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Can't say I've run into this issue. I like to set goals and limits immediately with patients and 9 times out of 10 they are totally fine. Making a mutual relationship and helping them understand what's up are key. Granted most of them are critically ill and usually can't talk. I don't remember getting the "we aren't a hotel speech" in school. Did anybody have expectations that you wouldn't be a full service bellhop/waiter? P.S. The general public could not give a poo poo about skills or treatments, they are definitely more interested in service quality. If you want to put your job at risk or have a lawsuit lobbed at you go ahead and be a dick to your patient. Nurse Fanny fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Mar 7, 2012 |
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Mar 7, 2012 02:04
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Nurse Fanny posted:Making a mutual relationship and helping them understand what's up are key. Granted most of them are critically ill and usually can't talk.
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Mar 7, 2012 03:59
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Sheep-Goats posted:but what I mean is "Don't bother me with bullshit." It's easier to just hide the call light.
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Mar 7, 2012 04:02
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Donkey Darko posted:I have a wonderful mental image of a nurse having this discussion with a couple of sedated and ventilated ITU patients!! I do all the time. I've had one patient thank me post extubation, although he might have been remembering his trip in Versedland.
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Mar 7, 2012 04:11
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Trip report: Trauma ICU owns. Really loving my time on the unit, and I may request to come back for one of my next rotations. Had a tire iron beating and an unrestrained passenger in a car vs. propane truck with DAI on night one. Both were "not sick" compared to the others on the unit, so it was a good night to get my feet wet. Night two was a 1:1 with a guy who had his beans go kaput from an outlying hospital pushing too much lasix so we had him on CVVHDF (unfortunately it was with NS at 750 ml/hour both pre and post so I had to babysit the prisma the entire friggin night). Partway through night two, the tire iron guy from night one (who had been swapped from propofol to Precedex that morning) self extubates and it becomes a near one-hour anoxic hit as the resident, attending, anesthesiologist can't get him intubated. Guy was a hoss and was still fighting after two rounds of 200 of succs and an initial round of 10 of vec. Finally calms down after a fentanyl bolus from his drip and a push of some versed. They start a bedside cricoidotomy which turns into a trip to the OR for an emergent trach. He had a few quick dips of his sats into the 50s as they were trying to get past his edematous vocal chords, otherwise stayed bagged in the high 80s for most of the event. Post trach gasses came back all in normal range. I was kinda blown away at that. TheFarSide fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Mar 9, 2012 |
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Mar 9, 2012 21:54
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Does anyone have insight on Chamberlain College of Nursing? I know its not the most competitive nursing program out there but I just want to be sure that my fiance will be able to legitimately take the NCLEX to become a RN and get a job when she graduates. She has 1 year left and is currently doing her clinical in the stroke unit at a decent hospital in the Washington, DC area. Any help is greatly appreciated.
EssentiallyZer0 fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Mar 10, 2012 |
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Mar 10, 2012 01:12
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EssentiallyZer0 posted:Does anyone have insight on Chamberlain College of Nursing? I know its not the most competitive nursing program out there but I just want to be sure that my fiance will be able to legitimately take the NCLEX to become a RN and get a job when she graduates. Any help is greatly appreciated. Yes to legitimately taking the NCLEX. It's a decent program from what I've seen, just very expensive. A decent portion of the 24 in my critical care fellowship are from Chamberlain, both from the ADN and BSN programs.
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Mar 10, 2012 01:16
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I was worried initally since Chamberlain College of Nursing is directly affiliated with DeVry University. Not discrediting DeVry, I just want to make sure she'll be approved to take the NCLEX and get a job when she graduates.
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Mar 10, 2012 01:22
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Long shot, but does anybody have any knowledge of Sanford Health up in Fargo, ND? It looks like a nice hospital and they have a new grad residency program with their RN job positions say that job experience is preferred, but not required. If I can't get into a more conveniently located new grad program I'm totally willing to go up to Fargo to get a job, because hey, it's a reasonably sized city that's not in the desert. 
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Mar 10, 2012 02:50
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I got to help out with a stem cell transplant at clinical the other day in a pt with ALL. I had always thought I wanted to do ED/OR after school, but after that experience I'm starting to think BMT may be my calling.
