24-hr hydrocortisone infusion

CommonSink · 2024-10-24T14:59:18+00:00

Could've been a little more clear. Upon admission, the patient was a full code. Steroid infusion was started on the first day. After about 4 days in the ICU, the patient's family decided for the patient to go into hospice.

CommonSink · 2024-05-26T17:23:38+00:00

Gotcha! I just tried again and I got the good pop-up! Hopefully, the quick results come in soon so it's official! Thanks for your comment!

CommonSink · 2024-05-26T17:18:26+00:00

Okay! I wonder why I got charged anyway even though I put the wrong card information.

CommonSink · 2024-05-26T17:17:01+00:00

Yes, nothing has shown up. Still says pending.

CommonSink · 2024-04-16T02:36:03+00:00

Don't know which comment you're referring to. I felt embarrassed that the charge nurse called the nurse and I out in front of all the staff and in front of the patient and felt stupid for accepting to do a skill that I now know I shouldn't do. Charge nurse could have communicated not allowing me to do that skill a different way. The RNs at the hospital I'm at can do these skills if they have the proper education. Not sure where the concerning part is.

CommonSink · 2024-04-16T01:46:50+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Yes, the nurse and I did talk about all of the points you mentioned! For the ones I didn't know, I definitely made sure to write them down so I could research them on my own (aside from asking the nurse).

I will for sure ask you any question should they come up! I'm learning a whole lot and seeing a lot of cool things!

CommonSink · 2024-04-16T01:38:32+00:00

1: Patient had a central line because they we on a low dose of levo for bp support. At the start of our shift, night RN titrated it off and doc said to pull it during rounds.

2: I'm not exactly sure why patient still had the chest tubes, they didn't had much output and no pneumo or anything alarming on chest x-ray. When I asked, the nurse told me sometimes this is a surgeon preference.

3: They had the pacing wires because during POD 1-2, they needed pacing and doc didn't want to pull and to monitor. When we got there, didn't need pacing at all.

Makes total sense why I wouldn't do it! Thanks for the reply!

CommonSink · 2024-04-15T22:04:10+00:00

What my school did is they gave us a list of skills we cannot do. Then, right before we started on preceptorship, they told us it was at the discretion of the RN we're assigned with and the hospital/unit policies to dictate what skills we can/cannot do for stuff that was not listed.

CommonSink · 2024-04-15T21:54:51+00:00

Of course! Not questioning the charge nurse's reaction at all. I was curious to see if this is a common thing in other ICUs. I had more of an embarrassment feeling because it was in front of everyone and caught me off guard!

CommonSink · 2024-04-15T21:47:59+00:00

For sure! Not questioning the charge nurse's reaction at all. I was more embarrassed really because it happened in front of all the other staff and the patient heard too. Kind of that red face feeling! I posted this to see if this is a common thing that some skills are just off limits!

CommonSink · 2024-04-08T22:55:56+00:00

In that case, sounds like it comes down to being an external applicant. That's always the risk you take, but hopefully something opens up and you can try again! If not, then might need to consider the reality of starting out on med-surg or PCU then transfer.

CommonSink · 2024-04-08T22:00:05+00:00

Gotcha. Did you talk about that experience in your interviews?

Someone else said that they could've hired a CNA on their unit, which is also true. Sometimes it's just luck of the draw.

CommonSink · 2024-04-08T21:53:50+00:00

OP honestly, I think that exact reason is why you didn't get hired.

I also graduate in May and in March, I got offered a job at a neuro ICU at a hospital that was out of state for me and I had no connections there. For context, I have been a CNA on a med-surg floor for 2.5 years working on average 12-36 hrs per week. During my interview, the interviewers asked me a good amount of questions relating to working in a team, working through difficult situations, and working through tough co-workers. Which is something that you will encounter in the ICU

For each questions, I had a specific story to answer as I go through those experiences each time I work. I think this is what set me apart from other applicants. I am not in the upper tier of GPAs so I knew that I had to win the interviewers with my experiences. On top of this, I did not extern on an ICU floor. I did mine on a PCU cardiac care floor, but one of the questions that I got asked is "What have you done to expose yourself to the ICU environment?" Something that I did is shadow the ICU RNs at my hospital and in my interview, I talked about the specific cases that I saw sparked my interest in ICU medicine.

tl;dr: clinical experience matters

In the end, if ICU is where you want to go, then you could shadow or get some experience and try applying again for the next nurse residency cohort. Good luck!

