Janlynn

When I give Compazine I always mix it wit 50ml/NS. I drip it in slow and have never had anyone get a reaction. I have had one ER doc write an order t give it as 5mg slow IVP and give the other 5mg 5minutes later. It worked.

5p-1a is the only shift I have been working for almost 2 years now. We also have 9a-5p which I wouldn't mind but with the shift differential it's a big cut plus right now I don't have to pay for daycare. We opened a second dept alongside the main dept and we are only open from 9a-1a. Some nurses work a 16 hour shift and it works for them, I don't think I could handle it.

I graduated from CASPN in 2004--my first job and only job since then has been working in the ER at a major hospital. I started off doing mainly fast track but we have since merged and I am now doing higher acuity. I would dread going to LTC only because I know that isn't right for me. I am so glad I am doing what I wanted to do. I was only making around $13.60hr for night shift--I started out at $12.30 but we got a $1 raise last year and my usual raise. Starting today I am switching over to per diem (still keeping my same amt of hours) and will be making around $21 hr. I will have no benefits but I've looked online and have found some reasonable health insurance qoutes. Hope this helps.

How scary--what was the situation for why it got so low? I myself hemmorraged with a miscarriage a few years ago--my hg was 4.7 or something like that. Needless to say I went into shock a few times before given 4 units (I think? It was all a blur)and rushed to surgery. It's kind of sad now that I can't donate blood any longer--plus when I got pregnant again I delveloped some weird antibody and had to have my titers checked every week.

Hi--you seem to be taking the same path I took. Although right now I am still an LPN (will be going back next spring). I'm working in the ER now and do *almost* everything the RN does there. There's only a few IV push drugs I cannot do. As far as the CNA position we have CNA's/Tech's in our ER, it's something you may want to look into if you're looking for experience. Our Tech's do alot--alot of blood draws, foley's, dressings, trauma's, etc. Just a thought especially if you're looking for diversity. Good luck to you!

Full-time employees at my work get $250 and part-time (less than 1000 hours worked for the fiscal year) get $125. Of course taxes are taken out of that. One year they put it on a Visa gift card which was nice as there was no taxes taken out. We also get a $25 gift certificate to a grocery store. I work at a major hospital with alot of employees, I can't believe how many of you don't get anything. That's just plain sad.

There are some great suggestions here--I'd also like to add for pt comfort to not dig around too much. If I have a vein that rolls or hides after I insert the needle I will just sit there and wait for it to come back up, sometimes I will have the pt pump his/her hand which helps speed up the process. I usually almost always get it that way without much discomfort and the pt really appreciates it.

Wow. Sorry that someone felt the need to scare you. I can say there are days that I've questioned why I went into this field, but you know they are nothing compared to the feeling I get when I've truly helped someone. Seems to me the person that e-mailed you is very bitter and burned-out.

I suggest you or her find help such as a tutor or something--don't rely on the school to do it, they get thier money either way. The NCLEX that she will have to pass is mostly multiple choice, she needs to work on multiple choice questions until she figures out what the problem is. There are several online tests related to the LPN course. Even if she goes through the other program she will not get her license unless she passes the NCLEX. It would be good for her to practice, practice, practice multiple choice tests at home until she feels comfortable. Usually there are 4 answers--and usually you can almost immediatly narrow the answer down to two choices and go from there--it helped me to do it this way. Best of luck to your daughter!

Please don't come by ambulance with a chief c/o earwax--this is not an emergency and certainly not a reason to be brought in per ems. Don't come in with a hangnail that you pulled off the day before demanding abx because you think it's infected. Also don't get mad when you don't get any meds for it because it's not infected. Don't argue with the medical staff, we can tell if something is infected. Please oh please DO NOT come in for a pimple to your right nare! This is a waste of everyone's time including yours, however, thanks for the laugh. If you're going to come in claiming you have a kidney stone stating nothing helps but dilaudid--toradol doesn't help, yet your labs are pefectly normal and you refuse a ct-scan--please don't let me see you at the gas station soon after you're discharged filling up on gas station junk food. If you come in with a foot problem please do us all a service and clean your dirty, nasty feet first! If not you'll most likely be soaking said foot in a cold bath of betadine for awhile before I touch it. Oh and my number #1 pet peeve---if all of your tests come back normal and you're not going to die--please don't seem so dissappointed, there is nothing wrong with you, you should be happy! Same goes for you family members who seem sad/mad that there is nothing wrong with your loved one. If you suspect you have a STD please know there is a planned parenthood right around the corner--please don't use us for your OB/GYN. Also we do not do pap smears here.

