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...

By those definitions, hospitalists are also not professionals.

I just wanted to thank everyone that responded. We had our presentation today. Thanks.

Apparently, different facilities run their discharge lounges differently. Our is staffed by 2 experienced RN plus 2 or 3 techs. You transfer your patients to their care where the discharge RNs do the discharge education, etc.

At our facility, patients are laterally transfered to the discharge lounge, where discharge instructions, etc. are completed, freeing up the room on the floor for a new admission.

My group is presenting our project next week on discharge lounges, and our research is done. We were thinking that getting some global/national RN perspective on discharge lounges would be a nice addition to our presentation. So, if you could take a few minutes and answer the questions, it would be really helpful. Thanks. Does your hospital have a discharge lounge? Do you as a nurse, use your discharge lounge? Why or why not? What is the status of patient in the discharge lounge? What are the services provided by your discharge lounge? What happens if something emergent happens to the patient? What are the patients' requirements for admission to the discharge lounge? How is the discharge lounge staffed? What do you like or dislike about your discharge lounge? What do you feel would make your discharge lounge more effective? If your hospital does not have a discharge lounge, does it have an official policy regarding the discharge of patients, freeing up hospital beds from patients that are awaiting rides or transfers to LTC? How effective do you feel it is? What would be your solution to the discharge issue?

yeah. Thanks for the information. Rumor mills says it is tough and to take it alone. I just wanted to know what I was in for. Thanks.

Can someone who has taken the Nursing Research class post a copy of the syllabus. I don't care about how long ago it was. I am considering taking the class around the same time I am going to get a second PRN position. I want to be prepared and know what I am walking into. Thanks.

I work full time at a hospital and have just completed nursing school (also full time). There is no staying awake tips other than learning to train your body to do more on less. Presently, I operate on about 4 hrs of sleep for any given period of time, sometimes 12 hrs, and sometime +40hrs. You do what you have to do, and learn and accept your limits. After driving off the road on my way home from work after a 48hr stint of no sleep, I realized that that was my limit. Invest in some black out curtains, sleep mask and white noise machine ( I have found Quizlet and my electronic textbook make excellent white noise...).

There is a lot of great advice already. 1. Yes to the planner. It will be your best friend and life-saver. 2. Schedule set times to study. It will be far easier to avoid distractions if you know that that you are studying every Sunday from 1-4pm. 3. Exercise and eat healthy and take your vitamins. There is no such thing as a sick day in nursing school. 4. Spend a few hours one (or two) day a week to pre-prepare food. Example: I cook a few chicken breasts, cut up a bunch of veggies, and make veggie dips, etc. on Sunday and Thursday, that I can just grab and go. 5. Join your cohort's and school's Facebook page. Lots of information and advice gets passed on in these forums, and it is usually a great place to buy used books because recent grads that have just passed their boards will usually post there. 6. Don't sell your textbooks until after you take your NCLEX. 7. If possible, attend the various RN specialty organizations meetings in your area. Most readily welcome students, provide wonderful information and networking opportunities. Congratulations!

Well, there are going to have to be sacrifices because nursing school is a bit different. The grading scale is a bit different than traditional programs, so you will have to work and study harder for those As and Bs which you definitely need in your science pre-reqs. Sorry, but Cs in A&P and Bio will not get you into the nursing program. Many schools will admit you to the college but you will need to apply separately to the nursing program. And once you get in the class work load changes drastically. Nursing students do work harder. However, knowledge is power, and time management is your friend. My best friend played college softball, dated regularly and worked part-time while in nursing school. I worked full-time and traveled. A social life is possible. Those in the program with you become your family and your closest friends, and trust me, nursing students figure out how to have fun. Don't worry, and go for it!