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I may as well hamfist some of my experiences in this topic. I'm currently filing off my third year of a BScN here in Canada. I don't know if this interests any of you, but this particular story happened in my second year of the program. I wrote it up pretty much after it happened so if it seems sloppy that's why. ** Short version: I held a heart and I liked it. The procedure I saw was a CABG x3 (triple bypass) with ESVH (endoscopic vein harvesting). They cut out veins from your leg via a camera and graft them to your heart to circumvent blockages. Initially I just watched the endoscopic part because it was easier to stay out of the way. A surgeon has a big monitor that shows what the camera sees and does his job while looking at that. To the untrained eye, it basically looked like he was just mashing about in there, clamping random bits of the body while pushing aside layers of fat and whatever else we keep in our legs. The camera quality was quite high (obviously) and the doctor did a good job of keeping it clean when he saw any haemorrhages due to his work. Oh, and there is something creepy about seeing light under a person’s skin (for the camera). The most unsettling part was when he pulled the vein out with his fingers from the most proximal incision. It was just a weird sight. Following that he sewed up any remaining lacerations to the vein, so it would work for the procedure. Bottom line – endoscope work is amazingly advanced, but it looks like you just blast through layers of whatever. Heart part: Let me start by saying bone saws are awesome. They also had some sort of cauterizing iron that arced a spark to stop bleeding and instantly scar tissue to keep it from bleeding. Oh, and those vice clamps they use to keep the chest cavity open? Straight out of Saw. This part of the procedure was immensely complex, and was difficult to see at some points because it was three surgeons working on a hole a bit larger than a deck of cards. They had to arrest the heart and run it through the machine, which they helped slow down quite literally with ice slush. The bypass is quite brilliant, it essentially is placing an artery into a new passage and then closing it shut like a drawstring bag. Suction was also a major part as the pericardial cavity often had started to fill thanks to the proximity and nature of the procedure. Oh and seeing arterial blood is weird, it’s like... Candy red. Defining moment: When I scrubbed in and poked around inside that guy. After the grafts were in place and VS were stable, I got the experience of my life. Holy poo poo, there is nothing like holding a man’s beating heart in your hand. The surgeon also placed my hand on the aorta – if only it were always that easy to feel a pulse. Thoughts of Mortal Kombat ran through my mind to close my hand around his heart and scream ‘fatality’ but of course that was in jest. In closing, if you can ever see a surgery, go on and do it. ** If anyone wants to hear some other stories I could type a few up. Not sure how much has been talked about in this topic about Canadians but we're in at least one placement every year (at least my university). We also joke about the RNs vs RPNs as they're called but we're all a good lot. Uhm, as I said I'm only in my 3rd year but I can answer a couple questions maybe. DeadMansSuspenders fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Feb 3, 2012 |
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Feb 3, 2012 22:37
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Guys therapeutic touch is a major component of the nurse-client relationship.  Mental Health Story: I spent my mental health rotation at a mental health clinic (read: asylum). I was on forensics and my entire wing was full of criminals who had been found not competent of their crimes due to not being of sound mind. The building was also a former military barracks and is on its way to being retired because it is nearly dilapidated. Entire wings were shut down because of disuse, and were horrifying to walk through. I had only seen the trailer to Shutter Island at the time and was fairly confident I had walked on the set they used. Also there were several kilometres of tunnels beneath the place. Our first day there, we arrived in the lobby at 0500. It was raining and the power went out for a few minutes. Our instructor just sighed and said "Well, now all the cells are unlocked. Watch your back everyone." The girls did not appreciate that comment. We found that very few of the patients were violent but it was still a jerk move. Another day I wanted to check out my friends floor (Admissions and assessment - I was on treatment) to see what kind of differences there were. Each floor is essentially a hallway with a common area about half way and at the end. On his floor, 3/4 of the hall was isolation cells (barred, single rooms). Probably the second room we saw a man sitting on his bed, looking at the floor. We made the lap to the end of the hall and turned around. We swapped stories and saw that the man was standing up. He had a pair of underwear around his neck and had begun to turn blue. It was quite clear it was a suicide attempt in the making. As someone not on the floor, I didn't have keys, nor did the other students. So we sounded the alarm and within 3 seconds 5 nurses had that door open and were in the room. I stayed on the floor just to see the process for a short while. Post-attempt is definitely more sad than I had imagined. So I had my first experience with an attempted patient suicide when I was 19. Only in nursing haha. e: There were many, many stories from that place.
