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New England OR Assignment Suggestion
I did Lahey Medical Center in Boston & St. Vincent's in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They were both great! Bridgeport was right by the train station so I could be in Grand Central Station in NYC in 40 min. And Lahey was only 20 min from the city (Boston). Staff was super nice both places. Working in Boston was also fun because you could go to like, 4 different states & back in a day. I think that's all I've done in New England but I hope it's helpful. Have a great assignment wherever you end up going! Amy
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How to apply pressure?
Depends on where the looping is. If I can feel/see the loop forming I apply pressure there. If I can’t, my go-to areas are the sigmoid & across the transverse. In thin women with multiple abd surgeries/scars I find suprapububic often works. In obese pts, straight in at the umbilical area. Avoid the top left as you can cause splenic trauma. I also don’t have much luck with right sided pressure as it often prevents the scope from moving forward or just straight up causes it to fly backward. Good luck! Sometimes nothing seems to work. ?
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Do you simethicone?
We use to add it to our irrigation bottles but it’s been advised we no longer do that. So now we just draw it up in a syringe & flush on demand. We don’t really have a specific concentration ratio, I just add a dropper full to an 8 oz cup of water, mix it up & the. Draw out a 60 ml syringe of it. ?♀️
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Seattle Nursing/ UW, Swedish or Harborview?
I really like UW Hospital Northwest. I actually enjoyed it so much I went back a year or so later & did another assignment there. The first time I lived in Maplewood & the second time in Northgate. Both were only 10 min from the hospital, inexpensive (AirBnbs) & convenient to bus stops & coffee shops. Seattle is a lot of fun, definitely one of my top 10 cities! Amy
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How are you managing your documents?
- How are you managing your documents?
I use the PIACET app. It’s great! Keeps track of CEU’s, licenses, certs & misc. docs (like flu shot, TB testing, etc.). The app also gives you notice when something’s expiring. You can download pics & email from it as well. Super handy (and free!). Amy- FL to NY Endorsement / General travel nursing Qs
My NY license by endorsement took about 4 wks. Are you saying you applied back in March? You completed & sent in your mandatory child abuse & infection control class certs along with all the other endorsement paperwork & requirements? If so, I would reach out to the NYS Office of the Professions to see what the hold up is (you can find all their contact info on their website). I would do that soon as I know some states only hold your application for a certain amt. of time. If you do a search on this site you may find the answers to your other questions. I also like TravelTax.com, PanTravelers.org and BluePipes for travel nurse/agency info. There’s lots of traveler Facebook groups too (if you can stand all the bickering!). Amy ?- Public transit to get to/from work?
I drive to all my assignments. I love road trips! I use the RoadTrippers app & find all the cool stuff to see on the way. You can enter in things like “off the beaten path, odd, abandoned, historical” etc. etc. On one of my CA assignments I came home across the country following Route 66. Best road trip EVER! Plus it’s convenient to have your car handy if you want to go exploring on weekends & evenings off. And like someone said, you can still take public transport, even if you have your car. I did that in Seattle, Boston & NYC when I wanted to hang out in the cities (parking was a nightmare!). There’s bus/subway/train apps that walk you through every stop. Seattle had really decent Uber fares as well. Good luck! I hope you have a fun assignment. ?- Canceled Contract
I understand the orientation days are usually non-negotiable but I've never heard the part about the agency/hospital contracts being completely separate.... I understand that there is a nurse-agency contract and that there is an agency-hospital contract. I get that. But your explanation stated (if I'm reading it right), that an agency can agree to the Tuesdays off (for example), the nurse signs in good faith, but that the hospital by no means has to agree to that when the nurse arrives to work? Because the actual "hospital contract" can be totally different? That's pretty scary. I'm a fairly new traveler but I've never run into anything like this! Again, I'm not referring to orientation week. I know that's always a whole different animal.- Gypsy/Nomad RNs - Tips and Experience?
There are a couple Facebook sites devoted to RV travel nursing. I don't think it would ever work for me. I'm scared of driving/parking one of those things. Plus I tend to gravitate towards big cities. But I still love reading the posts on those sites! Recently someone had posted that they fired up their generator after work to use the microwave & woke up the next morning to nasty post-its stuck all over their windshield! They seem to all have a lot of fun too, though. So yeah, maybe check out those sites if you're still looking for info for your project! :)- How do you give diluted epinephrine (1:10000) through an injector needle?
I agree w/the above post. Only in a few circumstances have I had to give more than the 1 mg. In those situations they were pretty bad bleeds & we were moving fast. During intervals in injecting I went ahead & just swapped out syringes when it was nearing the last couple cc's. When I was done I just added the total given of the 2 & documented it.- How can I avoid this scenario?
Yeah....good idea. I should have told the first agency that since I hadn't heard back I had moved on.- How can I avoid this scenario?
So...weird scenario last week. I work w/several agencies & am in the process of looking at options for assignment #5. I was using two agencies (A & B) for this posting. This is what happened: Agency A: does not have the posting yet but states they work closely w/that hospital so will have the acct. manager contact them & get details. I ask for their best package & never hear back. Agency B: puts together a nice package that I like. I wait a couple days, never hear from Agency A so have B submit me. Several days later: Agency A emails me stating that the hospital is contacting them asking if I'm still interested. This is the first time I hear that A was still even working on this. I let them know I've already been submitted through another agency at that point. I email B & let them know that the hospital is reaching out to another agency about me so maybe they should touch base as I never was contacted for an interview. SO! B gets all in a twist & wants to know ALL the details about A & says they are going to "take care of this problem" and blah blah. I was really reluctant to give them the info but I finally did as they were so adamant. Holy Smokes! At that point I'm annoyed with both of them and wondering if I did something wrong. Did I? I mean, I didn't double submit, all I asked for was two pay packages to compare! Thanks!!- 1 yr. mark!
You're correct! I've been surprised to learn in the past year how scarce endo travelers are. I guess we tend to stay put. :) I don't know how pay compares to some of the really hot specialties but I've always brought home at least $1800/wk after taxes. $2100-$2400 out here in NoCal. Works for me as I've been hitting the jackpot for affordable housing. It also helps that I'm not really picky where I go. As long as I'm licensed there & I click with that recruiter/company/facility I'm pretty easy. Thanks for all the advice! I check in here frequently. Amy- Travel Nurse Housing Guide: The only one you'll ever need
Cool! Thanks. :) - How are you managing your documents?