BrandNewBabyNurse replied to anicu's topic in NICU
NICU level: IV private patient rooms: 85 number at bedside: technically 4, but up to nurse to enforce. who can visit: parents/grandparents/siblings, friends with parents or alone if on "allowed" list. when can you visit: Parents/grandparents/siblin...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to JThieman's topic in NICU
Up until about 3 months ago, we charted hourly vitals on every patient except those in our separate step-down unit. Now we chart hourly vitals on all patients who are on more than low-flow NC, but room air or LFNC babies are q3 hour vitals with touch...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to nickirnak's topic in NICU
Haha well I should've clarified further. We only keep the rails flush if the kid is nested and (usually) sedated. When we have a really big kid, like 6 mos- 1 yr, who is maybe alert and more developmentally advanced, then we keep the rails up halfway...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to nickirnak's topic in NICU
We put our low acuity, temp-stable, kids into those cribs in the first post as soon as they're ready, but the ones we have are too small for our bigger kiddos. We put our large/chronic sick kids (lines/vents/trachs/etc.) into these big cribs by Stryk...
Hi AN friends! I'm really thinking about starting a travel stint next spring - probably looking at doing 3 assignments between spring 2018 and early 2019. It's such a tough choice because I really love the job I have now (NICU in a large Level IV ch...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to EllaBella1's topic in General Nursing
I work in a very large children's hospital NICU. We have 2 charge nurses and 2 resource nurses per shift, and none of them ever take patients. I've seen the second charge admit a couple times while we were hustling to redistribute assignments in the ...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to ScammRNC's topic in NICU
We use infant IV Tegaderms plus a little clear tape if needed. Usually with a Posey around an arm/foot board, or a piece of gauze underneath if it's a scalp stick.
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to Purple_roses's topic in New Nurse
I'm quickly approaching my one year mark in a large Neonatal ICU, and I have to say, this last month has been one of my hardest yet. I'm definitely through the honeymoon phase, and I'm not sure I would call this phase disillusioned, but it's been tou...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to grobertson10's topic in NICU
I work in a large Level IV NICU that has an attached "step down" or Level II-esque unit also. It's definitely busy in that you have 3-4 babies who need to be changed, fed, assessed, given oral meds, etc... but it doesn't have that high acuity stress ...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to jennylee321's topic in NICU
I work in a very large level IV unit that has a semi-separate level II area. It generally has a group of devotees who mainly staff it, but anyone is fair game to get sent over there if need be. It's 3:1 assignments mostly, or 4:1 if you have a tech w...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to danceluver's topic in NICU
As much as I dislike night shift, I would WAY rather work all nights than be on a rotating day/night schedule. At least with clustering my 3 shifts a week I can power through and then spend the other half of the week like a semi-normal functioning hu...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to danceluver's topic in NICU
Where I work, all new grads are oriented on days and then switch to nights until you have enough seniority to come back to days. The reason we orient on days is because of the number of planned procedures that otherwise only occur at night under emer...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to johnsonmich990's topic in NICU
Several years ago our unit set out to really attack infection risks in our micro population, and it was found that doing a full sterile tubing change Q24 lowered our infection rates in the teeny tinies. There's also a practical component in that the ...
BrandNewBabyNurse replied to johnsonmich990's topic in NICU
We also do 24h change out for IL and med infusions, the 72h is for continuous fluids. A new bag is clean spiked every 24h though, and then the full sterile line change is q72. Also forgot to mention that we use clear Microclave's on the ends of all f...