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Feb 28, 2012 15:15
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LorneReams posted:My wife was just complaining about some of her course materials referencing "energy" and healing touch. WTF? I asked if she was training to be a nurse, or a D&D cleric. Thinking back, I've learned a lot of BS in my years of study so far. In our first two years we had a course called Self & Others, in which, you learn more about the relationship you have with yourself... and others. Except it's somehow much, much worse than the blurb on the course calendar makes it sound. The first semester we had to "explore our feelings and biases" around several topics (principally spirituality iirc). Our first assignment was to create a Mandala. I am not inclined to art in any way and did very poorly. This was also the class in which we spent around 3 classes learning how to talk to clients in an interview (SOLER model, anyone?). I remember working an overnight shift at McDonald's one summer and two attractive, and most likely drunk, recent nursing grads came in to eat. I told them I was in nursing, which they didn't believe. I exclaimed "I'll prove it: S&O is a worthless course." They burst out laughing and wished me luck with the program and gave me like a dollar tip or something.
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Mar 1, 2012 15:35
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Next week we're to rank our preference for our final year's integrated practicum based on sites / units within the area. Annoyingly, we have to rank all of them, from 1 to ~65. I'm sure after 20 choices it shouldn't matter but still. If I end up having to spend 12 weeks full time in long term care I'm pretty sure I will die.
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Mar 23, 2012 12:19
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Well, it's closing in at the time that I have to choose where my final year's clinical placement will be. We do 6 weeks in lab, 6 in an agency (24 hrs each week) and then for our final semester we are in placement full time for 12 weeks. I'm excited for that, but also not because I will have to quit my part time jobs for school. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I have to rank every possible location in order of preference. Does anyone know of any interesting units (that I might not consider) to work on that I could use to round out my top 20 choices? I'm most likely putting acute in my top picks, so keep that in mind. Long term care will be at the bottom of my list.
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Apr 2, 2012 17:45
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^My 2nd year rotation was on a cardiac floor, and while I did enjoy it, I definitely appreciate where you are coming from. There's only so many heart drugs out there. So it turns out this ranking was just for the 6 weeks of agency placement in first semester. Our administration seems to pride itself on poorly-understood information. As such, this rotation we only got to rank six different locations. And... Well, they really weren't what I had hoped.1: Surgery 2: OB/perinatal 3: Pediatrics 4: Gynecology 5: Longterm care (please no) 6: Mental health (this location is a 3.5 hour drive)
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Apr 5, 2012 21:07
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In other news, one more year and I'll be an RN  I've got a couple of friends who are in the compressed 4th year, which apparently is even tougher than it sounds. They have a practical skills test weekly (IV's, dealing with a patient dying...) weekly. However, they don't get time to practice the skills because the labs are all booked up with people being tested! And they are also recorded on video so you get to see how much you screw up.
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May 24, 2012 19:37
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If it's anything like my program, get used to doing that crap every year! First Aid, BLS, TB screen... All through an external agency for further headache, which of course charge for a meeting. e: But of course I forgot the obvious: Congratulations!
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May 28, 2012 23:24
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Apparently to be registered with the college of nurses for my province they are introducing a second exam in addition to the RN licensing one.  All about laws and regulations for the province it seems.
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Aug 10, 2012 19:57
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Ontario (assuming my skimming of this page was correct). While I'm not worried about it or anything it would have be nice not to have another thing to pay for at this point. This program's been a money pit the past few years.
