dawnebeth

dawnebeth

ICN

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About dawnebeth

dawnebeth has 24 years experience and specializes in ICN.


Latest Activity

  1. experience with neonatal bacterial meningitis?

    We had a baby who had e coli meningitis--she went home okay, but after months of antibiotics. Amazingly, despite hydrocephalus, she seems very normal (for a 2 month old). However, I know of a different case where a baby got bacterial meningitis on a...
  2. Need all NICU info possible!! Please Help.

    I have a two year degree and had never seen a premature baby when I started at our level 3 ICN--but we have a great 12 week training course (for all nurses, not just new grads) who are hired. I felt like I had never been in nursing school before, but...
  3. methadone effects on newborns

    When we get a baby on Methadone withdrawal because mom was in a program, the withdrawal sometimes seems to me worse than from Heroin. As another poster mentioned, it can take 2-3 months. The babies are put on morphine and phenobarb. We have a opiate ...
  4. Thoughts on using donor breast milk in NICU?

    Nearly all our micro-preemies and babies with gut damage are on Breast milk or banked Breast milk. When only a tiny portion is needed, we do a partial thaw. Let the bottle thaw just enough that the milk closest to the glass thaws and the core in the ...
  5. oral care

    I just asked this recently of our nurse practitioner--she said water on a cotton tipped applicator or gauze 2x2 is good.
  6. Newborn Shiver

    As others have said, babies don't shiver due to brown fat. Preemies, in particular, are often jittery or tremble simply because they are preemies and their movements are not smooth.
  7. NICU Breastmilk Support Groups

    We had our line infections drop dramatically when we started doing sterile line set ups (sterile gloves, hats and using a sterile field to lay out the IV tubing), as well wiping the hubs 15 seconds with alcohol with every new med and flush and--as th...
  8. Doctor's role vs. nurse's in the NICU

    Remember that you are at the bedside with the patient your entire shift while the doctor is there a minimum of a few minutes a day. As others have said, you do so much more than be the doctor's assistant and pass bedpans. You are the patient's advoca...
  9. 24 years ago I took a job in an ICN barely two months out of nursing school (I didn't even take the boards for two more months) and I felt completely at sea. I'd had NO exposure to preemies, very sick babies, etc and was very nervous. But I think all...
  10. Do you kangaroo while infant is still in humidity?

    If the baby is stable enough to be held, by all means, regardless of humidity. We use humidity for a month on all babies under 30 weeks and definitely allow moms to hold the babies as soon as possible.
  11. Poll: What do you love about the NICU?

    I've been blessed to work in a great ICN for many years with supportive, good nurses who enjoy what they are doing. That's the key--giving love and support to your fellow nurses. No one can work alone or take all the burden of the job. But if you can...
  12. Volunteer Cuddling

    I don't live in Houston, but most hospitals who have volunteers not only have a waiting list, but generally, there is a training period where you have to volunteer in other parts of the hospital first before going to the ICN. In our hospital, you hav...
  13. Contacting unit director about a job

    I always tell people to call or email the unit manager--sometimes monthly, to keep your name fresh in her mind when the unit does start hiring.
  14. Hospital Scrubs

    We've always worn our own uniforms--usually in bright patterns and color--only the OR has hospital scrubs.
  15. NG/OG tube verification policies

    Our tubes have numbers on them. We're supposed to check the number at the lip or nares every shift (who now remembers that I checked the number at the lip last night and never wrote it down on my notes). Pushing air into a small baby isn't always the...