Carlitos

Carlitos has 15 years experience and specializes in ER, ICU.

Latest Activity

1. What do you want to know as an ER nurse?

   Carlitos replied to pollar1's topic in Emergency

   I hear this request a lot. This a little list that I've accumulated over the years. ER Pearls #1 - It's the patient's emergency, not yours. #2 - When you feel like you need to rush, slow down. You'll make fewer mistakes and get do...

2. Love, love, love the ER but hate it too

   Carlitos replied to tomjones200824's topic in Emergency

   Ask for help following your chain of command... Team Leader, Charge Nurse, Clinical Manager, Department Manager, Director/House Supervisor. If all else fails call Safe Harbor. Trust me, if safety is a longstanding problem in your ER, safe harbor w...

3. How to help a med/surg nurse transition to the ED

   Carlitos replied to JamieDNP's topic in Emergency

   Sounds like you have a pretty good list of things to go over with her. One thing you may consider would be covering the Joint Commission Core Measures for the most common disease processes. You can kill two birds with one stone by teaching her the ...

4. Um... Can you hit before you get hit?

   Carlitos replied to tarotale's topic in Emergency

   Violence in the EC is far from rare, even common. I would say no, do not hit before you get hit. The best thing you can do is learn how to recognize when a patient may become violent BEFORE it happens. That will give you the opportunity to de-esca...

5. How do you prevent psych/etoh elopements?

   Carlitos replied to mmutk's topic in Emergency

   I'd bet that for every one "kidnapping" charge you would find hundreds of "negligence" charges. My take on it is this... it has nothing to do with whether or not they were drinking, doing drugs or whatever. It all boils down to your assessment of th...

6. Ez-io

   Carlitos replied to JoshuaAdamsRN's topic in Emergency

   I just re-read your post and realized I didn't answer your question... In my five years as an ER nurse and ten years as a paramedic, I have never seen this happen. I'm sure it does on occasion, however. When it does, my guess would be that it is re...

7. Ez-io

   Carlitos replied to JoshuaAdamsRN's topic in Emergency

   If it was obvious that it was "through-and-through" I would have informed the doctor of my concerns and let him/her know that pushing the saline is not advised and not safe. If the MD insisted on pushing saline through the line I would have handed h...

8. about to become a fearless leader...

   Carlitos replied to epsilonprodigy's topic in Emergency

   I think you missed the point here. We can't possibly teach a new grad EVERYTHING they need to know in the EC in the 6-8 weeks that they typically get. Just like when we took the NCLEX... We were being tested to make sure we would be safe RNs, not ...

9. 10 Bucks An Hour For Agency Orientation

   Carlitos replied to Aviationurse's topic in Agency

   I don't know about $10/hr, but I do know that most agencies offer lower pay for orientations. The main reason for this is that the agency does not bill the facility for your orientation time, so this money comes out of the agency's pocket. They are...

10. IV size

    Carlitos replied to danger's topic in Emergency

    We do CT Angios of the head all the time. It's usually up to neuro/neuro-surg to make that decision. I don't think anyone is touting them as a "golden" option. But they are just that... an option. I, too, would like to see some research on the IO...

11. Facility Insurance Requirements for Staffing Agency???

    Carlitos replied to Carlitos's topic in Entrepreneurs

    Thanks, NedRN! That is what I was expecting. For some reason, though, all of the quotes I've been recieving are for 200/600k. I figured since they specialize in insuring staffing agencies, they would have quoted me on the 1/3M policies. When I asked ...

12. Facility Insurance Requirements for Staffing Agency???

    Carlitos posted a topic in Entrepreneurs

    I am starting up my own agency, finally, and I'm close to opening my doors. One of the few things I have left to do is research insurance requirements. I was wondering if anyone here can give me a ballpark figure of what hospitals generally require...

13. Any reputable resources for starting an agency?

    Carlitos posted a topic in Entrepreneurs

    I've been lurking the AllNurses forums for quite some time now and have gathered some information on starting up a nursing agency. My question is: Are there any reputable resources / books to guide me? I've seen quite a few online but don't want t...