They still do--not long after I started my job in the ED I had a young girl sent over from a Catholic hospital--she was there for the sole purpose of receiving this shot because of an ectopic. The Catholic hospital sent her over because it would be against thier beliefs to give the shot. I remember it was a big hassle because our docs didn't want to touch it so we had to call in a consult with the ob/gyn and they had to write the order to give it even though the girl came with orders.

My father was in a coma following a motorcycle accident(no helmet). I've also worked on the neuro rehab floor. Any stimulation physical or mental is crucial for anyone in a coma. We always got our pt's up everyday, with my father I would get him in the wheelchair, take him outside and just push him around for awhile--of course by then he was extubated and somewhat alert-but still in a coma nonetheless.

As an LPN I find your post to be very demeaning. With that I wouldn't at this point being a new grad feel comfortable being in charge of anything or anyone except the pt's I'm taking care of. But I can see 20 years down the road where I may feel comfortable with such a task--I guess it just depends on the LPN's experience and comfort level--it doesn't matter how much schooling you have, most of your learning and experience comes from doing things on a day-to-day basis. I work in a very busy level 1 Trauma Center and I can tell you that most of my pt's can't tell the difference as to whether I'm an LPN or an RN--just last night I had a pt look at my name tag and was amazed that I wasn't an RN she then went on to tell me that I was the best nurse she's ever had (I'm sure the dilaudid I had just given her may have had something to do with it. ) I however would never want to do anything out of my scope of practice, this is why I will be going back to school in April. Your post just struck me the wrong way--just because I'm an LPN doesn't mean that I don't understand or am not smart enough to handle certain things. Just because we only have 1 year of schooling (a very intense 1 year of schooling) doesn't mean that I don't know what's going on or am incapable of making the right decisions.

I feel your pain--I work in the ED and met the most evil lady and her son Lucifer the other night. We were ungodly busy that night and she came in for a cough--well we had a limp baby barely breathing rushed in by his father so the lady with the cough was sent into the hallway on the stretcher so this baby could have her room--well she wasn't happy at all, she claimed she'd been a nurse for 30 years and had never been treated as bad as we were treating her--even after I tried to explain why she was moved in the hall she looked me straight in the eye and said in the meanest voice "I seen why I was moved here"--it was a freakin' baby and this lady DID NOT care. Soon after we got her a room--she jumped me for not helping her move her belongings to the new room which she was able to carry on her own, she's there for a cough--not broken arms! She was just the rudest person I have ever come across--I stayed away from her and her room and she kept sending her crazy son out--the kid was at least 10 and he was just as mean, he would look at people's nametags and report back to his mom, he would wonder around the dept and report back to her. I sent a tech in to get her vitals and she argued with the tech about her pulse--saying she got a different number than her. She then told the tech that I was holding on to her chart so the doctor couldn't come in and see her. The lady was just plain nasty! After the doctor seen her he had ordered a duoneb--I went in to tell her I had paged RT--she refused the neb tx and said she wanted to leave, I said after all of this you're just going to leave without tx?? She ended up leaving without the tx and I managed to get her some Rx's before she left. She ended up apologizing profusely for the way she was acting, I know she must have felt like a louse. The apology was hardly worth it for the terror she and her son put me and the other staff through. It's not like we drug her by the arm and made her come into our ED. I had to stay away from her--each time I would go in there she would say the meanest things--I could feel myself getting pushed to my limit, so I just stayed away from her and her room.

I work in the ED and worked New Year's Eve night and New Year's Day, NYE we we're dead--I think we had maybe 4-5 pt's in the dept when I left early and NYD I came in at 1700 and didn't stop running until I left at 0100 and they were still full with at least 15 pt's waiting in the WR. For some reason I really thought it would have been the other way around--we had alot of trauma's yesterday--alot of chest pain pt's and alot of everything else. We had several pt's that came in for nothing serious that ended up waiting several hours for nothing. We had alot of suicidal pt's as well.