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Aug 11, 2012 14:03
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JAF07 posted:Then out of curiosity I looked into how much it'd cost me to get licensed in Ontario and I stopped whining. I appreciate the sentiment.  Mini-rant: They just start emptying your wallet from the first year of the program here. Yearly police check ($60), TB test ($10), HCP First aid ($40) which for those you have to get them cleared every year by an external organization ($80, plus $40 if you mess up and need a second appt). Of course, then there is tuition, text books and supplies - Then to top it off with two exams just doesn't seem that nice. Having said that it I will be entering my final year in just a few weeks and I will be quite relieved to not go through most of that nonsense again. short version: Nursing is a great profession but getting there may break the bank.
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Aug 11, 2012 18:47
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dissin department posted:Next semester I start my first practicums- One focused on mental health and one more general, 5 hours a day 3 days a week. Any tips for someone going into this? Mental health is where I got my most interesting stories. I was on forensics - treatment for our region. All the patients were there because they were found not guilty of a crime for reasons of mental incapacity / insanity / etc. Having said that most of the charges were for things like breaking and entering or trespassing. Our first day there our instructor said "You could sit down with every patient, every shift and conduct a MMSE and thorough health assessment interview. Or you can be smart about it, and just integrate it with activities, and you'll receive the same mark." I played billiards, each shift, with a patient and learned much more about the human experience of a mental illness than any textbook. Also my first patient at that unit had attempted to murder his family. More on that later, maybe.
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Sep 27, 2012 14:32
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Well, after ranking our top ten choices for our integrated practicum over a stressful two days we have the results! I'll be spending the last 12 weeks of my time as a student nurse in Orthopedics! (Which was my #3 choice ) Here's hoping that my choice was a wise one!
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Oct 12, 2012 21:06
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LTC was the hardest for me because I was on a dementia ward. Many verbally or physically abusive patients. One of my parents works in an LTC setting so I've known for a long time that it isn't something I want to pursue. The only upside is that it is long-term, so you get to see the same people again and again. Sometimes they'll remember you, sometimes not. That's too bad that you only get a limited time first year, back when I did it we had 24 8 hour shifts in LTC.
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Nov 7, 2012 14:09
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boneration posted:Last course I took, they told us that if we weren't breaking ribs we were almost certainly doing it wrong. Yeah, that's pretty much what they teach now.
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Nov 21, 2012 03:17
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Just wanted to share that I survived my first day on orthopedics for consolidation! Only 420 clinical hours to go. I don't know how, but it happened that my first day was the slowest one ever. 2 of our 3 pts were discharged so we only had one person to take care of for a couple hours. It was a (boring) walk in the park!
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Jan 15, 2013 02:14
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In the home stretch, got a month to go left in my clinical rotation. Got my application form for my licensing exam. Hope this is the only time I have to pay $600 to write a test.
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Mar 9, 2013 02:03
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:Graduation is so close i can taste it!!!! I applied for my license today, took my jurisprudence exam, did my background check and pick up my cap & Gown, tassel and honor cords!!!! Yay for being in the home stretch!  I have 4 clinical shifts left and then I'm off until the licensing exam in June.
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Mar 23, 2013 17:59
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Well, yesterday I officially got my BScN degree and couldn't be happier. I managed to get a casual position at the unit I did my consolidation on as well. It's going to be a good summer!
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Jun 20, 2013 21:10
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Koivunen posted:If you could find a place that offers float positions to new grads, apply for that for sure. Seconding this, but not from personal experience. I have several friends who ended up on our NRT (float between units day to day) and they love it. Especially as our Emerg has the most sick calls and under-staffing so they end up there most often! However, you also run the risk of ending up on a unit that you aren't so fond of - at my hospital it's medicine (for good reason). As for myself, I was hired to the unit of my final consolidation (Ortho) and have been happy here since.
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Nov 24, 2013 22:20
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Good luck Dirp! From what you've posted it sounds like you have nothing to worry about. I remember my interview going poorly and I got the job. Unfortunate that you have to wait around though. Anyway, I'm a Canadian RN and I'm looking to get licensed in the US. I don't really know where to start, anyone in the thread have experience with this?
