mc-escher

Ooh definitely don't mean to imply that I'm not interested in learning things! I've already been studying up on vents, catheter care [i've seen some... interesting foleys here], pharmacology, and I'm starting to go back to my med surg book for in-depth reviews of common patient conditions. I love learning! My concern is that my facility isn't taking any interest in my progress here. My perspective is that to them, I'm a warm body to pass meds and be responsible for residents. They're not interested in helping me get certifications or giving me the time to really get to know my patients. My stress comes from feeling like it's all on me and that my facility doesn't care one way or another.

I know 12 hours is 12 hours but it's so much easier for me to stay awake and alert at night! I'm staying up right now! Granted my schedule is insane at the moment and requires me to flip back and forth, but it's nice being up late. When I have errands to do, I just go at the end of my day and people think I've woken up early like a responsible adult. ;D

Thanks for all the insights! For the record, I do agree that it was unwise to refuse testing and treatment when it happened. I'm just presenting the facts. My first response was telling her nicely that refusing the testing may have taken away her chances of getting support from our employer with doctor visits or medications. It's frustrating that the human resources officer wouldn't do more to advocate for employees but I understand the legalities here.

Recently licensed ADN graduate in Illinois, I took the first job offered to me after being rejected from some big hospitals. RN position in a LTC facility, started on the vent floor. Was overwhelmed by how many patients there are, the physical condition of them, the resources available at the facility, and the professionalism of the staff. Now I 'understand how things work' a little better but that doesn't mean I like it. I'm also still recovering from an ORIF of my proximal tibia from last August, and the 12 hour shifts [really 13 hour when you count hand-off and catching up on unfinished tasks/charting] add up, especially on the vent unit where most of my time is spent passing meds to my 13+ patients, all of whom are on ventilators and have g-tubes, most of whom are comatose. It's a lot of work and my knee throbs after a shift. Compression socks have helped. I told the DON I'm going to quit because they were consistently scheduling me for 4 day weeks [with a bonus 5 day week] after promising alternating 3 and 4 day weeks. It was too much for my knee and didn't feel like a good fit. They offered me a consistent 3 days a week, and a position on a calmer LTC floor with more independent and medically stable patients [granted, it's about 20 residents now and one nurse, two CNAs]. Still a lot of meds to pass but much less clinical problem solving. Currently I'm going back and forth between this floor and the vent unit, still doing twelve hour shifts. On the next schedule I'll mostly be on the calmer floor. People are telling me to stick with it because it's good experience and if I stay six months I can be considered for positions in hospitals. I'm honestly afraid that I'm not going to learn anything at this facility unless I take the initiative and come in having studied my residents conditions and medications at home. I just want to get out and look anywhere but LTC, but it seems like that's all that's really available to me at this point with my unimpressive resume. They also seem to have taken back the hiring bonus they promised me, because I threatened to quit. Nobody's said anything but I can't think of another reason. Just another thorn. What's your experience with a first job in LTC? Are you glad you stayed, or glad you left? Sorry if this is all over the place. I feel so conflicted about what to do. Some things are shady.

So the patient doesn't have any communicable disease via blood according to his most recent tests, but this is in long term care and they're probably old [i'm uncertain]. She reported right away but said she felt ok and didn't need to go to the doctor. A few days later she realized after worrying that she should go to the doctor and get tested/maybe take preventive measures. HR is saying that because she refused care the day it happened, it's no longer their responsibility and she can go to the doctor but they're not going to pay for it. Is this ok for HR to do? What can we do to advocate for her, like we thought HR should be doing?

The leg factor is still up in the air while I try out compression socks, lots of ibuprofen, and other pain management techniques. So 100% honestly, the main reason I want to leave LTC is that I feel it's not for me. This may even warrant its own post. The patient load is huge to me, 20 patients or more when not on the vent unit, usually 14 when on vent (yes, I've heard other places are worse and that blows my mind). I feel like I'm not learning as much as I'm surviving. Learning a little bit at a time but mostly feeling lost. I'm doing my second supervised shift on the nicer LTC unit with more independent residents Monday, then I'm on my own. I'm already on my own in the vent unit but at least there are other nurses on the floor. The LTC unit is literally me, 1 or 2 CNAs, and 20 residents. I'm terrified. Maybe I just need to give it more time, maybe I need to study more.

So to get right into it, I graduated last July, got hit by a truck a few weeks later and spent months focusing on recovery, then had to deal with the state of Illinois dragging their feet before I was able to take the NCLEX in January. Thanks to more foolishness from the state of Illinois, it took four months to get my license. In that time leading up to getting my license I hadn't done much work aside from updating my resume and looking around for open jobs. Stopped applying for positions until I had my license because I kept getting rejected for not meeting the minimum requirements of licensure [all online applicationes]. I feel miserable about the time all of this took and how little I've done. Should I explain the gap between my graduation and licensure with a quick story about the broken leg and how it helped me to gain wisdom from a patient perspective, or is that just silly pandering? I'm quickly approaching my one year anniversary of graduating and that's when the doors to many residencies and great new-grad programs start to close. I did start working in an LTC facility a little over a month ago but it's miserable and I'm not sure my knee can hold up to the work. I want to get out of there as soon as possible but am starting to feel like that's impossible.

Thank you for your answer! The misspellings were making me uneasy about actually paying for any of the courses so hearing someone vouch for the information is good. Though now that I'm thinking about it I guess it's always good to fact-check any resource? I'm taking advanced med-surg to start off the spring semester and I was told I should find resources for Cardiac topics especially and there are a few on their website. I'm thinking I will try it out!

So I've been looking around for resources to help me get ready for my last semester of my ADN program and found nrsng academy. I like the ideological stuff they're saying, but I'd never heard of them before and don't know how legitimate they are. For instance, they have a whole podcast about important medications to know and the names of many medications are spelled wrong which seems unprofessional for a service that should be helping me with school. Home-page: NRSNG | Helping Nursing Students Succeed. Period. The pod-cast: Google Play Music

Yes, this! I'm taking a break from drawing and labeling the respiratory tract. :] What kind of diagrams would you make for micro? Different details about different organisms? I have friends going into micro this semester and I'd love to give them more than a binder full of notes and self tests I made.

Ohhh, so they're not recommended for treatment, they're just recommended because the absorption isn't as strong so they need to take in more to have an adequate amount available! I see, I was stuck on the idea that they were recommended to help treat gallbladder disease. Thank you!!

I did?! I don't see it yet, but I'm glad it's somewhere in there somewhere! My thoughts are that if the gallbladder is diseased, it will have a harder time releasing bile to help with the digestion of fats and absorption of fat soluble vitamins. They wouldn't stimulate bile production from the gallbladder and help it function, would they? What I'm thinking is that the body just wouldn't be able to absorb them as well so they wouldn't have as much of an effect.

So one topic on my upcoming test is Nutrition, and I'm having trouble understanding one treatment for cholecystitis my classmate posted in a study guide forum which is that fat-soluble vitamins can be given for gallbladder disease. If gallbladder function is impaired I know that decreases the body's ability to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, so why would intake of fat-soluble vitamins help? The only information I've been able to find so far are things saying that yes, the gallbladder helps in processing fat-soluble vitamins or just that fat-soluble vitamins can be given for gallbladder disease. Maybe I'm just not using the right search terms, or not looking in the right spot in my book, but I can't figure out how this would help. Any insights?