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SuzieMcAwesome posted:Have you tried on many brands/styles? I know that the true to size-ness varies widely in the scrubs that I have tried on/ purchased recently. But as for suggestions I would say All Heart I swear by Dickies scrubs at this point. I just want to get them in different colors. I have 3 scrub tops in the same color and 2 scrub pants in the same color and I need some variety  I am allowed to wear patterns but I will be mocked endlessly if I do.
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Aug 27, 2013 02:43
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I really like the ICU by Barco brand and IguanaMed. The latter ones are a thicker material and overall seem to last a bit longer, but I had to size up one size for them though.
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Aug 27, 2013 02:46
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whatshesaid posted:Or, if I should go to work after hopefully graduating in May and passing the NCLEX and then eventually go back. whatshesaid posted:Is it harder to get hired as a psych nurse if you either do or don't go on to get the NP degree straight away? Thoughts? Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 03:28
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Interesting. I know that not many people are interested in psych nursing, but I've never heard anyone really poo poo on it as a profession. I have always wanted to do something in psych, hence the bachelor's in psychology. Combining medical stuff with psych is the ideal thing for me. Yeah, not too keen on the military. I looked at my school's requirements for their program, and it said a year of full-time work is required before beginning the Master's program so I guess that answers my question.
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Aug 27, 2013 13:42
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Cacafuego posted:When I did inpatient psych rotations one of my classmates mentioned she was interested in psych nursing, the nurse manager was surprised and said they usually only get nurses that are tired of working and go to psych (not my words). The psych nurses worked 8 hour shifts instead of the normal 12 and sat there the entire time if they weren't handing out meds. I know that's not how it is everywhere, but I can tell you when I was there there were no therapeutic nursing skills being put to use. If you have any thoughts of going into the military, they'll literally throw money at you if you're going into psych nursing. I'm a psych nurse. Today I didn't have time to eat because I was too busy being responsible for a bipolar patient who is in the worst depression of his life. He is convinced that the whole world is about to fall apart, and it's his fault. I spent the day making sure he doesn't kill himself, and trying to get him to accept treatment which he thinks he doesn't deserve. I've talked to him about ten times about how the worst side effect of ECT is memory loss, which is ironic because he is so depressed he can't remember a drat thing. By the end of the day, he was leaning towards saying yes, because I've almost managed to convince him that he isn't the worst person in the world and that he doesn't have to feel this way. I've seen people who are more interested in sitting on their rear end than dealing with patients everywhere in healthcare. I think it's more a workplace culture thing, than a "psych" thing. And I'm pretty sure I used some therapeutic nursing skills today. whatshesaid posted:Interesting. I know that not many people are interested in psych nursing, but I've never heard anyone really poo poo on it as a profession. I have always wanted to do something in psych, hence the bachelor's in psychology. Combining medical stuff with psych is the ideal thing for me. Yeah, not too keen on the military. I looked at my school's requirements for their program, and it said a year of full-time work is required before beginning the Master's program so I guess that answers my question. If you are looking to combine medical and psych, I'd recommend either a psych ER or an acute ward. They'll be weighted toward psych, but the patients will also often have somatic illnesses.
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Aug 27, 2013 18:21
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whatshesaid posted:Interesting. I know that not many people are interested in psych nursing, but I've never heard anyone really poo poo on it as a profession. I have always wanted to do something in psych, hence the bachelor's in psychology. Combining medical stuff with psych is the ideal thing for me. Yeah, not too keen on the military. I looked at my school's requirements for their program, and it said a year of full-time work is required before beginning the Master's program so I guess that answers my question. From what I've heard from classmates/working RNs in Canada, it's best to have a few years at least of actual floor experience as an RN before diving into Master's NP (plus, having positive cashflow would probably be nice!). I know a few of Ontario's reputable universities don't accept NP students direct from BScN.