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Jan 9, 2014 18:44
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Well, after a year and a half or so working on an orthopedic unit after graduating, some things have sort of come into perspective. Maybe this will be nice to some of you still in school. I no longer "fear" (worry) inserting Foley's into females. Turns out once you do a dozen you're (pretty much) fine! Blood draws are something they should teach in school because I find it fun every time! That person a few pages back posting about calculating grains in dosage totally mystifies me. Never even heard of that! My unit is great for helping each other, so stress is never too nuts! If I'm ever concerned about a procedure - I can just look it up through hospital resources! As a HUMAN MALE I am asked to help with patient transfers all the time! And so are the other nurses! I wish I could have a c. diff patient that wasn't confused or immobile! The kids you hate in nursing school you don't have to pretend to like in the real world! Moral of the story: Nursing school can be pretty frustrating/difficult/soul-draining/etc, but just target your weaknesses and always improve, you'll get through! Also this is the first I've seen of those medication vests and they are pretty rad. Leave me alone - I need to total a fluid balance sheet! As a Canadian RN, I'm hoping to take my NCLEX this fall through the Michigan board. I've sent off my application info, so now it's just wait and see if I did it correctly. DeadMansSuspenders fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Sep 21, 2014 |
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Sep 21, 2014 19:43
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Oh, haha, my mistake. I live and work in Canada, and am licensed through the CNO, I'll edit that in now to avoid more confusion. I'm just going for the NCLEX for more options in the future. I wasn't too worried about being comfortable competency-wise going into my job. That's because I was hired on the same unit as I did my final consolidation, so I had already been on the unit full-time (~430 hours). After hire, my hospital unit has a 12 shift mentoring/buddy program to make sure you know your stuff and have someone to help and answer questions as you may have them. As for drawing a blank, I think you'll surprise yourself. I know that I did. You find yourself in a situation, and just think "hey, I learned this". It may not go as smoothly or as textbook as you learned, but you've got more knowledge and skill than you realize at this point. It still took a few months to feel fully confident with most of the clients that I care for. There's still the occasional moment that I'll flounder, seemingly lost. I usually can just take a moment (if appropriate), think it through and talk through my plan with someone else to verify. I knew I was on the right track when I had people asking me to hear out their plan if they were in a sticky situation. DeadMansSuspenders fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Sep 21, 2014 |
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Sep 21, 2014 21:21
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Finally got all my registrations paperwork ($$$) done through Michigan and got the ATT. Just have to review a couple more things and then I'll have my date to write the NCLEX. Peach - What kind of stuff do you do? I was looking at public health when I was looking for a job but as a new grad I wanted the first thing available.
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Nov 25, 2014 17:50
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Peach posted:EVERYTHING. From the cradle to the grave. Today I dealt with vaccinations, phone triage (usually "please call an ambulance/please come and see a Dr") routine assessments of DM/COPD/CHF, mental health referrals and a bunch of wounds. We do basically everything at my GP clinic. There is always a huge variety in my day and there's no shiftwork, no nights, no weekends and no poo :') Roki B posted:Students should absolutely be pushing iv drugs in clinicals. As far as anime girl, what a shame. People need to ask questions. That CBI med is pretty facepalm-worthy though.
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Nov 29, 2014 20:24
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Not to sound like too much of a wage whore, but seeing these posts about starting at $17-20 (if those are current) definitely makes me glad I work in Canada. I mean, our dollar is worth less so it balances out, but still.  In other news I am working to get a license to work in the States just in case! Congratulations to the new grads who have posted and happy (late) nurses week!
DeadMansSuspenders fucked around with this message at 22:42 on May 13, 2015 |
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May 13, 2015 22:38
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somnolence posted:Don't wait to take the test. Do a prep course if you want to be totally sure you'll pass. Definitely agreeing with this.
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Feb 2, 2017 23:35
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Reading these recent posts makes me hesitant to change to a new unit because I've got a solid team that works with me right now. I know of one other unit in my hospital that is pretty much an "every man for themselves" type situation but I hoped that to be the minority.
