blinks14

blinks14 specializes in Surgical Telemetry.

Latest Activity

1. Do you do venipunctures as a nurse?

   blinks14 replied to CassB's topic in General Nursing

   I also never learned how to do a venipuncture or IV in nursing school. All we learned in school was the theory behind placing an IV. But the school I went to was affiliated with a hospital that had an IV team (they don't anymore) so they didn't teach...

2. Per Diem work..

   blinks14 replied to LaylaHendrix23's topic in General Nursing

   I work per diem at an outpatient surgery center. They're only open 4 days a week, no weekends and no holidays so I don't have to worry about those requirements. Sometimes it gets a little tiring and it's not something I'm gonna do forever but for now...

3. Pyxis as the problem? You decide.

   blinks14 replied to vicarious's topic in General Nursing

   We do not have Pyxis per se at my hospital but we do have something similar, it's called Omnicell. Anyways not every single med is stored in our Omnicell. We keep IV fluids, all narcs, additional emergency meds and other various things in the Omnicel...

4. Is it a law?

   blinks14 replied to akrn70's topic in General Nursing

   I don't think it is a law but I worked in ambulatory surgery where anyone who received general or MAC anesthesia was discharged by wheelchair. Noone really ever made a big deal about it. Local cases could walk out. Now I work on a cardiac unit (in th...

5. Wage Freeze

   blinks14 replied to dabowhunter's topic in General Nursing

   We don't have a wage freeze as of yet but NO overtime, no agency, no per diems. We also have a hiring freeze and transfer freeze (I'm not sure how that helps) but our unit is short because there were 4 full-time RN positions open and noone was hired ...

6. Hiring a nurse that's a carrier of MRSA - Can that happen?

   blinks14 replied to Halla17's topic in General Nursing

   I had heard that our Infectious Disease department had once picked a nursing unit to swab to see what the incidence of MRSA was and it turned out they never released the results presumably because so many actually carried it.

7. tips on how to survive 12 hr shifts.

   blinks14 replied to arabella205's topic in General Nursing

   I just started 12 hour shifts and I LOVE them. The day goes pretty fast for me. I start at 3p and work til 3a so when I get in at 3 in the afternoon it's always busy. The first 8 fly by. Then the second 4 I reassess everyone, do meds, chart checks, m...

8. ? For those that use Alaris pumps

   blinks14 replied to Ared1's topic in General Nursing

   We use Alaris pumps with the Guardrails system for blood administration. Initially the rate is set at 120/hr for the first 15 minutes. After we do a set of vitals to check for transfusion reaction we can increase the rate to infuse the blood with 4 h...

9. How do you manage to get to work in snow storms ?

   blinks14 replied to NurseLoveJoy88's topic in General Nursing

   We are required to get to work on time if we are scheduled. I never think about it, I just go, I adjust my departure time accordingly. I honestly get quite peeved at people who think that snow is an excuse not to come to work, if I can manage to get ...

10. Priming blood tubing with...blood??

    blinks14 replied to robinbird's topic in General Nursing

    At our facility we do not hang blood, nurses on our IV team do we just do a double-check with them, but I've watched it done both ways. To me it seems easier to prime with saline first. For me the problem is always switching over the saline in time t...

11. Computer Charting: The Good and the Not-So-Good

    blinks14 replied to SusanKathleen, RN's topic in General Nursing

    We are not completely computerized at my facility yet but physicians have the ability to put in computerized orders wherever they can access a computer so if you call them for something they just put the order in and you get it. Which sometimes has i...

12. New Nurses: Is nursing what you expected it to be???

    blinks14 replied to Misslady113's topic in Emergency

    Nursing is everything I expected it to be and more. I LOVE it. I love it when it's hectic, I love running around, I love solving problems or being part of the solution. I thrive on all of it. The only thing that I had a hard time wrapping my head aro...

13. Does this sound strange to anyone else?

    blinks14 replied to smalltownnurse2506's topic in General Nursing

    If we want to apply for another position in our hospital we have to have our manager sign our transfer request before we can interview.

14. Nurse - Patient ratios in your hospital?

    blinks14 replied to MiaLyse's topic in General Nursing

    I work on a Surgical Tele unit and our ratio is 4-5:1. We also may cover an LPN and their ratio is the same. We may or may not have an aide, the ratio for them might be up to 1:16. We also have at least one unit clerk, and our tele is centralized, th...

15. new grad contract

    blinks14 replied to mnf626's topic in General Nursing

    I'm not surprised to hear this at all. I've never heard of a contract with nothing in it for the employee but it is a way for the hospital to get their money's worth out of you. By that I mean the money they invest to train you once you are an employ...