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Aug 27, 2013 18:48
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nordavind posted:I'm a psych nurse. Today I didn't have time to eat because I was too busy being responsible for a bipolar patient who is in the worst depression of his life. He is convinced that the whole world is about to fall apart, and it's his fault. I spent the day making sure he doesn't kill himself, and trying to get him to accept treatment which he thinks he doesn't deserve. I've talked to him about ten times about how the worst side effect of ECT is memory loss, which is ironic because he is so depressed he can't remember a drat thing. By the end of the day, he was leaning towards saying yes, because I've almost managed to convince him that he isn't the worst person in the world and that he doesn't have to feel this way. It makes me happy to see this. I worked at a county psych emergency/hospital and the nurses and "techs" there were atrocious. They sat down all day either taking hour smoke breaks, pretending to chart while bitching about the patients, rolling their eyes at their requests or disregarding them completely. I understand that the mentally ill are really hard to deal with sometimes but there is no excuse for the treatment they had to endure. There was one older man who had schizophrenia and when he was hallucinating he was, admittedly, terrible. When he wasn't, he was quiet but sweet whenever someone actually took the time to engage with him. However, the staff at our hospital was youngish and so instead of being therapeutic, he was relentlessly mocked and made fun of to his face. Another patient with delusions would be asked about her "special friends" and laughed at when she screamed at and pounded on her walls. I wish I wasn't so young and stupid when I worked there. I wasn't involved in the ill treatment of patients but I didn't do anything to stop it or try to report it either. I hope that my talking to them like human beings helped them. I don't plan on doing psych nursing when I finally graduate but I appreciate anyone who does and actually cares about their patients. TL;DR: I worked at a really lovely psych hospital in my late teens and as a result I really appreciate psych nurses who care about their patients.
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Aug 27, 2013 19:21
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nordavind posted:I'm a psych nurse. Today I didn't have time to eat because I was too busy being responsible for a bipolar patient who is in the worst depression of his life. He is convinced that the whole world is about to fall apart, and it's his fault. I spent the day making sure he doesn't kill himself, and trying to get him to accept treatment which he thinks he doesn't deserve. I've talked to him about ten times about how the worst side effect of ECT is memory loss, which is ironic because he is so depressed he can't remember a drat thing. By the end of the day, he was leaning towards saying yes, because I've almost managed to convince him that he isn't the worst person in the world and that he doesn't have to feel this way. Thank you for sharing, really. Psych nursing isn't running back and forth because one patient is choking on his own death fluid and needs suctioned and another is filling the bed with c. diff diarrhea, but it's still nursing. There's no doubt that it's what I want to do; as I mentioned, that's why I went into nursing in the first place. Sounds like you are great at what you do, so thanks. 
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Aug 28, 2013 00:45
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nordavind posted:I'm a psych nurse. Today I didn't have time to eat because I was too busy being responsible for a bipolar patient who is in the worst depression of his life. He is convinced that the whole world is about to fall apart, and it's his fault. I spent the day making sure he doesn't kill himself, and trying to get him to accept treatment which he thinks he doesn't deserve. I've talked to him about ten times about how the worst side effect of ECT is memory loss, which is ironic because he is so depressed he can't remember a drat thing. By the end of the day, he was leaning towards saying yes, because I've almost managed to convince him that he isn't the worst person in the world and that he doesn't have to feel this way. I'm just telling you what I heard and saw at the inpatient psych units I was rotated through, obviously there are hard working psych nurses out there. I wouldn't belittle psych nursing because I couldn't do it. It is too mentally and physically exhausting. It sounds like you enjoy your work and I'm glad for your patient's sake that you do. apathetic JAP posted:They sat down all day either taking hour smoke breaks, pretending to chart while bitching about the patients, rolling their eyes at their requests or disregarding them completely. I understand that the mentally ill are really hard to deal with sometimes but there is no excuse for the treatment they had to endure. This is more representative of the type of behavior of nurses in the psych units I observed.
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Aug 28, 2013 04:13
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That's really sad and disheartening. That is definitely not professional or caring behavior on their part, and it sounds like they all need to find a new genre of nursing. I've heard of psych nurses burning out because they can't handle the emotional toll, which means it can be really taxing and isn't for everyone. I know I can handle it, and I'm excited to make a difference.
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Aug 28, 2013 11:08
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You have to be a special kind of person to work with psych patients.
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Aug 29, 2013 17:12
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Oxford Comma posted:You have to be a special kind of person to work with psych patients. I'm pretty sure anyone who works in psych with adolescents is a saint. I've met many people who exclusively work with adolescents and I have no clue how they do it.
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Aug 30, 2013 02:09
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A bunch of my coworkers got all broke up about this dude who died from an ATV accident and wasn't wearing a helmet, and later start talking unending poo poo about an accidental overdose patient. No consistency.