Well I did work last night but by the time I got there the managers were already gone. We have one NP that is in charge of all the other NP's--she's very nice and I love to work with her. I think I will mention something to her next time she's there. I'm sure she'll have heard something by then? I did talk to the day LPN who has been there for over 20 years and she's had problems with this NP in the past doing similiar things and she's very outspoken so I'm sure they're aware of the problem already. There are times where this NP will treat them and street them with no problem--I guess it just depends on what kind of mood she's in? She just picked a terrible night to sit on them as there were so many waiting in the WR for so long. I haven't heard anything about the med error as of yet--I'm just waiting right now to talk to the right person(s). Thanks to everyone who offered words of advice. I appreciate it!:)

Please see my post above--the mother wasn't agreeing on the shots. I even asked her if her daughter had ever been immunized because that's what it would be like--she was still upset and shaking her head about it, the RN then asked about putting the line in of which she agreed to. It worked the pt got the antibiotic. It's obvious that the NP didn't even go in and talk to the mother and the pt before writing the order--the mother had no idea what we were coming in for until we told her. I just think I'll have to talk to someone about the whole situation that night. I just want to make sure something like this never happens again.

Thanks JBudd for your words of encouragement. I was going to use the Lido, I actually had it in my hand as I walked over to the pt's room. This little girl was deathly afraid of needles and her mom was like "there's no way that's going to happen". Luckily the RN that went in with me talked the mom into doing just one stick with the line--she was really good with the pt and got it started with no problem. I have no idea what the protocol is--so if there is none what does that mean? Will it be a med error? What will happen to me? Will I be disiplined in any way? Like I said I'm new to all of this. I think I will just have to explain the situation the best I can and go from there. The RN knew the order was for IM and she's been there much longer than I have--so maybe there is some sort of protocol? I sure hope so.

You know things were happening so fast at that point. After me and the other RN went in to talk to the mother and the mother decided to do the IV instead of the two shots the RN was already putting in the line before the NP walked up there and started giving more orders. I didn't even think about getting the order changed. I'll just have to explain the situation and see where it lands me?

I work as an LPN doing Fast Track in our local ED. I just graduated in June and this is my first job as an LPN, I think I'm doing well and catching on fast, I haven't had a problem thus far--I do seek help if I'm not sure about something and my fellow nurses have always been kind and helped me. I get along with everyone there with the exception of last night. I usually work 5p-1a, however since we're a NP short they've been leaving at 9p and I've been staying and just working with the doc's. Well last night I was leaving at 9p since I had a meeting first thing this am--I had pre-approved this with our Nurse Manager. When I get in last night we had a few pt's and I was informed that our NP was moving really slow. The ED was extremely busy and they started using some of our rooms which left us with 3 rooms--no biggie, it happens. Well the 3 rooms we do have open included one pt that was there before I got there and two that I had just checked in. The two I checked in took forever for her to assess, and they sat there for a good 2 hours, after I discharged two of those pt's I called another two more back. In the meantime the WR was filling up with our pt's. The other pt that was there when I got there was still there--it was a questionable fx--I put in orders for at least 5 x-rays. I called in two more pts one was a repeater that had just been there a couple of weeks before for the same thing. Anyway our NP sat on these three pt's the whole time, she was ordering test after test. As she was sitting on these pt's the WR had at least 11 of our pt's out there with some waiting 4 hours in the WR. She asked if I could set up a pelvic on the one pt that was just there a couple of weeks ago--at which time she had a pelvic done--when I questioned her about it, she then stated to me "this may sound bad but I'm going to keep these pt's here until I leave" she didn't want to see any new pt's. I didn't know what to think. I said something to one of the RN's about how long our pts had been there, I made no mention of what the NP had told me as I have always gotten along with her in the past I didn't want to come off as a snitch or something. I was getting really frustrated each time I looked to see the people in the waiting room waiting to be tx and there was nothing I could do about it. Well lo and behold at around 9p she discharged the two pt's ,one that was there with a questionable break she finally called the ortho resident in and he immediatly said it's not a break. The other repeat pt was given the same meds as she's gotten in the past and sent home and the other pt was still there. I decided to wait until the last pt left before leaving as I didn't want to have to turn her over to someone else--everyone was so busy, I felt bad enough just leaving all of our pt's for them to p-up anyway. So 9:30 rolls around and she hands me orders for the one pt with the discharge papers attached. It's for a strong antibiotic given in two separate IM injections-this is a 5 yo who I had to hold down previously for a lab draw. I asked if there was any alternative and she said no. I told her I would need help holding the pt while giving the IM's and she told me to find someone to help me. It was for 1 gm of Rocephin which hurts going in. I was not very happy but was going to do it. I asked one of the RN's about it and she went in with me to talk to the mom and we determined that putting in an IV and hanging it would be less traumatic than two IM's. During this time the NP comes over the room with yet another order to call lab and order another lab test. I finally said, I'm doing this now--I was supposed to leave at 9 and here it is almost 10, as I was saying this she said in a snippy way "Can I finish please" and I said yeah, go ahead. So she wanted me to call lab. OK. Why she couldn't do it--I don't know? Why couldn't she help me with the IM's when I help her with procedures? She was leaving, it was her last pt. She got upset when she saw that we were going to infuse the Rocephin insted of giving it IM and huffed as she walked away. She left. I finally left a little after 10, the dept was still busy and there were a ton of our pt's still waiting to be seen 5 hours after walking through the door--not a very fast--fast track. I felt like crying on the way home. The other two NP's that I work with have never done this--they get them right in and right out--this is what our area is for. I usually feel like I do something good for these pts--except for last night I felt like I did nothing. Do you think I may get in trouble for being defiant with her at the end of the night--do you think I should say something about what happened? I just don't know what to do. I feel like I don't even want to go back there. I don't know what to do? I'm really discouraged right now.

