EmxoRenee

Hello all, Im looking for a weight loss group specifically for nurses! I'm a new nurse, and have already gained about 10 pounds. I've tried meal planning, but even when I try to plan ahead, I find myself so hungry by the end of my 12 hour shifts that I come home and then just devour my entire pantry. I'm also struggling with energy. I'm so exhausted after work that I just come home and crash, and even on my days off, find myself just lying on the couch all day. Any recommendations for support groups or weight loss programs specifically for nurses would be super helpful! I want to turn this around quickly and be a healthy example for the kiddos who are my patients!

I try to eat healthy and exercise, but as a brand new nurse, I'm finding this schedule super challenging to work with! When I work 12 hours, and have just a 30 minute lunch break during the day, by the time I get home at night I'm starving, and just eat everything in sight! I know this is not healthy. How do y'all do your meals during 12 hour shifts and what do you eat in the evening then when you get home? What does a typica day of eating during a 12 hour shift look like for you? I'm trying to avoid gaining weight and also fatigue during long shifts! I want to be healthy so I can care for my patients the best I can :) Thanks for any ideas!

I passed my boards several weeks ago, and I begin orientation for a new position as a nurse in a PICU this Monday. My first week will be all classroom based orientation, I believe, and then I hit the unit running the following week! I am beyond excited, as this is my dream position, but also very nervous! Does anyone have any helpful tips for a new grad PICU nurse? Either things that you encourage doing, or things that can be annoying when new nurses do, that I should try to avoid? Thanks for any tips!

Hello All, I have my pre-employment physical with employee health and HR for my first nursing job this coming Monday! I'm excited, but also a bit nervous, as I'm not sure exactly what to expect. What is usually included in these appointments? Also, she told me to dress comfortably because some bending and lifting is required. I will be getting my picture for my badge taken at this time, so I want to look nice, too! What would you all consider appropriate "comfortable" attire to wear to this appointment? Thanks for any ideas!

Thank you for your response! Would you just recommend that I put my anticipated graduation date on my resume then, since I do not have a degree/license yet?

Hello, I'll be graduating with my ADN in May. I am wondering how soon is too soon to start applying for jobs. I know some of the people in my program that graduated last semester had jobs lined up before they even graduated, so I'm just wondering how that works. Can I go ahead and apply and just list my anticipated graduation date and make it clear I don;t actually have my license yet? Or is it too soon to apply? Thanks for any advice!

Thank you for responding! Yes, I will use supplies from our practice lab to set up a picture. After someone above mentioned that taking a photo at work could potentially get nurses in trouble, I think the best option would be to just stage a picture. I don't want anyone to get in trouble! Thank you for the idea! :)

Thanks for your response! I'm actually not currently working. I didn't realize it would be incriminating anyone to take a picture of extra supplies people left laying on a table in the break room or had in their Scrubs pocket. I certainly don't want anyone to get in trouble! We have a lot of graphs and charts and such, so we were just looking for something a bit more visual, like pictures, to add to our board. But if it will potentially get anyone in trouble, I can just go in the practice nursing lab at school and lay some supplies out there and take a picture! Thank you again for taking the time to respond And for your valuable input and feedback! It's very appreciated :)

Hello, My group in nursing school is doing a project on Quality Improvement involving all of the medical supplies nurse's accidentally waste by placing them in their pockets, and then forgetting and taking them home at the end of the day. We are making a poster for our presentation, and need some pictures to put on it. If any of you currently work in hospitals or LTC, could you perhaps get some pictures of all of the nursing supplies, such as tape, alcohol swabs, gauze, saline flushes, etc in your scrubs pockets or lying on the table in the break room and post them or email them to me? We've tried google image searches and can't seem to find this kind of picture! I appreciate any help, and any pictures sent, you will remain completely anonymous! Thank you :)

Thank so much for your response!

Hello, I am working on a case study for nursing school (I'm sure you all remember how much fun those case studies are!) and have run across a medication order that confuses me a bit. In our case study, our patient has a diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) due to arteriosclerosis and hypertension. She has an order for Protonix 40 mg/100 ml D5W q d. I know that Protonix is a proton-pump inhibitor often used for patients with GERD. Our patient in this case study has no mention of any history of GERD. I am wondering why a patient with no history of GERD would be ordered to take Protonix. I have tried looking in my med-surg textbook, and in powerpoint presentations we were given to look over for CHF, but can't seem to find an explanation. The only thing I can come up with is perhaps they have her on it prophylactically to prevent any kind of heartburn/upper GI pain that the patient could mistakenly report as chest pain? Do I seem to be on the right track with my thinking, or did I completely miss the mark? Anyone who works with CHF patients and has seen this before that has a good explanation for this type of order would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I'm in my third semester of nursing school, and trying to learn EKG interpretation. I understand measuring the intervals and complexes and idenfying if P QRS and T and present. In lab, it all made so much sense! Now, I'm at home with a practice worksheet where we are supposed to determine the rhythm by looking at strips. I do fine with the Sinus rhythms, but I'm getting majorly tripped up on all of the abnormal rhythms! I've tried looking at study guides we were given and notes I took in lab, but I'm in way over my head! My issue is that none of the practice strips look like the "typical" examples we looked at in lab for the abnormal rhythms! Does anyone have any tips for interpreting which abnormal rhythm I'm looking at? Also, any good tips for determing if ST elevation is present? Any resources you've found that help or any tricks you've learned along the way would be greatly appreciated, because right now I'm overwhelmed and it's making me a little nervous to eventually be out on the floor trying to interpret my patient's heart rhythm! Thank you so much! -Emily

Thanks for your response! This is what I've been trying to do. I try to think about why the imbalance has happened, and what is causing it to help me determine signs and symptoms. I think where I get confused is because the body then tries to compensate through whichever system is not causing the imbalance. For example, with respiratory alkalosis. I know it can be caused by hyperventilation. But then my thought process is that the body would try to hypoventilate to hold onto some CO2 to gain acid and bring the ph back into balance. But I'm not sure if this is actually correct or not. I dont know if i just overthink it, or if I'm getting the different signs and symptoms mixed up. This topic just overwhelms me a bit! Thanks so much for your help! ☺

I'm studying for an acid-base exam, and I'm having a really hard time keeping the signs and symptoms for alkalosis vs acidosis separate from one another! Does anyone have any good tricks or ways they remember which signs and symptoms go with which imbalance?! Thanks so much!

Hello, This is my first semester of med-surge, and I find I'm having a hard time studying the vast amount of information I need to know and making it stick. We always have two or three big topics, and then 5-6 exemplars for each. So for example, one topic we're doing right now is inflammation, and then we also have to learn about specific diseases that fall into that diagnosis, such as ulcerative colitis, crohn's, hepatitis A,B,&C, cholecystitis, etc. I've made myself color coded study guides, and I read through them all several times daily, but I just feel like I'm having a hard time getting the information to stick! I'll read and then be like....what did I just read?! It's so frustrating! Does anyone have any ideas or tips that helped you to study for med-surge in a way that really helped the information stick?! Thanks :)