ICareAlot

I don't watch Fox News, and if I was you I'd stop watching them too. If they have a problem with 'settling' with a NP or CRNA, and are too ignorant to recognize that these practitioners can hold their own then let them wait. If the AMA is unwilling to back the nursing community then why should we back them in their time of need?

I am about to begin practical nursing school this Fall, but I currently work as certified medical assistant and lab tech in a pediatrics office; however, all of my co-workers that work on the floor are almost all RNs, but I still feel like my perspective can be of help here. 1. I'm not 100% sure how I ended up going this route, but it was something like this. I started out studying biology because I wanted to be a doctor, but I was not prepared for college and I was addicted to video games. I flunked out after one semester (in hindsight I'm glad I did because I'd probably still be paying them off had I went the entire 4 years.) The following year, I went to my local community college and talked to an advisor there, and she was the one who recommended nursing to me. I fought it off for a long time though. I had a problem with being a male nurse because of stereotypes. Eventually, I got an associates degree in medical assisting. I have been working as a MA (and more recently as a lab tech) for 1.5 years in pediatrics, now. I was accepted to my community college's practical nursing program this coming Fall. I am very excited about it! 2. Yes, the whole stereotype thing of "if you are a male nurse you must be gay" and other similar ones bothered me a great deal, and still bothers me a little. I find it very hard to say that I'm a medical assistant (I often tell people I'm a lab tech which is a partial truth) when someone ask me what I do for work. However, in my peds practice I haven't been discriminated against to my knowledge outside of a few things. One, I constantly get asked to help with lifting things, help with holds, and to get the dead fish out of the fish tank (eww, I know). These do no bother me though. What does bother me is that I have only been asked to perform catheterization only a few times. I know I'm not technically a nurse, but everyone else on the floor are RNs, and I have been trained to perform this procedure. However, since I have yet to attempt more than 1 on a live person, I don't feel comfortable, so the two or three times that I have been asked to do them I had to get a female coworker to trade assignments with me. 3. No. My medical assisting instructors told me that I would never perform an EKG on a female and that was a lie. They said the same thing about catheter which was also a lie. 4. When I was a CNA a patient told me he did not want me taking care of him because I was a "******" because I cleaned his bottom after a bowel movement. Other than that, I don't feel directly discriminated against. 5. No. I don't feel the need to be cautious, but I work in peds, so the parents are there. I suppose if I was doing a lady partsl exam (which I don't do), I would like another person in the room with me for this, but I don't think it's really necessary. Male OBGYNs do lady partsl exams alone in the rooms all the time. It's not all bad though. Although it took me awhile to learn the job properly, after I did I started to earn the respect of my co-workers. I am now regarded as one of the top workers at my place of employment, and the doctors and NPs love working with me because they know I am a good worker. Also, the male doctor's there like talking about things like sports and bringing some "testosterone" to the office.

They said that Nike Air Force 1's are acceptable. As long as they are all white it doesn't matter.

Hello everyone. I am wondering about your opinions on shoes. I am entering nursing school and need a white pair of shoes (can also be an all leather athletic shoe too, but must be white). In terms of comfort and aesthetics, what is the best combo your opinion?

Thanks for the advice guys. I don't think we have vaseline gauzes. We do keep vaseline, but I don't recall ever seeing any vaseline gauzes. Could I just rub some vaseline on their finger and then poke it?

You get the vaccine to reduce the chance of potentially catching a deadly disease. It's a bit like an insurance policy. You get your insurance policy so that if you wreck your car, you are financially covered. Does it pay for 100% of the bill? No, not always. You get your vaccine so that when you are exposed that hopefully your immune system will remember the vaccine and will kick in and help you out. Does the immune system always get it right? No, but it's better to be safe than sorry. That may be a poor analogy, but it's the best I can think of at the moment. Hopefully it helps.

