Originally Posted by suzanne4
How did your first day go? If I remember correctly, you were going to start on Friday.
First day went well. Dad works from home on computer and was there training me all day. I learned so much! This job will teach me so much. Parents are great and so patient! Watched Dad trouble shoot alarms. Most of time the problem was the accumulation of too much fluid on the sensors. Occasionally he would take tubing off and quickly shake moisture out of circuit. Baby is nonverbal, has allergies, and makes sounds that aggravate drainage. Baby eats PO as well as having GB feedings via feeding pump. Meds are via GB. There was a breathing tx as well as an antibiotic breating tx via vent. O2 was 0.5 via vent or via bagging post suctioning. They prefer not to oxygenate pre suction but only post suction as bagging prior pushes secretions deeper into lungs. Pulse ox stays taped to toe for continual monitoring of O2 stats during this time.
Also baby has special vest that percusses him for 14 min. Must remove tubing for moments at a time as when it comes off, for moisture removeal, changing shirts. Pt. is strong and stable and tolerates this well. He cries at sad misic and becomes ecstatically happy with fun child songs. Music calms him. His favorite dvd is Happy Feet. Likes Sesame street also (and Hello Dolly). Pt was premie 24 weeks Was in hosp. 7 or 8 mo. Transfers -you prepare destination before , unplug and wrap wires around machine and then pick up baby facing you while pulling vent with other hand to destination. Machine continues to operate. Always aware of placement of tubing. continually watch affect of pt. for cues of problems. Only problem so far was too much air in feeding tube during flush and had to burp GB. Dad says he will show me how to replace trach just in case. Parents are willing to work with me. Job is a 2 hr. commute and a 12 hr. shift. If I run into other concerns I will contact you. Thank you so much for your input.
The Friday Nurse Teri