tramalady45

Just curious...I am trying to get an initial certification in BTLS and cannot find any available courses here in Southern California. Does anyone know of any or where I might have luck searching?? Thanks for the help....

Well, I have an ADN and I make exactly the same amount as my BSN counterparts. Go figure!

I say go for it. I started fresh out of school with zero experience in hospitals at all other than our required clinicals. I work in a level 1 trauma center, we see 100,000 + patients per year and we are constantly running. I hated the ER in school and actually said that I would NEVER work in the ER and I got called for an interview and decided to try it out and I would never want to work anywhere else now. I absolutely love it. try to have a good sense of humor. Don't forget to laugh, don't take things to personally, really make an effort to find out who your strongest players are and utilize their knowledge, don't be afraid to admit that you don't always have the answer, don't be afraid to cry over a patient in front of their family,they will remember you for it and appreciate you for being human and truly caring for thier loved one, or don't be afraid to hold a patients hand while they are dying, don't be afraid to try new things, don't fear starting IV's in a really weird place ( my weirdest was a lady's nipple....) and remember the patient assumes that you have lots of experience so just relax and breath and be confident and they will never know the difference. Don't hide from the hairy scary stuff like a traumatic full arrest or peds codes because you need the exposure and the knowledge and it will thicken your skin, and above all, never forget how hard you worked for this and why you are doing it. There will be days you regret it, days that make you question your faith and days that make you truly believe in a higher power. Savor them all as they are all a part of what makes our job so beautiful. Good luck!

Okay, I know that this sounds pretty harsh but I say it one way when they refuse, " you will take report on this patient or I will be up to give you bed side report in 15 minutes, you choose which way you would like this". I work in a level 1 trauma center in one of the busiest counties in the nation and we are always and forever on sat. It is extremely frustrating to us ER nurses to have to babysit a patient-especially an abusive loud really nasty one-all day long. We pray that this is the one patient that gets a bed and we have no luck in that area. Then wham! Like magic 30 minutes before shift change we suddenly get beds for some of our patients and we are required to call report within 30 minutes. One day I got beds for all of my patients 20 minutes before shift change! What a nightmare! I don't know about anyone else but I just want the patients to get out of the ER. I've had the same patient for as many as 3 days before they finally got upstairs to a room! One time I called report to ICU an hour before shift change. The nurse actually refused report saying it was the middle of shift change ( which wasn't taking place for another hour yet and she only had 1 patient that she was sitting on) then proceeded to tell me that she was too busy and I am like pulling my hair out as we had literally 11 ambulances waiting inside the bay to be able to drop off their patients and all 40 of our ER beds were taken. I wanted to die! Needless to say she got bedside report via the charge nurse. Too crazy. Sometimes I wish that I were in administration

I AGREE!!! I love my job, I would not work in any other department if I had the choice. I am tired of nurses in other units assuming that we ER nurses "rush the patients to the floor right at shift change". It is shift change for us too and no one makes the patients wait in the parking lot until we get our bearings just because it is shift change. We do not do it on purpose!! The ohter night at 6:15 three of four of my patients finally got beds (one had been there 3 days!!) and I am required to get them up to those assigned beds period, no matter the time. We do not like dumping all our patients either right before shift change because guess what? They just turn around and fill us back up despite the shift change thing. I had an ICU nurse actually refuse to take report on a patient at 6 because that was to close to shift change for her ( an hour away)! Hello! She only had one other patient! I would never belittle another nurse or refuse care based on what time of day it is, it gets tiring for us in the ER to never hear anything but negativity from everyone else. A nurse's job is difficult enough without making your peers feel bad about what they do. We are part of a healthcare team and should act accordingly to provide the greatest continuity of care for the sake of the patients. Period. Let's all try to be more positive and help each other out to make our job easier, let's not fight each other for goodness sakes!!

MRSA Poo isn't as bad as C-Diff Poo. It's like jelly, and the smell is putrid. The face is located under the smiley menu, just scroll down... hehehe

Hey, just curious, does anyone know anything about San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, California? I am interested because I was thinking of applying to their ER as per diem and don't know anyone who has worked there. Any info would be great!

I work in Trauma in a major trauma center. I have seen it all. Literally. I can take puke, GSW, stabbings, broken bones, burns,pee, sputum, I have even seen maggots-yes, maggots crawling outta someone's rectum, and the only thing that still causes me to get weak in the knees and green is feces. I CANNOT take feces! If I am about to enter a room where there is even the slightest possibility of feces being there, I PUKE!:barf01:

Well, what kind of information are you looking for specifically What area are you interested in? I used to work there so I know a bit.

Don't let them freak you out. I worked tele right out of school. The first 6 weeks or so were very stressful because you have to really fine tune your assessments skills and being able to juggle time management issues but after that it was okay. Every job right when you get out of school is going to be frightening. You don't have anyone to fall back on and having the responsibility of making the decisions will seem scary at first but with time it will come. Tele is a wonderful place to learn, I know that usually that is code for "run like hell!" but it really is. Take this opportunity and use it to grow as a new nurse, ask lots of questions, and get as much hand's on with difficult tasks as possible. Also, you might want to consider taking a basic arrhythmia class ASAP before you start if at all possible. Also, I made flash cards the first week of drugs that I was starting to see routinely like Digoxin, Labetelol, Metoprolol, Lasix, HCTZ, Aldactone, Coumadin, Nitroglycerin, and Clonipin for example and memorized implementation , side effects, adverse reactions and common dose ranges just so I would be a little familiar with them.Don't let people scare you, and remember your patients will not know how much experience you have, they will only see RN behind your name so they assume you have experience and have done it all a million times. Remain confident and your patients will be confident and alot calmer too! Good luck!

Well, I actually have a leather "fanny pack". I keep the following items: 1. Pocket PC of course 2. at least three bottles of flush 3. at least 4 empty flush syringes 4. 2 tournaquets 5. tons of alcohol pads 6. a plethora of 2 x 2's 7. 2 of each: 16 guage, 18 guage, 20 guage and 22 guage caths 8. three pens 9. red pen and one sharpie pen 10. halls mentholyptus lozenges ( these are great to suck on when a really bad smelly patient comes in and you can't take the smell. You can barely smell anything else but Halls cause they are so strong! 11. Tape 12. penlight That's about it. It usually gets me through a shift without having to keep leaving a patients room. I have to restock sometimes but it beats saying "um, oh-I forgot that- I will be right back....." Good luck!!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: My fiance didn't think that was funny-BUT I SURE DID!!!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I purchased the "light" and I hated it. It sucked in fact. I couldn't have heard a bomb go off on that thing. I decided to really upgrade and order the Master Cardiology and LOVE IT!!!! :yelclap: I will not use anything else! I can be in a crowded room and hear clear as a bell with it.

Wow. You are lucky. If I was smart enough to make it through the math for the biology degree, I'd surpass crna school and just be a doc. Good luck to you!!