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Apr 4, 2017 00:28
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Astrofig posted:I'm not a nurse (yet) but I thought you guys might have some advice. Any recommendations for shoes that won't make my feet want to die after 12 hours? I wear Asics (Gel-Kayano or Nimbus) usually but a lot of my coworkers wear those Birkenstocks clogs... I think they'd make my feet sweaty though. Plus they're easy to mix up in the break room.
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Feb 23, 2018 19:55
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I tried the NCLEX a few years ago and was unsuccessful but I think I will write it again just for future flexibility if I try the travel thing. I'm Canadian but it would be fun to cross the border sometime. I have a few friends that are planning to travel nurse in the fall.
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Jun 21, 2018 02:49
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Not much makes me wretch but that was a bad visual. e: I also pictured it through a trach site so there's that.
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Jul 1, 2018 21:57
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At my hospital working medicine means constantly having droplet/contact patients for c.diff, half of which are violent. No thanks. Although it's good to hear that they aren't all like that I guess.
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Jul 20, 2018 21:02
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Didn't realize that some places pay their ICU nurses more. My hospital is unionized so we all get paid based on seniority with shift premiums for nights / weekends / charge. Although I will say it certainly did suck when I worked on a surgical floor as charge and still had five or six patients of my own. Also that hospital not paying their employees seems all sorts of crazy (and sad) to me. amethystbliss posted:Our OT is insane. Regular per diem pay for someone with 2 years experience is $81/hr before any shift differential, so OT (time and a half) is $121/hr. Add on shift differential and it's $145/hr for night shift, slightly less for evenings. No way am I taking a permanent post any time soon, the per diem gig is just too good.
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Sep 29, 2018 10:44
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djfooboo posted:A new grad could easily get a dayshift job, just look for units that have high turnover Pretty much this. I got lucky with my first job out of school as I precepted on a unit that had 2 people retiring, 3 mat leaves and 3 more moving to other units. Not sure how it'll be for getting one that's straight days (my hospital does 2 Days 2 Nights 5 off). Just stick it out, apply everywhere, build your hours. Or just apply to a medicine unit. At least at my hospital it's always at 120% capacity for beds so I assume they are always looking for new nurses. DeadMansSuspenders fucked around with this message at 09:54 on Nov 23, 2018 |
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Nov 23, 2018 09:51
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Good luck with the job hunt! Hopefully you land the oncology job with lots of other hires so it's not so understaffed!
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Nov 30, 2018 04:17
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I looked it up on a few other agencies. While not declared brain dead it still is an impressive story of luck and recovery. 15 minute downtime for an arrest, good thing she was (relatively) young. e: also one of the articles quotes someone saying "she's only using 25% of her heart", which I don't really understand what they mean. Extensive infarct damage? Coronary vessel occlusion? aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh DeadMansSuspenders fucked around with this message at 08:49 on Dec 10, 2018 |
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Dec 10, 2018 08:46
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I had a patient recently that was to donate their eyes after passing. I missed the chance to see them harvested. 
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Feb 28, 2019 08:22
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Etrips posted:I’d imagine cruise ship nursing to be pretty terrible. On long boat rides treating people with motion sickness / drinking too much + motion sickness = lots of vom. Plus I’d imagine you would have to be away from home for weeks at a time. But I suppose you do get to travel the world and wouldn’t have a commute. Roki B posted:Upgrading your life computer angel posted:Does anyone have any experience moving from Canada to the USA to nurse or vice versa? I feel like it may not be a complicated process getting CNO to communicate my license (NCLEX) to the nursing body of whichever state I move to, but I've been surprised by extensive bureaucracy before.
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Jul 23, 2019 06:28
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I feel like I didn't really learn EKGs until 4 years after I graduated and took an online course for them. I don't really even remember covering them in much detail in school but I'm sure we did.
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Jul 24, 2019 11:18
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And dont lose the drat thing. Buy it a name tag or engrave it. I was surprised at how many students lost theirs.
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Jul 28, 2019 20:02
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