imbatz

Well, my advice since you are a new grad is to get medical experience before coming to psych because you will deal with medical issues compounded with the psychiatric issues. I will not say that violence and aggression is part of the job, because it never should be but you need to have the awareness that psychiatric (and all human beings) can be very unpredictable. As part of your training, however, you should learn de-escalation techniques and safety on the unit. I don't want to scare you. I love working psych. But...Things do happen. That's life and even the most resilient nurses sometimes cannot come back from it. I don't want to sugarcoat what its like. A lot depends on the management, the environment and that nurse:patio ratio, and DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH TECHS!!!!!

how many people do they accept into the program each year?

First, if it happened on your shift, then it is your mess to clean up. That being said, I work nights and I can't tell you how regularly I am left cleaning and picking up from the previous shift. Personally, I like to leave things the way I want to find them and I am not going to start a fight over full laundry bags. Pick your battles. Bedside shift report is the time to hash this out. If there are surprises waiting in the room, then all will be revealed by bedside shift reports. If you choose not to do bedside shift report, and there is a mess, its yours.

As I new nurse, I actively sought out units where there were a large number of experienced nurses working. I found one. Except for the three new grad new hires (of which I am one), the nurse with the least amount of experience on that unit has over 5 years. Most have worked on my unit for a decade or more. Right off, I began experiencing some bullying - the being thrown to the wolves kind. I'm not thin skinned but it immediately made me wonder why there were no nurses who had only a year or two of experience.

That depends on your facility. At mine, even with assistance, if the patient's knee touches the ground, its a fall.

This is a great thread! Congrats on the one year anniversary. 1st week as a new nurse (still on orientation) on an open heart step down unit. WILTW- AHA has changed the names of systolic and diastolic heart failure, use a towel to cover the patient when you pull chest tubes, blood WILL splatter everywhere and have a good hold on those tubes when you pull them, a really really good grip. I start 2nd week tomorrow....

Yeah, I've seen that happen also.

I am just about to begin my first position as an RN. I am looking into RN malpractice insurance. I am aware that it is prudent to have your own policy and not depend on your employers' policy to protect you. I have looked into NSO and CPH for quotes, but I am wondering what I should be looking for, and if anyone has an advice, warnings or recommendations about certain companies and/or coverage? Thanks.

There are many nurses who are total care nurses which means that we already do the "unnecessary tasks", phrase which I, by the way, take exception to. When it comes to patient care, there are no unnecessary tasks and calling them such devalues the work and assistance provided by techs, CNAs, and other members of the health care team.

A friend recommended that I become stroke certified but I am having a hard time finding individual stroke certifications through American Heart. Any leads? Is the certification called something else or is it through a different organization?

wow. that is an incredible ratio which would be an ideal, almost dreamlike ratio. We are thrilled when we don't get tripled.

We have a taped off box surrounding the med cart at the nurses station. If a nurse is in the "box" we are not supposed to disturb her/him. Does it work in real life? No, not really.

It is considered employer abandonment not patient abandonment. With employer abandonment, you could lose your job if you refuse the patient. With patient abandonment, you accept the patient assignment but leave without turning over care to another RN. Refusing an assignment is not patient abandonment, they cannot threaten your license if you refuse an unsafe assignment, but they can threaten your job. Job vs. license.

For those of you being forced to use the MY CLINICAL EXCHANGE program, scan everything in separately, everything you gave the school, proof of vaccinations, BLS cards, etc. and save it to a specific folder on your computer and save it to the cloud. Most likely, you will have to re-submit all the information every term you do clinicals even if it is at the same hospital, but especially if it is at different hospitals. This is an annoying program for students, that we (or our schools) pay for, but is not user friendly to us. Good luck!

I completely concur with the planner suggestion. I printed off a blank 12 month calendar and stapled it together. I wrote everything in it - clinicals, tests, projects, orientation dates, study groups, EVERYTHING! including my work schedule and when I asked for PTO! It was a godsend more than once when 8 months later, a hospital needed to know what date I had my original orientation at that hospital on...