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.

Even if you are not a nurse, is it ethical to allow this behavior to continue?

Are addicts the only ones affected by addiction?

I agree. It was your habit that caused the problem. If anything you put this friend in a very bad position. That being said, there are plenty of success stories. No reason you cannot be one of them.

Girlfriends are good!

There was a study a year or so ago that led researchers to think marijuana does cause psychosis as it doubled the risk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4305783.stm Critics of this study will say that correlation is not causation or that this set of population were already at high risk. Marijuana is difficult to study because of its legal status and many also use other drugs or alcohol. Right now I really don't think there is enough definite evidence to say that marijuana is a sole cause of schizophrenia. Some people who smoke it can have "bad trips" which consist of panic/anxiety attacks. Perhaps even hallucinations. This is a very small percentage and I don't think anyone knows why, some people suggest lacing it with other drugs such as pcp. This is not likely though in all cases. I agree with daytonite, right now it is believed that neurotransmitters are to blame. But we are still in the early stages of understanding mental health issues.

I don't think I explained it well. Demographic data including age is IDENTIFIABLE health information but not considered protected health information.

See but it isnt clear to me either. Here is what I found on the website "6) INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION.--The term 'individually identifiable health information' means any information, including demographic information collected from an individual, that-- "(A) is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse; and "(B) relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual, the provision of health care to an individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual, and-- "(i) identifies the individual; or "(ii) with respect to which there is a reasonable basis to believe that the information can be used to identify the individual." See demographic data is an identifier but in the above statement it says "AND." So I am still unsure age in absence of health information is considered a HIPAA violation.

The more I think about it, the more I do not think it is an actual HIPAA violation. Age as well as address is generally public record. Stating that this patient was a resident could be close to crossing the line but again, I cannot find any specific clause in the HIPAA law that would say this. HIPAA has been taught with fear which has promoted ignorance. HIPAA has been on the books for 5 years and I think the first and only business fined was about 2 months ago. For those saying it is a HIPAA violation, what part of the statute has been broken? I am not really interested in what you have been taught, but can you provide references?

I don't know if age is considered protected health information. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/AdminSimpRegText.pdf "Health information means any information, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium, that: (1) Is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university, or health care clearinghouse; and (2) Relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual; the provision of health care to an individual; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual."

Generally the good jobs are harder to come by. Two years experience likely is not enough for most of them (not all). Also people downplay med-surg nursing, I think it is the most challenging, but many want to see ER or ICU experience. I had worked 5 years in a hospital before getting my first out of hospital job.