dgudmestad

I'm almost done with my BSN through Indiana Wesleyan University. I will probably continue on for my Masters thru them. Their program is painless and I really enjoyed the format. No streaming video watching or any of that. Just strictly a bulletin board system which is alot less painful. I highly recommend them. They do NOT require chemistry or statistics. You can go to iwuonline and click their graduation requirements and you will see what is required there. I cannot say enough good about their program. I'm getting ready to do community health and management and then I will be DONE!! Yay!

If you were in good standing when you left, I would think you still should be.

Ohhh...don't get me wrong....I agree totally. It just wasn't the case where I worked. Just like paralyzed patients should always be 1:1. That wasn'r always the case either.

I just left a MICU job where CRRT pts were routinely 2:1. Even if they were on Levo and paralyzed they would be paired...and sometimes with another not so stable pt or another one with every 1 hr blood sugars. I worked there almost 7 long and hard years. I am so glad not to be worked like a dog anymore. It wasn't a safe place to be, but I guess it kept their budget on track. They were a for-profit hospital and most concerned with the bottom line.

I think I would make an appointment to sit down with the nurse recruiter. You may be on the "not eligible for rehire list."

Took me a solid year.

Depends on the situation. I have walked away, yelled back, cursed them back, rolled my eyes & shook my head and said things like "Slow down, I can't chart that fast." or "Your mother would be ashamed..." or "How would you like me to chart that?" They have all worked for me at some point or another. Usually if you call them on their behavior once, they straighten up. Of course there are the really slow ones with no hope, regardless.

I think your perfectly normal. I've been a nurse for many years and in the ICU also. I, too, have difficulty when certain patients die. It is especially difficult if they're young. It's also hard when a pt comes in talking to you and spirals down the tubes or when you get close to the family. I think its hard when pts are near our own age because it makes us think about our own mortality. And I know after I work down in the trauma unit I am almost paranoid to drive home...and my daughter will NOT get her license until she's 50! Does it bother you more when you withdraw support? Even if your brain says you are alleviating their sugffering, maybe you feel like you are bringing about their death and have guilt? I don't know if that's the case. Might be important for you to sit down with yourself and sort out your feelings. I don't know if you're a spiritual person or not, but it has always helped me to think of withdrawing life support in this way: Man placed those machines to prolong life. All I am doing by removing those manmade machines, is allowing nature to take its course. Inevitably, we are not the ones in charge, no matter how much we would like to believe we are. If it is Gods will that he will live...he will...and if not, he will pass. In either case, my duty is to keep that patient as comfortable as possible and surrounded by those dearest to him. Many times I have cried with the family throughout the whole process. If it helps you to show your emotion, by all means, it is ok. I have found that families react positively to us when they see that we've been affected as well. I don't know if that helps... and certainly you are not alone.

I work on the EICU side of the camera. Absolutely love it. I know some nurses are hesitant thinking we are looking over their shoulders. I can assure you...as nurses ourselves, we are all on the same team. At our facility we have 6 screens and it can get pretty busy keeping up with everything. I think the biggest thing to remember for those of you at the bedside is this: We are there to assist you and help you in whatever way we can. For us, if we can help you get that order you need or if you have a "feeling" something isn't right and no one will listen to you...please...bend our ear. So many times, nurses have a gut feeling and notice things that physicians disregard. The EICU can help. We don't want to take over and we don't claim to know more than anyone else, we just use different tools, like our software, that alerts us of various trends. These trends can sometimes give insight to problems that otherwise would go undetected for a longer period of time because independent of each other, they seem insignificant. EICU is all about collaboration. So many times I've called the unit saying...ok...here's what I'm seeing, what are you seeing? What's your physician saying? Ok...let me talk to my doc and see what he thinks. Through collaboration, I have seen major events headed off before they explode into tragic outcomes.

Do you think that online classes are more time consuming than traditional classes? Do you find IWU to be a good experience? What do you like about it? What do you dislike??

I liked their program. Easy to figure out what is required. Straight forward but I don't see anywhere that they talk about online learning. Are you sure that they have online distance courses?? Will have to check into that.

You could wait but make sure you go. We had a patient in our ICU about a month ago with tetorifice from a rose bush thorn. Terrible.

I bathe dead people......why shouldn't I talk to them, even if only to hear the hum of my own voice. Doesn't really matter either way.

We had a family want to take the entire body home with them. The nursing supervisor called up the chain of command and basically, in our state, a body can be buried anywhere and the family has the right to take the deceased. Soooo, they were escorted to the morgue, went into the cooler and were allowed to remove the body. They walked out the door with a stiff corpse in body bag over their shoulder! Takes all kinds..................

Everyone is different. Depends alot on their numbers, how far into failure they are, etc.... We transplant whole organs only at our hospital. They must be drug/smoke free for 6 months. They can still be transplanted after suicide attempt if psych gives approval. owever, it seems that we will transplant just about anyone. We transplant folks that other places say they won't touch. The craziest case I had was a 36 y/o guy with HIV, Hep C and haemophilia. He was 1st on the list. I said,"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!???" Nope......1st on the list. He became septic and died before getting transplanted. How crazy is that!