Originally Posted by TeleNurse_02
Can anyone help me with finding some info/education modules on swans? We don't use them alot, but I feel somewhat clueless when I get a patient with one.
Thanks!
Hey Tele, of course there is someone out there who wants you to take their class. The best way is hands on. Even if it isn't your patient, you should go into the room, see how it's hooked up and look at the numbers. They aren't really using swan ganz catheters like they did in the past. You generally don't see them at small hospitals. You will see a few in large teaching facilities. Remember they are merely numbers. I always pretend my patient doesn't have one, remember to look at the patient first. You see physicians not even documenting numbers in their progress notes, yet we have to every few hours or so. The only ones who follow generally at the thoracic surgeons. Also too, these patients numbers aren't going to be normal, if they were, they wouldn't have had the swan inserted. Remember to that you must be properly leveled with the phlebostatic axis, other wise the numbers don't mean a thing. Hope this helps.
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