MeryMellen

Latest Activity

1. Precepting an ED nurse

   MeryMellen replied to charliesmom's topic in Emergency

   I am a new grad and just came off orientation in December. I had several preceptors, some were wonderful, some were just ok. The best preceptors talked me through each patient. So when they came through the door with certain symptoms they would go th...

2. Can anyone explain J waves to me?

   MeryMellen replied to b eyes's topic in Emergency

   Maybe it has something to do with not rewarming patients too quickly. If you raise the temperature too quickly in a person with a hypothalmus that is properly funtioning they can have a drop in temperature.

3. Fibromyalgia

   MeryMellen replied to veetach's topic in Emergency

   Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are dx when everything else has been ruled out, right?

4. Blood gases

   MeryMellen replied to julie_hills's topic in Emergency

   .....

5. Cen

   MeryMellen replied to EmerNurse's topic in Emergency

   Congrats! :) I'm a recent grad and a new ER nurse. A few people I work with have taken the CEN exam, I was wondering what's a good period of time to work as an ER nurse before taking the exam? I certainly don't want to take it in the next year or any...

6. Question for nurses who advance both needle & cath all the way

   MeryMellen replied to enfermeraSG's topic in Infusion

   I did learn to advance the catheter once I had access to the vein, but it's a technique I picked up watching other nurses, I found I had more success with this method so I've stuck to it. I think it's less painful because it's quick. With getting acc...

7. Question for nurses who advance both needle & cath all the way

   MeryMellen replied to enfermeraSG's topic in Infusion

   I know that it seems like you would blow the vein. But if you're inserting an IV with a 1 inch catheter or 1-1/4 inch you should be pretty confident that you have a straight vein of that length because either method of inserting the IV something is g...

8. Too much pain medication

   MeryMellen replied to Jennifer, RN's topic in Emergency

   12mg of Dilaudid! I think a lot of people don't even bat an eyelash at giving 1mg of Dilaudid, but may think twice if given an order for 10mg of Morphine. 12mg of Dilaudid is the equivilant of 96-120mg of Morphine! That's insane!

9. Femoral Central line

   MeryMellen replied to MeryMellen's topic in Infusion

   .

10. Hyperglycemia

    MeryMellen posted a topic in Emergency

    I don't know if it is just me but often I feel that Hyperglycemia is undertreated in the ER. So many patients come in with BS of 300, 400, 500 and will never receive an order for insulin unless I ask for it? Is this just the Physicians I work with or...

11. Nitro for CHF

    MeryMellen posted a topic in Pulmonary

    I had a Resident order Nitro x3 SL for CHF the other day, it's something I'd never seen and some of the other more experienced RN's have never seen either. How effective is Nitro in treating CHF? Is this an old tx that a new resident happened to dig ...

12. filter needles

    MeryMellen replied to HSRN's topic in Infusion

    I work in an ER that does not have filtered needles. I find this to be a big issue, one of the medications that we give a ton of is Phenergan. Many of the RNs where I work are not educated about the damage that Phenergan can cause to the vein (perhap...

13. Femoral Central line

    MeryMellen posted a topic in Infusion

    Does anyone know of any contraindication for a patient with a Femoral Central line being OOB?