Did it ever occur to you that there are a population of children who have not received the full dose of the MMR vaccine? During this period you are more likely to contract the virus if exposed. If you have received both doses then you are even more protected. Children do not get this vaccine until one year of age. Allow me to setup a scenario for you. You bring you unvaccinated child who has been infected measles into your local pediatrician's office. The child is sneezing, coughing and his nose is running all over the place. At the same time, you have many children from just a couple of days old all the way to young adults. The most susceptible age group would be from age 1 day to 12 months, followed by 12 months to 4-5 years old (depending on when they do their elementary school well-child check). The most susceptible after that would be people from age 5 to young adult who did not receive their MMR vaccine. You have just potentially exposed all of these people to the virus, and it doesn't stop there! You have the doctors and nurses who are exposed and the environment itself. True, your docs and nurses are more than likely vaccinated, but that doesn't mean the virus can't sit on their scrubs (after being sneezed on.) So now you have potentially exposed an entire days worth of patients. Where I work that around 100 children, but wait it doesn't stop there either!! You then have to think about the people in the waiting room and who they may expose the virus to. They go home and spread the virus to their loved ones who may or may not be vaccinated, and some may even be immunocompromised. This all results in the pediatrician's office temporarily being closed down, and the children who were exposed (even if vaccinated) have to be put on contact precautions (they cannot go to school or daycare.) This causes many patients to not be able to see their pediatricians when sick, the doctors office and employees lose money, and other business lose money as well because now the parent has to stay home and watch their children instead of sending them to daycare or school so they can work. As you can see from my example, this is a matter of public safety. It has nothing to do with taking away parents' rights.

You simply cannot allow a person of normal intellect to make a decision that requires brilliance, and is also detrimental to the health of society. That is why you cannot have a normal court. There have been countless cases in history of companies' products being pulled for being unsafe. Why would vaccines be any different? Are you implying there is some shadow government behind this who are conspiring the downfall of mankind through injecting us with cancer and other diseases??

This is for finger sticks only. I don't have problems with heel sticks, but to answer your question, I do use a heel warmer when doing them.

Hello, I was hoping maybe someone on here could offer some advice. I have recently been assigned the duty of doing blood draws. Most of the time it's a capillary stick. I can pretty much always fill the microtainers with a suction tube coming out of them and infant heel sticks, but the ones that require you to scoop or let the blood drop into it (such as the serum microtainers) have been giving me trouble. I can usually get excellent flow, and I can pretty much always 'milk' enough blood out. The problem is when the drop runs down the finger, and then it gets on my glove, and then it gets all over their hand. This causes me to lose my ability to form a drop. If I stop to clean the area then it may clot by the time I finish. I have moderately large hands, so I find it difficult to keep my knuckles away while squeezing the blood out.

Is that the only school that is located near you, if not, would you consider traveling to another school with more spots? You may also want to consider LPN or ADN schools if you have not already. If you are truly willing to spend the money then look at private BSN school programs.

