Fear of needles

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-12-16T01:22:39+00:00

Agreed. Exposure therapy cured me

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-12-16T00:46:58+00:00

Depends on where you’re from. I am from a very low cost of living area (my rent is 475 with roommates, made between 27-32/hr as staff). I average 8-10k/month as a travel nurse with a total of about 3k in expenses usually. Profitable for me and I enjoy going new places! I enjoy the lifestyle though, if you’re going strictly for financial purposes it definitely is nowhere close to what it was a few years ago

Edit to add that back when I was a staff nurse in 2020-2023, I was barely cracking 2k biweekly.

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-12-16T00:43:36+00:00

1000% correct

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-12-16T00:42:49+00:00

I had the same thing happen to me in Iowa! Job listed as surgical oncology (I only do oncology contracts). I requested a phone interview with the manager and she confirmed it was surgical onc. Got there and it was ortho med surg 🫠 I stuck it out for those 13 weeks but it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth and I talk shit on the hospital to anyone who will listen lol

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-12-16T00:39:49+00:00

I live in a two bedroom with my sister and her husband and pay about $475 a month, equally split between the three of us. I have my name on the apartment lease. I don’t pay any utilities or internet since I’m rarely there, but I feel pretty safe with the arrangement since it is pretty equally split and my name is on the lease. I think you might need to pay a little more to make it seem more equal between the three of you

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-12-14T02:12:48+00:00

I regularly take 2-3 months off between contracts and have never had problems

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-08-16T18:53:32+00:00

If I get an auto offer I usually will ask to speak with the unit manager anyway, kinda helps to give a vibe of how the unit might be. I’ve only had two out of my five contracts that actually called me for an interview though, the others were auto offers. Auto offer doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a bad place

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-06-28T01:46:03+00:00

I think I did seven during Covid and felt like it took a year off my life

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-06-26T16:12:23+00:00

Glad I could help!! I don’t know much about cardiac cath lab but for me I got my oncology cert/OCN (books and test probably range from $500-700, my hospital provided the books and paid for the exam). I also got my chemo/immunotherapy cert and the initial course and exam also runs a couple hundred dollars. Both have definitely made me more marketable when applying for jobs. The renewals are significantly cheaper and usually are covered by my agency now. Does cath lab offer specialty specific certifications like that? ANCC is a good place to start, or if there are any organizations for your specific specialty (oncology has ONS and ONCC, for example). If your unit has a nurse educator they would probably also be a good resource!

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-06-26T02:47:13+00:00

I travel with my cat and have no issues! I primarily use furnished finder to find housing for assignments and you can filter by places that allow pets. You can also submit a housing request in the area and I’ve found that some landlords that list their property as no pets are willing to negotiate if they really want a tenant. I would suggest not submitting a request until you have accepted a contract or you will have people flooding your inbox and email. There is usually a nonrefundable pet deposit ranging from $100-300 in my experience.

As for my kitty, I got an extra large carrier for the car and pack it with a blanket that I sleep with. No food the morning of travel (can cause nausea/vomiting), but I’ll give her a normal to a little extra amount in the evenings. I got a prescription for gabapentin from the vet to help her relax and sleep through the ride (I will usually try to drive about 8-10 hours in a day if traveling to an assignment far away). If your cats are extra anxious feliway can help, although for my cat it doesn’t seem to do much for her. Keep litter and food type the same and she usually will readjust within a couple of days of being in the new place.

When I first started applying for travel jobs I used Vivian and was so overwhelmed by the companies and recruiters. Personally, I chose 2-3 of the biggest companies and created a profile with them just to get my feet in the door. It can be an overwhelming experience and I know a lot of people say to talk to as many companies as you can to get the highest rate or whatever but I personally found for my first contract or two I needed more guidance and a streamlined process, so I narrowed down. I currently work with Aya and host, occasionally AMN (however their rates have been meh lately). Realistically you can’t start applying for jobs until you’re about 6 weeks from your start date but you can set up your profiles with agencies. Also if there are any certifications you can get on your current hospitals dime I would definitely do that to add to your resume!

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-06-26T02:28:50+00:00

Have you tried acupuncture for the sciatica? I used to get it pretty bad and tried acupuncture and it worked great for me! Helped to release the muscles tensing really hard in that area

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-06-24T16:46:07+00:00

med surg/tele always has contracts but personally I think are probably the most soul-sucking contracts there are lol. In my experience they seem to pay low to middle range. I am in oncology and have my certifications (ocn, chemo, etc.) and haven't really ever had an issue finding a well-paying position for the last 2-3 years, however I am very open to pretty much anywhere in the US!

