Nursing Podcast by NURSING.com (NRSNG) (NCLEX® Prep for Nurses and Nursing Students) – Details, episodes & analysis

What I Wish I Knew: Potassium-K Lab Value Levels

For resources to help you master Potassium and ALL the lab values, we have a FREE Cheatsheet Download at NURSING.com/labvalues.

 

What do bananas, avocados, and kale all have in common?

Potassium!

For more resources to help you understand Potassium, Hyperkalemia and Hypokalemia, click here:

What role does it play in the body?

What’s a normal range level for potassium?

And what happens when potassium levels are too low or too high?

On a shift early in my career, while I was still being oriented to the unit, I held tight to that rule of NEVER pushing IV potassium even when my preceptor was providing instructions that conflicted with that big rule. Here is that story...

For resources to help you master ABGs and ALL the LabVales, we have a FREE Cheatsheet Download at    NURSING.com/LabValues.   At NURSING.com you can learn everything you need to know as a nurse about ABGs including gas exchange, acidosis, alkalosis (metabolic and respiratory), normal lab value ranges, and more.     We also cover key concepts for NCLEX for arterial blood gases.     Our gas exchange nursing care plan covers impaired gas exchange nursing management, impaired gas exchange interventions, impaired gas exchange diagnosis, etc.      Excerpt:   

This patient’s lungs were so bad, gas exchange had to take place outside of his body... Learning to read ABGs, and understanding what to do with that information is a very important skill for any nurse, but particularly a cardiovascular ICU nurse. 

Hi I am Nurse Abby, and I loved working in the cardiovascular ICU - that was truly one of my favorite nursing jobs. Today I want to share with you the story of one of my MORE complicated patients.

I almost killed my patient.

In the days after my scary event I spent hours and hours thinking through what I had done.  

I knew my ABCs, I had prioritized everything I was supposed to, how could things have gone so horribly wrong…  

See our full lesson on Prioritization at NURSING.com.  

And I realized that I had overlooked a very important part of my ABCs.  

It wasn’t the A - airway, the B - breathing, or the C - circulation 

What was left, what did I miss?

What I violated was Safety. 

That small little “s” at the end of my ABCs - Safety 

 

And I learned 3 Crucial Take-Aways 

1. ABCs are Priorities not Checklists! 

2. Don't be complacent about the s for Safety

3. Ask for help as soon as possible

 

See our full lesson on Prioritization at NURSING.com.  

 

 

 

Them: "How can we help?"

Me: "I don't know . . ."

This is a conversation I've had countless times over the last year.  If only I had some sort of ailment that could be SEEN and FIXED . . . why can't it be a broken arm?  A simple cast would "fix" the problem in just a matter of weeks. 

With mental health, you read the books, you do the checklists, you take the meds, you attend counseling . . . but at any moment . . . around any corner . . . there it is - ready to crush your hope and happiness. 

Each time you start a new medication you feel hopeful . . . "this time it will work"

And each time a new medication doesn't help, you feel a bit more hopeless . . . "maybe I am beyond repair"

They say mental health is a battle.  It is. 

And for many of us it is a lifelong battle.  

And worse still, it is a silent battle - no one can SEE what you are going through. 

And the worst part is that you begin to convince yourself that it has to be silent - that you shouldn't share your struggle - that perhaps you are "beyond repair" - that others will judge.

 

My first job out of nursing school was in the Neuro ICU at a very large hospital in downtown Dallas.  

 

In this particular hospital, new ICU nurses complete a 13 week internship partnered with an experienced nurse (called a preceptor).  My preceptors name was Vanessa, she was the typical ICU nurse type - a hardcore, type A nurse.

 

She trained me well . . . but . . . those 13 weeks came to an end and it was time for me to be all on my own - no safety net to fall back on, no babysitter to make sure I did everything by the book - it was just ME. 

 

To be honest . . . I was terrified.

 

I wish I'd had a tool like NURSING.com

 

You CAN do this

 

Happy Nursing!

 

-Jon

Just 4 words saved her life . . . 

 

“You CAN do this”

 

In 2018 as a nursing student, Heather found herself in a very dark and lonely place.  But those 4 words brought her out of that darkness and gave her hope. 

 

I was there with Heather when a nursing student asked her, “Will I make it through this?”

 

========

 

Here is her response:

 

“You WILL make it through. 

 

When I got back from Iraq in 2008, I suffered from PTSD. 

 

And when I first found NURSING.com, I didn't think I was going to make it through. I felt like a failure, not only in nursing school, but in my life. My marriage was trash. I felt like a failure as a parent because I felt like I wasn't present. I had just failed med surg by 0.2%.