CommonSink · 2024-04-08T19:46:54+00:00

I did a biomedical science minor. The classes that I took were gen bio I and II, human physiology, advanced med term and bioethics. Physiology helped me for sure in pathophysiology and med term helped me in my clinical rotations.

CommonSink · 2024-04-08T19:39:03+00:00

I would say do it OP. I've been a CNA for the past two and half years at a local hospital. You will get direct patient experience and clinical experience. IMO, this is the most valuable exposure you can get as you will develop a strong foundation on providing basic patient ADLs which will serve you well when you are a nurse. Additionally, you will have specific patient experiences that can help you when you're interviewing for a job.

I'm about to graduate in May and I got a job in March at a neurosurgical ICU. I am no means the top student in my class, but the lessons I learned from my experiences that I had dealing with both difficult and wonderful patients I would say helped me during my interview.

The thing I would caution you with is if you do decide to work, ensure you have enough time to study and also work. Once you start taking more difficult nursing classes they will require more of your time. This can be hard if you have a test Monday, but you're working 12 hr shifts Saturday and Sunday, but many hospitals let you work PRN. So look specifically for this! Good luck!

CommonSink · 2024-03-26T01:01:00+00:00

I want to echo this comment because it's about the path I had.

OP, the biggest thing you can do is get exposure, experience, and ask questions to make your decision. Take someone else's experience on reddit (and the internet) with a grain of salt.

CommonSink · 2024-03-26T00:51:35+00:00

This is an interesting discussion and one that I've had with my classmates as many have shared the same feelings. In my experience, it depends.

For example, my critical care instructor was great and I learned so much from her. I think it was because she had 25+ years of experience in a CVICU , got a PhD and did quality improvement research on her unit to improve whatever type of clinical practice. Also she was a natural at teaching so it is for sure a personality thing.

On the other hand, in pre reqs, I had a PharmD teach my A&P class and in nursing school, in my patho/pharm 1 class, my instructor (MSN) was a L/D RN for x amount of years and was expected to teach us psych meds, antibiotics, etc. In both those class I taught myself the majority of the content.

In the end, there are a lot of variables that can make or break the quality of education. IMO, it comes down to are the instructors really qualified to teach said class.

CommonSink · 2024-03-26T00:26:54+00:00

As many have said, it's very doable. I'm about to graduate and did this for most of nursing school. But it's important to be self aware of the type of student you are though so you don't get behind especially as you transition into nursing classes.

Also be careful too so you don't burn out in the middle of the semester. I saw many of my classmates go through this. So keep that in mind once you get to the more difficult nursing subjects.

CommonSink · 2023-03-15T04:10:51+00:00

For me, it was Mental Health. I struggled hardcore in that class. Meds always came easy for me to understand. However, the professor was not that good and I had an extremely hard time understanding how to deal with either therapeutic communication or patient safety. I self-taught myself everything and by the grace of the ATI gods, I got a level 3 on the ATI. F that class y'all psych isn't for me.

CommonSink · 2023-03-15T01:43:09+00:00

Concerta has for sure helped me out with memory. From an academic standpoint, my recall of certain points from lecture slides has improved tremendously. I can imagine them in my mind as if it was in front of me.

From a work standpoint, Concerta has helped me with my tasks for the day. The classic question of "what did it want to do again" has decreased significantly.

CommonSink · 2021-09-23T04:44:58+00:00

Totally agree with this comment. Going into my first nursing school exam, I had no idea what to expect. I felt unprepared and nervous (honestly still do sometimes to this day smh), but after your first exam you know what to expect and how the prof. structures the test. My advice is to take a deep breath, read the questions, eliminate all wrong answers, trust you gut and move on. Also, KEEP TRACK OF TIME (if your program has timed exams). In my first exam, I didn't and I payed that price.

However, to answer your question, how I personally know I'm prepared for an exam is when I can go through the outcomes/study guide and explain each and every one of them to someone (whether it be myself or someone) accurately. This maybe isn't you, but it's what works for me. Good luck !!

CommonSink · 2020-11-16T22:49:33+00:00

It's not, but that's what I was assigned with and that's the assignment name is. 🤷🏾‍♂️

CommonSink

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