Mito

Hello All, After reading the success that N.S. nurses using this strategy I am thinking this would be our last hope at my hospital to finally get management to take the nurse's issues seriously? The chronic lack of staff, the determination of management to pretend that everything is ok and that every pt can be properly looked after is getting out of hand. What do you guys think Mito (Ontario)

Annie, A few things come to mind: 1: have you read the course outline that you were given at the start of the semester? , this should really be retitled as "what is going to be test material" 2. stop with notes already, pick out the important general points and ideas and get those down. it sounds to me like you are getting caught up in to much detail, not that nursing does noy involve detail but most of the time we are talking big picture ie: the entire pt. 30 questions are going to have to be fairly general to cover even the most important points 3. get some advice from a student you respect/trust that has been successful in the course you are taking right now Mito RN

You must get past the shy part of personality and get on with the job. Your wife must have given you some indication of what nurses do on a daily basis. You must be comfortable with female/male anatomy with various fluids and/or substances present. Take the advice you got earlier and work as a CNA and see if you can manage the job, if you can't well you know sooner rather than later. I don't want to sound harsh but this can be a very demanding profession and if you can't do it, then admit to yourself and move on. Mito RN

I am 42 and I have been in a nursing related field for 20years. I spent the first 14 years as a nurse's aide/orderly and completed the RN program in 2003. I went into a f/t program which is not possible for everyone. It sounds like you have done your research now all that is needed is to figure out how logistically you are going to get through the program. Mito

Ontario: long term care and acute care hospitals

Hello alll, Having been out for a year now I would have to agree with Fergus that med/surg is always a good choice for a new grad since there seems to be casual and pt positions available. It is a nice place to "park" and get a chance to see what is available and what extra courses would be required. I am happy working in cardiology and general medicine but I can certainly see how this would not be the ideal situation for everyone. Mito

Hello I am a new grad RN on a telemetry unit and that is all I have worked since graduating in June of 2003 I have taken the CC1 course and learned alot from my collegues. It is really a good floor to work on and I think you will enjoy it if you get a good orientation. For example one hospital that I work at draws cardiac enzymes q6h while the other draws them q8h you just have to get the protocols right and everything will be fine Mito

Dalton Mcguinty is proposing that public service workers ie nurses, doctors teacher etc. temper their wage demands to help pay down the debt the liberals inherited from the tories. Ofcourse some of the tax cuts the tories imposed aren't being mentioned. I certainly hope that ONA and CUPE are not going to stand for anymore of this crap from the goverment. I think the threat of mass resignation that was employed on the east coast would be an excellent intervention in this particular case. Am I the only one who feels this way? Mito

Ransome, Fergus51 is giving you some excellent advice and I will add my experience of preparing for the RN exam. I did use the guide and I think I averaged around 75% on the tests but I also used NCLX review books since this helped me prepare for doing hours of test questions and helped me watch for key words in the questions. The NCLX is very different from the Canadian RN exam but I found it helpful. Pay special attention to the questions that ask for the nurse's best response they will appear again before you are finished. Mito

Hello All, While a I agree my response may have been detailed I felt that was what was needed in this situation. Tnkrbell will never be able to develop critical thinking skills if she doesn't understand how the process works. Using 1 specific example from her list and showing her how it could be developed I feel will be the most help to her. I remember all to well struggling through this stuff and the care plans in the text are completly different than the plan I am working on. This type of "let the students figure it out on their own" way of thinking is fine if the student is heading down the right path , but they will never get their if they don't get some guidance in the beginning of the journey. Mito

TnkrBll, Let me just say I share your pain when it comes to care plans, I remeber as a student (not that long ago) that they gave me some troulbe as well. To give some advice that might help you is: care plans are based on the nursing process that is to say Assessment , Plan, Intervention, Evaluation now you may have different words in your program for each of these things but essentially this is the different areas of a care plan. So lets take and example of one of the symptoms your pt has and work through the process: Assessment: pt has an abd incision that is let's say painful and swollen related to C section Plan (what plan are you going to use to do something about it or goals for the pt to improve) pt will have incision free of infection and pain in 24 hours Intervention what are you going to do to carry out this plan or goal for your pt well your going to offer the pt an ice pak to place on her abdomen to help reduce the swelling Evaluation this will be an assessment of how effective the intervention was is the incision still swollen and painful or is it improving you must articulate this in your evaluation. if the intervention was not effective you must state this and start with a new plan and goal and intervention so that the pt will have a clean infection free incision Hope this helps Mito RN

As a new grad and being 40 myself look at it this way; your going to be 40 anyway it is up to you if you want the education at 40 or continue with what you are doing now. Mito

Fergus: Congrats on your new job. Mito

Hello All, During my medicine rotation I asked my instructor and other RN's questions when I required help or guidence with something. However, there were nurses who wanted us to ask them questions just so they could stroke their ego. Now ofcourse this is not true of the majority of RN's since most are very helpful. But I don't judge all RN's based on a few negative responses. I know the majority of students I have worked with over the past 3 years follow the above procedure. I am now starting my clinical consolidation on a medical floor and I am sure my preceptor will be very helpful. This is just a student's perspective and most of us ask questions when we need help and you guys are rigtht god help the ones who don't, since they are missing out on a "real life educational opportunity". Mito

Hello All, Yes I had an assignment to do based on certain criteria, and the assignment was completed before I posted. I was comparing my rationale to that of more experienced nurses which is something I think even JMP can understand. Mito