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Mar 10, 2012 18:44
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Hellacopter posted:Long shot, but does anybody have any knowledge of Sanford Health up in Fargo, ND? It looks like a nice hospital and they have a new grad residency program with their RN job positions say that job experience is preferred, but not required. If I can't get into a more conveniently located new grad program I'm totally willing to go up to Fargo to get a job, because hey, it's a reasonably sized city that's not in the desert. I went to nursing school in Grand Forks, ND, about an hour north of Fargo, was there for almost five years. Had lots of friends end up at Sanford. Just because you're a new grad doesn't mean you have to be in a new grad program. It might be beneficial if you feel like you still need some work on your nursing skills, but it's not necessary. You can get a regular job right out of college. Where do you live right now? If you're used to desert weather, Christ Almighty do not move to Fargo. In the winter there is a solid month of -20 to -50 degree weather, and the wind there is awful. Summer exists from June to August, the rest of the year is gray and cold. Fargo also floods every single year. Also, North Dakota is just about the most boring place on earth. Fargo likes to come across as a hip city, but the left wing, hipster, college kid crowd is pretty isolated. Everyone else is redneck, republican, and shops at Wal Mart. If you're not from ND it can be a little bit of a culture shock. Fargo is in the middle of nowhere. If you get bored of Fargo, you have to drive for several hours through beet fields to get anywhere else. Sanford is a fine hospital, but Fargo and North Dakota in general tends to be behind the times for facilities and technology. The people I know who work there like it just fine, people in ND tend to be pretty kind, it's a perfectly okay place to work. You'd just be living in Fargo, and that would suck. If you're looking for a change, why not try some place like Minnesota or Wisconsin? They are more diverse places, there's a lot more hospitals to choose from, and there's more to do for life outside of work. Minneapolis and Milwaukee, for example, are both great cities with several large hospitals. Have you looked at other places in the Midwest?
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Mar 10, 2012 19:24
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I keep forgetting where this thread is. Is there a reason that nurses hang out in BFC, instead of in The Goon Doctor with the EMTs and Pharm students?
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Mar 10, 2012 22:04
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This thread is about jobs and schools. Somebody's working on a nursing one, it should be done soon.
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Mar 11, 2012 01:04
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Holy poo poo, I just found this thread. I'm in my first semester of ADN. I finished up my fundamentals class with an A; only one other classmate of mine pulled an A. We had three people drop (10% of the class) in the first eight weeks. (Our classes are set up in 8-week sessions for whatever reason, hence having a grade halfway through the semester.) From other people's experience, is that a low distribution of grades/drops? Is my class just lazy? And does the drop rate cool off after the initial weeding? 30 students beginning, 27 at the end Of the 27, 2 As, 10 B's and 15 C's (Those who were failing didn't stick around long enough to take the final.) Is that distribution odd?
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Mar 11, 2012 01:45
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faesdeynia posted:30 students beginning, 27 at the end I'd expect a few more As, but it all depends on how your point structure is set up. I know for us, every nursing class was pretty much a midterm and a final, or perhaps three exams instead of just the two. But those were the only points in the class. So if you got a B on test one, it was difficult to get an A in the course, etc. Especially with 93-100% being an A. On the other hand, I know people in other programs who got points for clinicals, points for papers, care plans, smaller quizzes and the like, which allowed them to have more chances to correct a singular non-A score.
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Mar 12, 2012 01:45
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Koivunen posted:North Dakota  I'm from the Bay Area, CA (aka heaven on earth as far as seasons and weather go) but honestly, I want to get gently caress out. CA is broke and completely oversaturated with experienced nurses, let alone new grads. There are hundreds of new grads flooding the market that get churned out every semester from the dozens of nursing schools we have in a 100-mile radius and there aren't jobs here.  One of my friends has been looking for a job for the past year and even with certifications and boosting her marketable skills she's got nothing. Our teachers are at least being straight with us and telling us that we probably have to go out of state for a few years to get that initial experience.I know that I don't want to move to an ultra small town in the middle of nowhere, and yeah, I'm running away from baggage here, but I'm pretty drat adaptable and I think that I could survive out there for at least a few years. A part of me knows that I've focused in on Fargo because it seems easy to get a job and there's a low cost of living, but I don't hate redneck, conservative folks too much (grew up with them ) and I'm down for an adventure.God I sound so lame. 
Hellacopter fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Mar 12, 2012 |
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Mar 12, 2012 05:46
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Hellacopter posted:What you said about Fargo doesn't sound too horrible, except for the winter part which sounds pretty drat bad. Hello fellow Bay Area buddy.  The job market is so awful here I am now genuinely looking into moving to Texas. One of my classmates just did it and says he wished he did it sooner.
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Mar 12, 2012 07:10
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You guys BSN/MSNs? Do you like Sacramento?
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Mar 12, 2012 11:26
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Nurse Fanny posted:You guys BSN/MSNs? Do you like Sacramento? No and yes. Close enough to eek out a commute!
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Mar 12, 2012 23:30
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UC Davis has been hiring like crazy and they're rolling out a new grad residency program, you should look into it.