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Aug 30, 2013 09:01
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So this is my 3rd week on a LTAC unit. I hate it. The 6 months that I must must put in before transferring out cannot come fast enough.
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Sep 3, 2013 03:02
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:So this is my 3rd week on a LTAC unit. I hate it. The 6 months that I must must put in before transferring out cannot come fast enough. What about it don't you like? Is that long term acute care?
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Sep 4, 2013 00:51
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I had my first real  moment today. I'm 3rd semester BSN, and we have OB-peds. I never want children, don't give two shits about babies, so it wasn't the baby part that got me. I watched two c-sections this morning. The 2nd patient, I had spent some time chatting with her and her lovely family before she went to the OR. They were perfect. So nice and inviting, and the girl was just as sweet as she could be. Answered any questions I had for my stupid paperwork, etc. After her delivery, while they were sewing her up, I went up to her side of the blue drape. She's a very small girl with no body fat, and she couldn't stop shivering. She claimed it was because she was cold, but I think all the emotions were contributing to her shakes. So I held her hand for a minute, and she stopped shaking. Then at the end of my day, I walked past the patient's parents who were beaming while they looked in on the nursery. I stopped to congratulate them, and the mom hugged me and thanked me for being there with her daughter. I've never felt like such a girl in my life, GAH. I'm gonna love psych nursing. It's that connection with people that just makes my day. I know this is nothing to you veteran nurses, but I'm still a student, and this was one of my favorite days in school so far, despite the babies!
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Sep 5, 2013 21:59
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whatshesaid posted:I had my first real Those are my favorite nights at work also. When a family member thanks me for making the patient smile. Or helping a family when a patient passes away. Or just making a patient smile that is scared. It's amazing to me to make something even a little better for someone who is suffering. Hang on to those moments, because they are not the majority. The majority for me are "It's been 3 hours and 50 minutes since my last shot, can you get my dilaudid ready while I go out to smoke? I have a headache at a 10. And I'm feeling a little nauseous so get the phenergan ready too. Oh, and a Coke and a sandwich." I hate that we still have a smoking area. And I hate drug seekers. And I hate the doctors that perpetuate that.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:30
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LoveMeDead posted:Hang on to those moments, because they are not the majority. The majority for me are "It's been 3 hours and 50 minutes since my last shot, can you get my dilaudid ready while I go out to smoke? I have a headache at a 10. And I'm feeling a little nauseous so get the phenergan ready too. Oh, and a Coke and a sandwich." I hate that we still have a smoking area. And I hate drug seekers. And I hate the doctors that perpetuate that. No poo poo, that drives me up the wall. If they aren't drug seekers when they get to us, they drat sure will be when they leave. Dilaudid 2mg IV Q2 hours seems like a standing order on my floor, no matter what they are coming in with. Receiving dilaudid around the clock for days/weeks on end, and you are going to be in some rough shape when they send you home on lortab 5.
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Sep 6, 2013 01:12
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LoveMeDead posted:The majority for me are "It's been 3 hours and 50 minutes since my last shot, can you get my dilaudid ready while I go out to smoke? Hughmoris posted:No poo poo, that drives me up the wall. If they aren't drug seekers when they get to us, they drat sure will be when they leave. Dilaudid 2mg IV Q2 hours seems like a standing order on my floor, no matter what they are coming in with. Receiving dilaudid around the clock for days/weeks on end, and you are going to be in some rough shape when they send you home on lortab 5. Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 01:28
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Hughmoris posted:No poo poo, that drives me up the wall. If they aren't drug seekers when they get to us, they drat sure will be when they leave. Dilaudid 2mg IV Q2 hours seems like a standing order on my floor, no matter what they are coming in with. Receiving dilaudid around the clock for days/weeks on end, and you are going to be in some rough shape when they send you home on lortab 5. Our ER doctors piss me off sometimes. They give Dilaudid 2mg IV in the ER and tell the patient they can get more pain medicine when they get to the floor. Then they order Lortab 10 q6h on the floor. Or the standard order of Morphine 3mg IV q1h prn pain. Seriously. One doctor will discontinue all narcotics and benzos until the PCP reviews the chart. This leads to patients who are used to Valium 10mg TID having withdrawls on the floor. We usually just call their PCP when they get to the floor.
