[lmonet82]

Hello out there
Are there any veteran pulmonary nurses that can tell me the best way to transition from nursing home RN to Pulmonary nurse? I have been working in nursing homes mostly in the last 3 yrs, although I do have a few months exp as a LPN on a med/surg floor.How do I get prepared for the acuity of patients I will encounter?

[SunflowerSue]

I too am a LTC RN transitioning to pulmonary care and am interested to see the replies you get. I wish you luck!!

[Silverdragon102]

Is there any courses you can do?

[Ventjock]

Originally Posted by Silverdragon102

Is there any courses you can do?

you can go to respiratory therapy school....

[RN4Research]

Originally Posted by Silverdragon102

Is there any courses you can do?

Having been a respiratory therapist for about 13 years, then transitioning to nursing about 4 years ago, what I found was most of my nursing collegues who did not have much respiratory experience were very nervous when called upon to take care of a pulmonary patient. (Understandably) I was very happy to act as a resource for my coworkers. They knew that they could come to me for help or if they had questions and I would teach them what they needed to know and not just do it for them.
My suggestion to new pulmonary nurses is first of all to find out exactly what your patient population is and review the disease processes. I work at a university hospital and that is a major academic teaching center, so we see very sick patients with many diverse pulmonary conditions such as lung transplant, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertenstion, and COPD to name a few. I had to familiarize myself with the plan of care of CF, what exactly pulmonary hypertension was, etc, since I did not see those types of patients in my former practice.
Also, find someone on staff who can mentor you. There are usually other nurses who are experts and who love to teach. Let them take you under their wing. You can also find a good respiratory therapist and ask them questions! I loved teaching nurses when I was a therapist (ultimately it made my job much easier if they were comfortable suctioning their patient rather than callling me to do it if I was busy elsewhere). Good Luck!

[Silverdragon102]

Originally Posted by RN4Research

Having been a respiratory therapist for about 13 years, then transitioning to nursing about 4 years ago, what I found was most of my nursing collegues who did not have much respiratory experience were very nervous when called upon to take care of a pulmonary patient. (Understandably) I was very happy to act as a resource for my coworkers. They knew that they could come to me for help or if they had questions and I would teach them what they needed to know and not just do it for them.
My suggestion to new pulmonary nurses is first of all to find out exactly what your patient population is and review the disease processes. I work at a university hospital and that is a major academic teaching center, so we see very sick patients with many diverse pulmonary conditions such as lung transplant, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertenstion, and COPD to name a few. I had to familiarize myself with the plan of care of CF, what exactly pulmonary hypertension was, etc, since I did not see those types of patients in my former practice.
Also, find someone on staff who can mentor you. There are usually other nurses who are experts and who love to teach. Let them take you under their wing. You can also find a good respiratory therapist and ask them questions! I loved teaching nurses when I was a therapist (ultimately it made my job much easier if they were comfortable suctioning their patient rather than callling me to do it if I was busy elsewhere). Good Luck!

It is interesting on hearing how other countries manage their respiratory patients. Here in the UK we do not have RT's but the RN will do the medication (nebulizers/inhalers etc) and will call physio if chest needs therapy. I love respiratory management and when I worked in a doctor's office I care managed asthma and COPD patients with protocols and management with one of the doctors following national guidelines. If I wasn't moving countries I think my aim would be to be a respiratory nurse specialist