Noryn

Unless sedation is being used, I have no idea how a dentist or hygienist can adequately clean or do most dental work on a demented patient. Not to mention the risks to the dentist.

No. You will adapt to your specialty and gain even more knowledge in that area of nursing. What you find is you will gradually lose most knowledge if you do not actively use it, what information you retain will most likely become obsolete as new studies are always coming out.

When I interviewed at St. Mary's I was told they did offer tuition reimbursement.

Food "poisoning" is an infectious process. I agree that Zofran should not be used routinely for gastrointestinal illness, most cases are self limiting--vomiting for 8-12 hours then symptoms begin to resolve. If the child truly has not had anything to drink for 24 hours, has continued to vomit and is also running a fever then they probably need medical evaluation for dehydration and also the illness involved.

WV is doing great for the most part. My area continues to grow by leaps and bounds and I think it is mainly due to our coal and natural gas industry. But I also remember the 80s when so many mines closed. We have a great opportunity right now. There is a huge demand for our coal and natural gas. We should be taking the tax surplus and investing in future power options. We need to invest in wind energy and clean coal technology. But I think we will just see this money "wasted." We will see what happens though, not trying to make this political but a segment of the Democratic party hates coal and coal will not last forever. But I believe it can really assist us in transitioning to energy independence (over 10-20 years).

I haven't been there in more than 10 years. I was hired there out of nursing school but the drive was just too far. I only did 2 shifts in college but I loved it. It was very clean and the staff were awesome. I also worked with a doctor that moved there. We arent allowed to post names but he was a great surgeon.

Get the ADN. In 2 years you will be making nice money and stability. Then you can enroll in a RN-BSN or even better a RN-MSN program. Many hospitals will pay for you to continue your education as well so that is a significant savings. A BSN really isnt that different in my opinion, perhaps it will help you obtain management jobs but most instructor and research positions want you to have your Masters. Regardless, you will also need that entry level experience. So kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Get your ADN, start getting experience while getting your BSN.

It shouldnt damage gold or silver. Purell has a faq on their website I think.

I am not sure that those jobs are better in the sense of pay or hours. The basic resp therapist or rad tech started out about 2-3 dollars less an hour at my old hospital. They also have to work night shift and weekends. I have never known a registered nurse to become a resp therapist or rad tech, I am sure it happens but I have a relative who went back to become a RN after being in radiology. There are also other careers such as physical therapy assistant that may be on par. It is important to like what you do, you can work in radiology department as a RN. The strength of a RN degree is the flexibility, opportunities and demand. Once you get about 5 years of hospital experience, depending on where you live, there are a lot of options out there.

It is a bit of a quirky shift but I used to work 2 pm-2 am and loved it. It wasn't too late and I could sleep in.

I was offered a job there a few years ago and a lot of times I kick myself for not taking it. Very nice hospital. I really don't think you can go wrong at either Huntington hospital to be honest. I have heard nothing but good things about either one.

I agree.

I went from a nursing home (1 year) to an intensive care unit (2 years) then to an ER. I always kid that going from ICU to ER was a much bigger challenge than nursing home to ICU. In ICU you are maintaining patients, in the ER you will be stabilizing. Often you will not have IV access or a patent airway. There will be a lot of learning but your experience with critical patients will help you immensely.

I think sometimes you can read too much into comments. There are advantages to being in a relationship. Overall, I have bad memories of my first year or nursing school but my second year was one of the best in my life. The second year I was in a good relationship. I was never lonely, had a good support person who gave me a lot of confidence and had someone to have fun with. The key is to maintain a healthy relationship. The other person has to understand your time commitments (and they can't be mentally unstable). I think we are all rather basic creatures with needs (emotional and physical) that can only be met by another human.

I think it is an outdated tradition to be honest. I graduated 10+ years ago and we did not have a pinning ceremony. I think the caps should be optional for the ones who want to wear them though.