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Sep 6, 2013 01:36
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On a positive note, after serving my first year in hell (med/surg) I've been offered an ICU position at our level II trauma hospital. I'll have about 4 weeks until I make the swap. For you ICU nurses out there, are there any critical care books you recommend I pick up and start flipping through? I purchased Rapid Interpretation of EKG's since I haven't really had to interpret strips since school.
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Sep 6, 2013 03:53
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The most important rhythms to know are the ones that will kill you. The rest is just measuring and sorting.
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Sep 6, 2013 05:43
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Really interesting flicking through this thread, the training in the UK appears to be different to the US Nursing schools. Our training is regulated by the Nursing & Midwifery Council who are the regulatory body for all registered nurses in the UK, as a result they lay down the essentials that nurses should be taught, which the universities have to teach. Because of this the graduate nurse has always been 'less skilled' than the nurses who get taught on the job. Only recently has my university decided to teach student nurses clinical assessment skills , such as interpreting ECG's, inspection, auscultation, palpation and percussion. And bits like that, although universities aren't obliged to teach it, which arguably is an essential and useful skill to know, as a result its a skill that as a student nurse I'm having to teach to registered nurses who have no clue what it's about. There has also been a huge controversy in the country about how some nurses aren't caring and don't have the compassion required to work as a nurse, which has become a main part of our training which really infuriates me, being told that as a profession you don't care about the people you're looking after, which is complete BS, nursing isn't a profession you would get into just for the money, especially here. With all those negatives I will say that the variety of placements you get is really useful. I'm about to enter my 3rd and final year of university and so far I've had General Med (Elderly & Stroke care + C-Dif cohort ward), Surgical (Urology), ICU and Community Rapid Responce. All of them have allowed me to look at the variety of options I have to work in when I graduate - I'm leaning towards ICU or Emergency Department. I look forward to reading further posts in this thread!
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Sep 7, 2013 14:24
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Sometimes all the stuff I'm going to have to learn just feels so overwhelming. Just gotta keep telling myself I can do this, and keep trucking! Breezing through pre-reqs right now. Starting nursing program next fall!
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Sep 7, 2013 19:44
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Finagle posted:Sometimes all the stuff I'm going to have to learn just feels so overwhelming. It's all good. Most new grads still feel like they've just scraped the tip of the iceberg of everything they need to know. No one will expect you to be an amazing nurse until you've been employed for at least a year or two.
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Sep 7, 2013 21:13
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So I commented a while ago about disliking my long term acute care job and I never did respond to the question of why I disliked it. I think a lot of it has to do with the long term-ness of it. I also do not really have a preceptor. Some days I will come in and have a senior nurse with me and other days I am just assigned patients (or 1 pt if they are critical) and I am supposed to ask if I have questions. That is all well and good, but some of the nurses look at me like "what the gently caress is she doing?" I am comfortable with the patient care portion and the charting but it is the random follow up stuff (noting orders, chart checks ect) that I am forgetting to do. It would be nice to know there is someone double checking behind me to make sure I am not forgetting anything. I have had my licence all of 2 months and I have only been on this unit for 1 month. After almost every shift, I wake up in the middle of the night realizing that there was something that I forgot to do. Then I can't go back to sleep because I am so worried. I leave work so stressed out every night. I have never had so many headaches in my life.
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Sep 7, 2013 21:31
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Our assistant director of nursing was fired yesterday. The official word is that they eliminated her position, but it seems shady that she would show up to have the code on her door changed and escorted out after collecting her things. So now the director of the ER is over the CCU also. I have to work tonight and I have no idea what I'm walking into. The ER director is apparently a very nice woman, I just don't know her. And I knew how to get what I wanted from the previous director. I hate drama, I hate work drama most because I can't avoid it.
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Sep 7, 2013 22:08
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This is my first semester in the ADN program. What I've learned so far is that every spare moment is spent studying. I'm pretty smart at book learning, but I'm afraid my people skills aren't good enough.
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Sep 8, 2013 14:33
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crikster posted:This is my first semester in the ADN program. What I've learned so far is that every spare moment is spent studying. I'm pretty smart at book learning, but I'm afraid my people skills aren't good enough. I know she's banned (for a GREAT reason), but regarding that post about 'quitting' coffee? Yeah good luck with the rest of your degree.