"-Never tell a child that something is not going to hurt if there is even the smallest degree of unpleasantness. As someone who has done a number of strep tests and had strep test performed on me...it is far from comfortable." I tell them it's uncomfortable, but it will not hurt. That is the truth. "-Never threaten a child with a male or by any other means. This is completely unacceptable and I would have reported this behavior. Making threats does not work with a child and even if it did subdue the child this is inappropriate." This whole thing is actually a trick question. I am actually the male nurse mentioned in this scenario. I am constantly used as a threat to get children to mind. Something I am not entirely comfortable with, but that's just how things are where I work. "-Bribing doesn't work with children usually. If they are scared...they are scared. What you can do is let them know there is a reward at the end...it may or may not help but at least it establishes some trust if there truly is some sort of reward at the end...regardless of how they behaved during the procedure. Don't hold back a reward because they screamed or kicked...this is normal behavior for a child of this age." If they are difficult then I always offer and follow up with a popsicle. Sometimes I let them get an extra sticker. "-as far as the provider getting impatient...tough. Its pediatrics. Its going to take longer regardless of how smoothly it goes." I was actually told by the NP to go in and help the nurse currently in there (who had been in there 15 minutes already). I didn't really want to do it, but I begrudgingly did. At first, the other nurse I work with said "if you don't let me get this swab then I will have "my name" hold you down." Once again I don't like being used like this. "In general do not do anything to a child until the parent is comfortable. Usually explaining why the procedure is necessary helps...if that doesn't work get the physician in the room to speak with them. If there is a child life specialist in the area get them involved. Is getting a strep test or not getting a strep test really critical...probably not. If there is something that is necessary we are all mandated reporters to child services." I left the room when the mom started to act upset. I figured it would be better to just leave as my presence was just making her feel upset. Although I'm not entirely sure why. I suppose it's because I was being used as a threat. Eventually, the nurse practitioner came in the room, looked at the patient's throat, and said yes we have to do the strep test. Finally, the mom caved-in and the patient finally got on her mom's lap (after I was used as a threat of course.) Following that, I held her arms down, the NP got the head, the mom hugged around her body, and another nurse got the swab. Given the state of antibiotics being over prescribed I think it is critical to have enough evidence to support prescribing them. This case was actually very special in terms that I've only encountered 2 or 3 other patients this bad with 1.5 years of experience. I'm not a doctor, but I think they may have had undiagnosed ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), but of course that's just speculation. Thanks for the advice. I'm also trying to figure out how to not be used as a threat. They do it all the time behind my back while it's just them in the patient's room, so it's impossible to truly stop them. I've told them that I dislike holding patient's down. "For painful procedures never have the parent hold the child...this could create distrust between the parent and child as well as between the provider and the parent." Is there any scientific evidence to support this claim? I genuinely want to know because we have the parents help hold all the time when the lab does blood draws.

I'm not sure that I have any answer to this other than there is a general lack of interest, but male OB nurses do exist. I do think that if nursing is going to continue to climb the ladder of professionalism then the field as a whole is going to have to 'chill' on the whole male OB nurse things. If you are a nurse and say that you don't approve on male OB nurses then you are essentially saying "This male who happens to be a nurse is not a professional, and should not be trusted to view or touch the female anatomy in a healthcare setting." Doctors on the other hand, whom have transcended the professional 'ladder' do not have this problem. Male OB/GYN's have been trusted for years with the female anatomy. Does this mean that no doctor's have taken advantage of the situation? Of course not, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that somewhere a female urologist has take advantage of the situation too. Also, you can't rule out a female OB/GYN taking advantage of the situation either, or a female nurse!! This belief stems back to Florence Nightingale's opinion that nursing should only be a woman's profession because males are 'untrustworthy' in this role and not capable of caring, on the contrary, there are tons of evidence that say otherwise.

"We are all being given the same grade in our classes. It seems they're giving a 57 to everyone in the class. Socialism and grading nursing students is a horrible idea." Grades are not just handed out at random. Y'all got a 57 for a reason. I suggest you talk to your instructor and find out why. If someone can pay $300 and get a passing grade then it's also possible for you to get a passing grade. By the way, how exactly are people paying $300 for someone else to do the work for them? You still have to do the testing on your own, right? Are you sure that your school is accredited? "I've shared my homework info with my RN and Doctor colleagues at work and even they're shocked about what hoops I jump through these days for my core classes. I wanted to know how school was for them "way back when". Sure enough, they all had it easy." This is all part of nursing becoming a respectable profession. If you read up on what a professional in healthcare does education wise you will see that they all have a strong background in the sciences. True, it was not always required to have the prerequisites before you are admitted to the nursing program, but that's when nursing was not viewed as a profession (this was around the 1960's though), and was more of a trade.

"Get adequate sleep, include physical activity in your daily routine, and eat a healthy diet. If these strategies don't seem to help, consult your doctor. Sometimes fatigue is a sign of an underlying medical condition, such as hypothyroidism or anemia." "Some great sources are apples and peanut butter, whole grains, nuts, lean meats, fiber, leafy greens, and more. Energy drinks and bars should be used cautiously since many may contain a high amount of sugar or caffeine."