I just stumbled upon this post. As a nurse manager in CT surgery, I have worked with the most amazing group of Clinical Nurse Specialists. I can speak for the ICU-- this is such an important role. Healthcare keeps stretching and divesting in Nurse E...
The gold standard for Cardioversion is Propofol Rapid IVP right before shock is delivered. There are times when a patient is symptomatic and can not tolerate the hypotensive effects of proposal, which we would give fentanyl and versed. And then ther...
It would be impossible to answer this questions without being there. Was there a proper waveform with diacritic notch? Were you able to draw back any blood? What was the difference between the systolic and diastolic - a dampened waveform will often...
The patient does not need to be flat for zeroing lines- in fact, the lines don't even need to be connected to the patient to be zero'd. We lay patients flat when we zero so that we can get the most accurate numbers, specifically the CVP. The 'flat a...
YES! IMO, this is how an experienced nurse gives report- don't need to know how long the bypass/XClamp time was for a patient going to the floor. If at any time I need to know about the patient's grafts (which has never ever happened) I can look th...
Your patient does not need to be flat when changing the pressure lines to a swan What I usually do is kink the PA and CVP before inserting the new line, then draw back any possible air from the new stopcock. There are times when I use kelly clamps/he...
At my current hospital we do not get any compensation when caring for ECMO patients. In the past I worked for a hospital that would pay me an additional $8.00/hr for VAD/VA ECMO patients. Should an ECMO patient be 2:1 or 1:1 ? With any device, th...
As a cardiac nurse, let me take a stab: Afterload is the pressure that the heart must pump against. SVR (System Vascular Resistance) calculated value we use to evaluate afterload. We calculate the SVR using the Cardiac Output, Cardiac Index, CVP, Ar...
CT patients can go to sh** on you faster than any patient - extubated and sitting up one 1 minute & bleeding with a MAP in the 40's the next. I had a patient completely exsanguinate in less than 10 second through the chest tubes, with blood overf...
I much rather get paid less and have a better work environment. I was just talking about this last night with a coworker. My last job was amazing- New equipment, higher quality supplies, more staff, fast turn around with labs and medications from ph...