specialty units while others do better starting in med/surg. To make a blanket statement that new grads should not start out in specialty units is saying all new grads are equal; (I don't know how to say this without being rude) but that simply is not true.

It went away because it is cheap and anesthesiologist are not needed (IMO) I sure hope it comes back!

Look into cross training so you can go over to the L&D department when things are slow in your department and things are busy over there. Have you talked to the manager of the L&D department at the hospital you work at? Ask what you have to do to get transferred

You can not work as an LPN and get a job as an L&D nurse. You might be able to find a job as a post partum nurse, but it could be hard. I know our hospital only hires RNs because they can work all departments (LDRP and nursery) If you find a large hospital that has a separate postpartum unit you might be able to get a job. This could be could to work while in school to go on and get your RN (so you can move on to L&D)

For those of you that work at hospitals that allow VBACs, what is the spacing limit between the C/S and the time allowed to have a VBAC? Our hospital requires 18 months. I know ACOG recommends a 24 month birth spacing in general but does not mention for VBACs/TOLAC.

I had a patient tell me she only wanted to get the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines for her child if she could get them as separate vaccines (not the MMR) she told me that it can be ordered through the UK. I am trying to research this but have not found anything. When I looked of the UK's vaccine schedule, they even listed MMR. Are these speparate vaccines even available in the UK?

1. California 2. 4yrs 3. L&D, OB-in patient and EFM certified 4. $29.59 (one of lowest paying hospitals in CA) 5. Work days (differential only for night shift) no weekend differentials. Time and half to work Christmas and Thanksgiving. 6. Non-union

1. California 2. 4yrs 3. L&D, OB-in patient and EFM certified 4. $29.59 (one of lowest paying hospitals in CA) 5. Work days (differential only for night shift) no weekend differentials. Time and half to work Christmas and Thanksgiving. 6. Non-union

Unless you have experience, it will be very hard to find a job in CA

First I want to say that this is not a Medical Assistant bash, it just happens that a Medical Assistant was involved; it could have easily been a nurse. When I went through the medical assisting program back in 2001, they were still teaching us to give IM injections in the Glut and to rub after an IM injection. By the time I got to nursing school they said never rub after an IM injection to prevent spreading a systemic reaction, and never inject into the glut to avoid the sciatic nerve. (I mention that this is not an MA bash because I recently took over on a patient that had gotten an IM injection in the glut by a Nurse) I recently got a Tetorifice injection in the left deltoid. With injections it is better to give than receive...so I was not looking, therefore I can not say if the MA aspirated or not. However, what I know is that she rubbed after the injection and when she withdrew the needle I bled all the way down my arm, she commented "Oh I hit a capillary". That evening I woke up with numb and tinging arms and hands, over the course of the evening it spread head to toe on my entire left side and started to radiate slightly to my right. I had to take a five hour drive that morning; which turned out to be quite discomforting, my entire left side (and I do mean my ENTIRE left side) was numb, tingly, and painful like when you leave a tourniquet on too long. It also felt cold like when you have poor circulation, I could feel it in my hand and when I stuck both of my hands under my legs my left hand felt colder than the right. Finally this morning when I woke up the symptoms seem to be residing. I hope. My point of this post is to keep up your education, never assume that practice never changes. I can not say for sure if this MA aspirated or not, but I would venture to guess that she did not since she hit a capillary and continued to inject. On top of being injected into a capillary, the injection was rubbed in; totally systemic injection of Tetorifice Toxoid. Having your entire left side go numb and then become painful like some one is cutting your circulation off is not fun and is very scary. Had the MA been using proper technique she would have not rubbed in my injection and possibly I would have avoided these last two days of annoyance, pain, and worry.

Dear experienced nurses, please help! I know time management skills, lack there of, is really killing me as a new grad. I know my stuff, but my time management skills are starting to make me look bad! I know some of it is that I am not the most organized person in the world, not the worst because I am fairly anal, but learning how to be a nurse makes me feel like a "dysfunction Type A"; I am having a hard time getting my grove down. I have read several threads on there with new grads struggling as being new grads and many mention time management skills. Most responses are "it will come with time". Can any of you experienced nurses give us actual tips, tricks of the trade, things you do to manage your time?