TLCinCICU

TLCinCICU has 8 years experience and specializes in cardiac ICU.

Latest Activity

1. Does your facility aspirate blood before removing a sheath?

   TLCinCICU replied to ALCCRN's topic in CCU

   It's policy where I work that you must aspirate from a sheath before pulling it. The theory is that any clot at the tip could be stripped loose as the sheath is pulled. It (in theory) could then embolize to the lower leg. If we cannot aspirate, we...

2. How high have you titrated levophed?

   TLCinCICU replied to racing-mom4's topic in MICU

   Our facility runs Levophed at mcg/min, where many run at mcg/kg/min. The highest I have ever titrated Levophed was beyond our formulary max of 300 mcg/min. (My Kathi White reference notebook says 30 mcg/min.) This particular patient was a "heroic ...

3. Obama's health plan

   TLCinCICU replied to futureRNJaz's topic in General Nursing

   I attended a small gathering hosted by a physician that had the sole purpose of contrasting the healthcare plans of each of the two candidates. A healthcare economist spoke. His materials came from http://www.health08.com . The speaker did a fine ...

4. Survey for Sociology Paper...Will you help me out?

   TLCinCICU replied to EMT_to_RN's topic in Men

   1. how long (years) have you been a nurse? 8 years 2. what is your annual gross income? less than 30k, 30-40k, 40-50k, 50-60k, 60-70k, greater than 70k 60-60k 3. do you have an associate or bachelors degree? associate 4. how long have you worked for ...

5. Reasoning against pushing meds through a-line?

   TLCinCICU replied to mummer43's topic in CCU

   The reason is simply anatomic. Arteries flow outward from the heart. Vein flow toward it. You get systemic distribution of the drug using a vein. Using an a-line will send the medication away from the heart. There would be quite a significant de...

6. Going to day shift? What's the difference in how I'll......

   TLCinCICU replied to kyboyrn's topic in General Nursing

   Between my prior position as a lab tech and my first few years as a nurse, I worked night shift for 12 years. I thought I had always handled the night hours well both physically and emotionally. I did, however, spend much of the first day off aslee...

7. Do you accept tips?

   TLCinCICU replied to 987!'s topic in General Nursing

   It's wrong to accept any kind of monetary gift/tip for our care from patients or families. Just think of how it could be if tips were allowed. Those who could afford to tip generously would receive the most devoted attention and "service" while the...

8. do any of you like codes??

   TLCinCICU replied to ryanfocker's topic in Men

   Codes do give me a bit of an adrenaline rush, but I am much more pleased with myself after a day where I've felt like I've spent the shift about 15 minutes away from a code at any given point. I prefer being proactive - somewhat aggressive - and tak...

9. Male nurse career advice

   TLCinCICU replied to piscesguy's topic in Men

   Nursemike - you and I think a lot alike. I would enjoy working by your side. I've had those same warm-fuzzies when a patient & his/her family asks "Are you back tomorrow?". You're also right about teamwork being such huge part of it - includin...

10. IV pump placement/Room set up

    TLCinCICU replied to TulsaTime's topic in MICU

    Running IV lines across a patient isn't a safe thing to do. I've seen patients get disoriented and pull on the lines, resulting in the IV pole falling into the bed with them - and sometimes hitting them. The "vent side" just happens to be wherever ...

11. MRSA and Isolation

    TLCinCICU replied to tgirl84's topic in General Nursing

    I half-expect that anyone who provides direct patient contact will be cultured for MRSA at least yearly. They could even choose to treat us "for prophylaxis" periodically in the pursuit of keeping the costs of nosocomial infections down. Our ICUs ha...

12. Pronation and pressure sores.

    TLCinCICU replied to dissle's topic in MICU

    Whenever pronation is ordered in either of our ICUs, we rent a specialty bed from KCI called the "Rotoprone". Before that, we used a brace called the "Vollman Pronator". It required multiple staff in order to use the straps and "flip" the patient f...

13. Problem with preceptor and night shift.

    TLCinCICU replied to CallieAnne's topic in MICU

    I would chafe just as much with that preceptor. And as a preceptor, part of our duty is to allow/encourage you to chart and point out areas where you might not address required charting (like "comfort goal", which Joint Commission seems to want to m...

14. TPA didn't infuse

    TLCinCICU replied to JeffTheRN's topic in MICU

    Thanks for sharing the story. Out of curiosity, what was the brand/maker of pump?

15. How frequent BP's on vasoactive meds?

    TLCinCICU replied to nursecass's topic in CCU

    I'm with you. I've found the NIBP cuff set for Q60mins on vasoactive patients, and VS documented on CRRT patients Q60mins - when those patients are "hemodynamically unstable" by definition. I document at least Q15mins with a NIBP and more frequentl...