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Mar 13, 2012 00:05
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Nurse Fanny posted:UC Davis has been hiring like crazy and they're rolling out a new grad residency program, you should look into it. Oh I would love to work there, thanks! Do you know anything about their residency program? It's so frustrating that pretty much EVERY hospital in my area has cancelled theirs in the last two years. 
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Mar 13, 2012 05:13
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Does anyone have helpful advice with regards to nurse recruiting firms. I'm not looking for temporary work. I have a full time job and am approaching my 2 year mark as an RN.
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Mar 13, 2012 06:45
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Baby_Hippo posted:Oh I would love to work there, thanks! Do you know anything about their residency program? It's so frustrating that pretty much EVERY hospital in my area has cancelled theirs in the last two years. Yeah, it's a pilot program with three cohorts, they should be taking apps for round three pretty soon. Davis has been hiring new grads in addition to the residency too. Here's the website: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr/nursing/residency.html PM me if you want some advice.
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Mar 13, 2012 16:37
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I have my first day at the psych facility tomorrow. We'll be at a long-term facility, where the average length of stay is approximately 4 months. We've only had one mental health lecture so far, so I'm feeling a bit uneasy about the whole deal. Since we don't pass meds or do assessments, I'm a bit unsure of what our role is going to be.
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Mar 14, 2012 00:20
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My mental health placement when I was in school was similar. We had the bare minimum of practical education beforehand. The reasoning behind it is, I think, to keep you free of any preconceived notions you might have. If they teach you in a very clinical manner the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, or whatever else, you're more likely to approach the clients with that in mind, and potentially ignore their individual circumstances. They want you to be, to a certain extent, as free from stigma as possible. This has good and bad aspects to it. On one hand, you learn things in a more natural way, as you encounter them, which helps you apply things a bit easier. The problem is when you start, you have very little idea what's going on, which can make you feel a bit self-concious and unsure of yourself. For instance, we didn't go over the state mental health act, so we had very little idea about the aspects of involuntary patients, for example. And we didn't have a very good idea of the language of mental health, so even though we could easily observe various signs and symptoms, we were unable to clearly communicate these, or even link them back to some sort of disease process. Hopefully your placement is more than a few weeks, because if you're going in pretty much blind like that, it will take a good couple weeks to settle in and start being able to critically think about what's going on for the patients and why. At the start, your role will pretty much be just to observe. Ideally you'd have one preceptor with whom you'll be able to discuss the care being delivered, and what your role would be if you weren't a student. Take the early time to absorb as much information as you can, but don't be scared to get stuck-in, as well. You may not necessarily understand the underlying mechanism of what's happening with the patients, but even though they're mental health patients, they will still have many of the other basic needs that you've already been taught to care for. Ensure they're comfortable. Ensure their physical wellbeing is taken care of, because the two (mental and physical wellbeing) are absolutely not exclusive. Ensure they're tending their ADLs (although this will certainly be hindered by many mental health problems). If you haven't had much chance prior, your mental health placement will be the ideal time to build and refine your communication skills. This tends to be a lot of the job of a mental health nurse, anyway, but as a student, particularly in your situation, there's not going to be much else you can do. It'll definitely build your confidence, which will carry over to the rest of your career. Just remember that even though these people have various thought and mood disorders, and may have absolutely no insight into their condition, they're still people, and they deserve to be treated with respect. It might be beneficial to write quick reflection and think about your views on mental health, preconceptions you may have, or what you observe your friends and family may have, and how you feel about being around all these unwell people. Then you can look back at it halfway through and/or at the end of the placement, and you'll be able to see how much you've learned and changed. This is probably good advice for any placement, but I think especially for a mental health placement. TL;DR: Just relax and learn as much as you can. As long as the facility is run by halfway competent people, you should be kept quite safe. You may end up loving or hating it, but you won't be able to deny that it was at the very least an interesting and enlightening experience.
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Mar 14, 2012 11:37
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Pretty sure I just failed the NCLEX, my advice, as obvious as it may seem, would be to test as soon as you are possibly able. No matter what. Has anyone here used the website trick of determining your results?
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Mar 14, 2012 23:34
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loopsheloop posted:Pretty sure I just failed the NCLEX, my advice, as obvious as it may seem, would be to test as soon as you are possibly able. No matter what. Yes. It works.
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Mar 15, 2012 00:33
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loopsheloop posted:Pretty sure I just failed the NCLEX, my advice, as obvious as it may seem, would be to test as soon as you are possibly able. No matter what. Not to say that you absolutely didn't fail it but...everyone thinks they failed it. I passed with flying colors but I left the test absolutely convinced that I failed. Good luck!!!