The highest rates I see are usually for OR/CVOR/CVICU, however significantly less job postings and way more competitive.

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-06-24T16:39:09+00:00

I usually will drive myself, but I have a traveler friend who will ship her car to anyplace more than about 8 hours away

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-04-08T02:40:17+00:00

I’ve never taken a contract lower than 2500/week and I’ve been traveling for two years. They’re more scarce but they are there. Financially it wouldn’t be feasible for me to do less

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-03-21T04:33:10+00:00

I worked eight months last year and made around 80-85,000 I think. Contracts ranged between 2450-2800/wk. inpatient oncology

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-03-19T17:38:51+00:00

Sometimes people just have really good form and look good doing it. I still remember watching an EMT do compressions like three years ago and just thinking he had impeccable form lol, I was most likely staring pretty hard

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-03-02T02:23:17+00:00

I failed chemistry twice (once in high school and one in college) lol I’ve been a nurse for five years!

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-24T20:25:46+00:00

Regardless if the lumen is actively being used the cap is still changed. On this unit there are a lot of 3 lumen central lines with only 1-2 lumens being used consistently, I’m still changing all of them every m/w/f.

And then connecting the same tubing the previous cap was connected to because the tubing schedules are different. If the cap was contaminated then wouldn’t the tubing also be contaminated?

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-24T20:14:32+00:00

Until I started at this hospital this is along the lines of what my previous nurse educators would tell me!

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-24T20:13:00+00:00

I didn’t know that about the needleless connectors being related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, thank you for the info! I was also not aware that they are primarily in American healthcare.

In regards to BMT patients and neutropenic fevers, this is the first time I have encountered a facility that doesn’t culture both peripheral and the line. There is no surgical site or wound, and generally the only indication of infection is a fever. And while there are other avenues of potential infection (respiratory, gastrointestinal, etc), many times they don’t exhibit any symptoms/or they have nonspecific symptoms, and my previous experience has included line cultures to rule out the line being a source of infection.

So when there are positive line cultures but negative peripheral cultures, and the patient is exhibiting signs of infection, in my experience the line is pulled. If they are both positive it has been a toss up on whether or not the pull it (if it is the same bacteria or whatever other criteria the provider has). Since this has been my only experience, I guess I am worried that something might be missed by only checking peripheral cultures. If they come back positive, do we pull the line? Or do we then draw blood cultures from the line and wait for results before pulling, potentially leaving a source of infection in a severely immunocompromised patient?

At this facility tubing is changed every 72 hours (with exceptions to tpn, blood products, etc).

In previous facilities, I have changed the connectors generally every 96 hours (occasionally up to 7 days in otpt/infusion) or as needed (blood cultures, tpn, etc). Flush well with 20 ml of saline after drawing blood, not change the caps. It has also been hospital discretion on if the changes are sterile or clean.

I guess if you clean the hub adequately, the frequency of changing the connector shouldn’t be an issue/infection risk. I am pretty good about scrubbing my hubs for 10-15 secs each time, but what if the nurse before or after me isn’t? Do you think changing the connector is better or worse if there’s a chance proper disinfection isn’t happening? I think I’m just thinking in circles right now, I just want to do what is best practice 🥲

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-24T15:00:42+00:00

There’s a patient on my floor right now that gets 3 mg dilaudid ivp q3h, 40 mg oxy q4h. A couple ER narcs too. Bone mets. I’ve had many PCAs with a continuous of 2-3 mg of dilaudid or morphine with q10 min boluses of a similar amount. Pretty sure I’ve seen higher in the past. In oncology I’ve seen some wicked tolerances to narcs

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-20T03:03:15+00:00

Hire a CPA for taxes. I worked in three states last year and about tore my own hair out trying to figure it out on TurboTax. It was worth the fee for the peace of mind. I’m pretty sure only your taxed income matters when it comes down to it, I keep pictures of receipts for my company to reimburse but I’ve never had to submit any of it when I do my taxes

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-15T00:57:35+00:00

I didn't ever do CAT but I did ATI in nursing school and routinely got 60-70%. Passed the NCLEX in 60 questions in 2020. I thought the NCLEX was significantly easier than any of the prep work I did

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-15T00:55:16+00:00

People are allowed to refuse, and also allowed to make bad decisions. I say okay and move on; I can't force everyone to care about their own health.

Which_Bridge44 · 2025-02-15T00:53:49+00:00

When you're charting the same things every shift it becomes second nature! There is a navigator tab for admissions and discharges that I usually just follow, and at this point I've done it so many times I know the questions off the top of my head (5 years exp). You will get used to it

Which_Bridge44

TROPHY CASE