 

I was ready to kill myself. I was done. 

 

But hearing Jon and everybody else say that you can do it, it is going to be okay, and you will make it through, saved my life. 

 

NURSING.com saved my life in more ways than one. And I'm here and I graduated, you CAN do this.”

#NursingSchoolMotivation

#MotivationForNursingStudents

#NursingSchoolJourney

#InspiringNursingStudents

#NursingSchoolLife

#StayMotivatedNurse

#NursingSchoolInspiration

[After graduating from nursing school with a 3.8 GPA, Ashley failed the NCLEX 3 times.  This is her story.]

Learn more about NURSING.com: https://nursing.com

 

First one was a knife to my chest.

 

I was miserable. I really honestly thought this was my calling for so long. Nursing is what I wanted to do. For four years, I had worked so hard and I was unsure, should I change my career? Should I do something else? 

 

The first time I failed, I decided I would run 10 miles, and I cried the whole time.  I remember, thinking, I want to die. I just don't understand. I thought I knew so much, and for some reason I failed and the rest of my class was successful. Why am I going through this?

 

Taking the NCLEX was so stressful and all that pressure with people around you constantly leaving, and I am a very slow test taker. 

 

I had to really take a week and really ask myself, is this worth it?  I did all this work, what went wrong?  Is something wrong with me?  Am I not smart?  What am I going to do? 

 

You feel that your classmates will make fun of you or that they question if you're going to be a good nurse and you start to create all these webs and negativity and it just storms.

 

Patience, positivity, prayer, and perseverance.  As a nursing student, you are your hardest critic.  Sometimes we're perfectionists and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. 

 

So I would say strive for progress, but not perfection. 

 

I think of my experience as being in a boat in a really rough storm.  To be a skilled sailor you can’t have calm waters.  You need the storm. And so whatever purpose it was for me to fail the NCLEX three times, it really has blessed me and I feel like a better woman. I can't believe I'm saying that, but really I do. I feel like it strengthened me.

 

Working as a nurse in the ICU, I cared for many patients who are burned into my mind and heart forever. 

I would like to share with you the stories of two patients that I will remember forever and whom shaped my life and nursing career forever. 

People NEVER forget their nurses.  The rest of their hospital stay will be a blur, but their NURSES will be in their minds forever. 

It's okay to CARE as a nurse. We went into this profession because we want to ease human suffering.

We need more nurses who CARE. Thank you for choosing this profession. I started NURSING.com to reduce your stress in nursing school, so you can focus on the patients.

Happy Nursing!

-Jon 

During my first semester of nursing school my son was born and he had a couple issues that required him to stay in the hospital during his first couple weeks of life.   My wife and I were sleeping at the hospital. I would go to nursing school and then come back and be with him. But there was one night where we were extremely tired, and so we went down to the hospital cafeteria to get some food.   And when we came back a few minutes later after eating his nurse, her name was Tracy (I still remember her name 12 years later) was sitting there giving him a bath and cuddling him and keeping him warm.   And it was very clear with the way that she was taking care of him and working with him, that she cared very deeply about him, about his exact needs in that moment. And it was in that moment that I truly realized that everyone is going to have that one nurse that they remember forever. Here I am 12 years later, and I still remember her. I remember that moment. I remember the sense of walking in there and that comfort that I had, knowing that she was there with my son taking care of him.   You guys, this journey is not easy. And I know that maybe you haven't yet, but there's going to be a time in your career, whether that's in nursing school or whether it's as a nurse, that you're going to hit some kind of proverbial wall. You're going to feel like you can't keep going forward. But I want you guys to think about that.   Why? Think about those moments that you've had that have helped you see why you're doing this. And if you need to write that down, put it as a screensaver on your phone. Send yourself an email every now and then with your why. We need you. We need nurses who care. We need you to stay in the career field. We need you to work in the career field. You guys can do this. I know that there's moments when it all seems impossible, but you can do this and I know that you can do this, so stick with it.   Remember your why. Go out and be your best self today.   💙 Happy Nursing!   -Jon

Today's episode is a must-listen for anyone gearing up for the NCLEX: "NCLEX Decoded: Strategies for Success.”

 

The NCLEX can feel like a giant puzzle. It's a test designed not just to quiz you on knowledge but to assess your decision-making and critical-thinking skills. Understanding how the exam works is the first step in conquering it.

We can help you put those puzzle pieces together, by giving you a real practice NCLEX Simulation:  SIMCLEX.  

You can take a free sample today at https://nursing.com/simclex

We also have a VERY special offer happening today until January 19th.  You can check it out here https://nursing.com/lifetime