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Sep 10, 2013 01:24
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Atma McCuddles posted:I know she's banned (for a GREAT reason), but regarding that post about 'quitting' coffee? Yeah good luck with the rest of your Fixed that for you.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:03
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So what exactly is the hardest part of nursing school? I'm 3rd semester BSN and am pretty disappointed with pace.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:44
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Just want to chime in and say that studying every waking moment of your life during nursing school is a great way to burn yourself out quickly. Taking a day off every week to do something fun is more beneficial than spending that time cramming extra things into your head unless you have an exam coming up, then put off the break until afterwards. But really, make time to relax and exercise during school or else you will probably go insane.
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Sep 10, 2013 04:46
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I was hoping someone had some insight for me. I'm currently taking my prerequisites to apply for an ADN program. My eventual goal is to finish a BSN, but because of financial reasons I'd like to be able to start working full-time as soon as possible. I'm hearing that the job prospects for ADN are extremely bleak, but just what exactly should I expect? I'm not naive enough to think I'm going to land an ideal position with just an ADN, but I'd like to know I have a chance of at least finding something.
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Sep 10, 2013 17:28
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babyturnsblue posted:
If you're willing to go absolutely anywhere, you may stand a chance. If you want to work right after graduation in or near a major city, you may not have any luck. Although with the ACA next year, things may change. Essentially, its doable. Consider working as a tech/CNA anywhere to gain some experience and a foot in the door.
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Sep 10, 2013 17:50
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babyturnsblue posted:I was hoping someone had some insight for me. I'm currently taking my prerequisites to apply for an ADN program. My eventual goal is to finish a BSN, but because of financial reasons I'd like to be able to start working full-time as soon as possible. I'm hearing that the job prospects for ADN are extremely bleak, but just what exactly should I expect? The 'portability' of an ADN is way lower vs. a BScN, at least in the States. If you want to work in a big city, it's going to be very tough without a BScN because magnet hospitals or something. Long-term care and nursing homes could hire basically anything, though.
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Sep 10, 2013 17:55
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Thanks, both of you. I live in the north suburbs of Chicago, so maybe I have a chance outside of the city. I'd be fine with a nursing home for awhile, but obviously it's not ideal.
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Sep 10, 2013 19:18
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babyturnsblue posted:I was hoping someone had some insight for me. I'm currently taking my prerequisites to apply for an ADN program. My eventual goal is to finish a BSN, but because of financial reasons I'd like to be able to start working full-time as soon as possible. I'm hearing that the job prospects for ADN are extremely bleak, but just what exactly should I expect? I work in a rural hospital in TN and there is no distinction between ADN and BSN nurses. I'm honestly not even sure which RN's have which degree unless we have talked about college. There is also no difference in pay, which bugs me sometimes, but again it's a small, rural hospital. The only problem comes if someone wants to move into administration, although our director of OB and now Med-surg just got her BSN in May so...
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Sep 10, 2013 20:20
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Anyone here with a Masters in nursing education? I posted earlier about wanting to be a clinical instructor in addition to my current job in the ICU, and after talking to a coworker who is an instructor, I've found that all three nursing schools in the area require you to have or be working on your masters in order to become a clinical instructor. I'm currently weighing my options. On one hand, do I really want to take on student loans and three years of school with little to no pay increase just so I can teach clinicals? On the other hand, even though I love my job now, will I still love it in 25 years, and what happens if I get injured? It might be nice to have something to fall back on. My other dilemma is if I do go ahead with the program (I'm thinking this is something I want to commit to), when do I do it? I am 25 years old, childless, with a pretty stable life at the moment. Do I hurry up and get this out of the way and balance school and work, or do I enjoy my youth, take some nice vacations, raise my kids debt-free, and pursue this later in life? If you've gone back to school to get a degree, what made you decide to do it? How did you decide when to do it? How has it impacted your life?
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Sep 12, 2013 02:35
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Koivunen posted:I'm currently weighing my options. On one hand, do I really want to take on student loans and three years of school with little to no pay increase just so I can teach clinicals? On the other hand, even though I love my job now, will I still love it in 25 years, and what happens if I get injured? It might be nice to have something to fall back on. Doesn't your employer pay tuition reimbursement? As for your other dilemma, you could just skip the whole kids thing which would allow you to do what you want, when you want!
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Sep 12, 2013 03:30
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Anyone able to recommend some android apps for ICU nurses? Heading to the unit in a week after a year on med-surg.
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Oct 5, 2013 17:57
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