I'm fairly new to SICU myself. We have a binder with our drip protocols on the unit--always important to check this. I find that the most important thing for my learning style is to know the physiological response to each drip. Does it work by constricting the vessels or stimulating more cardiac output?
I say this because when I was new, I simply wanted to get the patients blood pressure up to a point where I was comfortable and didn't care how it got there. But, now I realize that it is more important to treat the reason that the blood pressure is low to begin with. If volume is low, a pressor may not be necessary and if too low, even harmful. There should be enough volume to "press".
As far as titrating, I've just followed my facility protocol and go by patient's response. It seems that in my short time in ICU, I've only had two types of patients--the ones who respond to small increments in titration, or the ones that want to crash no matter how fast I up the pressors.
icufaqs.com has tons of good info!
Mar 6 by StratiotesI'm fairly new to SICU myself. We have a binder with our drip protocols on the unit--always important to check this. I find that the most important thing for my learning style is to know the physiological response to each drip. Does it work by constricting the vessels or stimulating more cardiac output?