Joyce, I work in Illinois. My job role is the same as any RN only my pts are less serious and need less resources. We base our pts on the ESI which means at triage they're either a 1,2,3,4, or 5. Fast Track nurses take the 4's and 5's. We get alot of broken bones, migraines, toothaches, etc. Sometimes pts aren't triaged right and I end up with a more serious pt. I usually keep them unless they're too serious and then I turf them, meaning I move them into an RN/Dr pod. I start my fair share of IV's, hang meds, give IM's (alot), etc. I work right in the main area of the ED only I have my own rooms which are Fast Track rooms. There are no other LPN's in our dept. The other hospital I mentioned uses LPN's as techs--meaning they're basically doing CNA work. I hope this helps. Take care! Janet

I work as an LPN in the ER/Fast Track as well. I work alongside with a NP who works alongside with a Dr. We have two major hospitals here and the other hospital doesn't employ LPNs at all, they use LPNs as techs.

I recently graduated in June. I was working in Neuromuscular Sciences as a tech before--now I'm working fast-track in a trauma 1 Emergency department. I really like it so far. We have 2 major hospitals here and only one hires LPN's--the other one uses LPN's as techs. As someone already said it just depends on the area in which you live. Janet

No--I had my children starting very young, and didn't stop up until a couple of years ago.;-) My oldest is 17 and my youngest is 2. I just decided that it was time I did something--I'm not getting any younger and this was something that I had always thought about doing, so I just went for it. School was hard, life was hard, finances were very hard. We were paying $600 a month just for daycare while I was going to school. I did get some grants and loans. School was like a full-time job. Lecture/clincals all day, 5 days a week--and studying all night. Our program was 10 months long and it was seperated into 4 quarters. Looking back now it does seem like it went by pretty fast--but at the time it didn't. It was a fast-paced programs and sometimes we'd have 3 tests a day in three different areas of study. There are different programs out there, this is just a description of the one I went through. I don't think LPN's are disrespected (at least not in my experiences), although I haven't been in the workforce as an LPN for very long. There may be some people out there that would try and intimidate you or make you feel less worthy--but who cares? That's thier problem. As long as you take pride in your work, and know that what you're doing is respectful. I'm working in the Emergency Department so I do work around alot of Rn's. The ones I've encountered so far have been very helpful. I talked to an RN in nursing orientation the other day and she said she loves working with LPN's that sometimes she wouldn't know what to do without them. Anyway I hope some of this helps. Take care! Janet

As far as I know in our area (Illinois) an LPN can do almost as much as an RN with an exception of giving certain drugs IVP--or hanging blood and writing the care plans. There's probably a few other things that we can't do, I guess it just depends on the state your living in. I'm sure the pay is alot different than that of an RN.;-) LPN worked for me because I'm 35 and have 5 children. It was a 10 month course (full-time), and now I can work while I'm taking classes here and there for the RN. If for some reason I can't make it through the RN--I will always have the LPN to fall back on. Good luck with whatever you decide! Janet