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Mar 15, 2012 16:48
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Nurse Fanny posted:Yeah, it's a pilot program with three cohorts, they should be taking apps for round three pretty soon. Davis has been hiring new grads in addition to the residency too. Thanks, I appreciate it! Will message you soon! I had an interview yesterday for an internship, I think I did ok (for a one minute panel interview where they weed people out) but I SUCK at verbalizing "how to advocate for a patient" - it's such a broad question and I can give great EXAMPLES but I continue to fail at concisely describing "how would you advocate for a patient." Help or suggestions please?
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Mar 15, 2012 16:54
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Do you have any stories or specific examples?
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Mar 15, 2012 19:47
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So if you walk out feeling like you just bombed the test and wasted years of your life with nothing to show for it, you might have done better than expected 
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Mar 15, 2012 20:20
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loopsheloop posted:So if you walk out feeling like you just bombed the test and wasted years of your life with nothing to show for it, you might have done better than expected
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Mar 16, 2012 01:38
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Nurse Fanny posted:Do you have any stories or specific examples? Luckily I had an example that they all really liked - it was seriously the ONLY question I hadn't reviewed in my head beforehand. They asked, "Describe how you would go about advocating for a patient and give an example of WHEN you advocated for a patient." I gave a rambly answer about gathering facts/information/patient's needs before presenting them to whatever health care team member I need to convey the issues with.
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Mar 16, 2012 02:47
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Baby_Hippo posted:They asked, "Describe how you would go about advocating for a patient and give an example of WHEN you advocated for a patient." This is a super common question. Definitely review what you would say before you go. If you've ever paged a doctor regarding a patient, you're being an advocate. If it's getting them a nicotine patch, or if it's calling a rapid response because they are crumping, that is advocacy. Whenever you've done something for a patient because they were unable, that's advocacy. Nurses are advocates all the time. Try to think of your best example and have that ready for your interview, because it's something that should be brought up regardless of whether or not they directly address it. Hellacopter posted:God I sound so lame. I can't stress enough how horrible the weather is there. It's either so cold that they have advisories not to stay outside for more than ten minutes or risk literally freezing your face off, or so humid and hot you can't breathe. Eastern North Dakota is flat and has no natural trees or bodies of water. There's nothing pretty about the weather. If you want to experience winter and snow, at least go somewhere that's pretty. I also can't stress enough how absolutely boring that place is. You'll be tired of it in two months, and then you're stuck, and there's no other cities to visit for hundreds of miles. You're stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. I mean, if you're really, truly desperate, by all means go to Fargo. Sanford isn't a bad hospital, the people are generally nice, it's just the last place on earth I would ever want to live, and I lived there for almost 5 years. I would strongly advise you to search in other states first before settling there. I've heard Texas and Florida are easy states to find jobs in.
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Mar 16, 2012 06:29
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I am in the midst of nursing school and I am driving myself crazy trying to get the best grades I can in the hopes of someday applying to a NP/DNP program. Does anyone know how academic achievement ranks on their radar? Also, the program I am in is a Masters Entry into the Profession of Nursing. Which, I guess, means that I will have a masters of science in nursing rather than a MSN? Does anyone know how this may effect hirability as a new grad? The program I am in gives us the run around, telling us we will be prepared for more managerial positions, but in reality is this true? I don't particularly want to work in management either, but I really don't know how employers will view my degree.
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Mar 21, 2012 01:56
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Just wondering if anyone knows about visa options for entering Australia? Is it better to get a temporary (4 year?) sponsored visa and try to apply for residence with a bit of Aus-based experience, or should I just try straight for permanent residence after getting a bit of post-uni experience on wards?
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Mar 21, 2012 16:53
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Anybody have any experience ambulating vented patients? We are starting a new program and I'd like to hear from other folks about it.
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Mar 21, 2012 20:22
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Fromage D Enfer posted:I am in the midst of nursing school and I am driving myself crazy trying to get the best grades I can in the hopes of someday applying to a NP/DNP program. Does anyone know how academic achievement ranks on their radar? If you want into a good program get the best grades you can. There are a few schools in my area that won't even look at your application without a 3.8 GPA. And Fanny try in the EMS thread too one of those guys is an RT and there are a few docs running around there.
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Mar 21, 2012 21:47
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Nurse Fanny posted:Anybody have any experience ambulating vented patients? We are starting a new program and I'd like to hear from other folks about it. HA. Enjoy the hell out of that. We get them sat up in chairs occasionally by sliding them over to a stretcher which goes hinges into a recliner with them belted on it. I can't imagine a vented patient being well enough to stand let alone do a walkabout.
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Mar 21, 2012 22:27
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Why would you want to walk a vented patient around (apart from Weekend at Bernie's hijinks)?
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Mar 22, 2012 00:09
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