BelgianRN

BelgianRN

GICU, PICU, CSICU, SICU

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About BelgianRN

BelgianRN has 6 years experience and specializes in GICU, PICU, CSICU, SICU.


28 yo RN in a mixed ICU in a university hospital in Belgium.

Latest Activity

  1. bolus w/o order....yes or no?

    What's wrong with speaking to the RN herself? Why run to management. If you felt the need to spy on her patient care at least have the courtesy to go head on with her as well. There is too little direct communication nowadays.
  2. Registration Typos

    "PEP", so i figured hmmm profylaxis. Turns out it stands for "poepen en pech" which is Dutch for "unfortunate sex", the guy had an STD. Or when the patients talk too much some secretaries summ it up to "sick". Also had "ITP (no clue what this is...)"...
  3. GCS of a quadriplegic?

    The GCS was designed with the mindset of neurotrauma evaluation. It gained popularity for other usages and pathologies. But i think the point is moot as to what their GCS is if you have signs he is oriented. You can't properly use the GCS to determin...
  4. audible brachial pulse

    You can only hear audible arterial pulses when the bloodflow is somehow obstructed. There are multiple reasons: pressure from your stethoscope on a superficial artery, partially clogged artery, aneurysmatic deformation, AV-malofrmation to name a few.
  5. What's your patient load?

    For every ABC-unstable patient we go 1:1, means the other nurses go up at the same time taking over your load. Medsurg anywhere from 3:1 to 6:1 depending on available staff. Peds generally 3:1. Small surgical cases: task oriented nursing, everyone...
  6. Working long hours to buy gifts for everyone...

    I used to do this for years, but somehow felt unrewarding as some members in my family can be really ungrateful. But last year I decided to work Christmas, escape from my extensive family (the easy part as they live abroad) and spent my entire christ...
  7. Simultaneous Electrolyte Administration

    The only issue that we keep having with our new people is simple chemistry problems. Like you can't infuse potassiumphosphate and magnesiumsulphate together since it forms the insoluble magnesiumphosphate and things like sodiumbicarbonate and calcium...
  8. BiV pacer question

    It is possible to have two ventricular spikes if your pacemaker activates the two ventricles separately and out of sync to some degree.
  9. atrial ecg

    Indeed, an atrial ECG requires atrial pacing wires. The policy in my hospital is that we connect the extremity leads as they should and use V1 and V2 or V3 connected to both atrial wires. I generally use V3 if my complexes are too large and start ove...
  10. Blood cultures from old CVC

    Standard Practice in our ICUs is when spiking a temperature we draw at least one blood culture peripherally (or
  11. Primacor and Dobutamine running @ same time?

    It is a very common combination for our severe heart failure patients. Both drugs have a different pathway to stimulate the inotropy of the heart. Dobutamine works via your beta receptors stimulating the enzyme adenylate cyclase to promote formation ...
  12. ECG Question Need help ASAP

    The thing that came to mind is that half sensitivity refers to 5 mm/1 mV instead of the standard 10 mm/1 mV. You'd change this value in the light of left ventricular hypertrophy or conduction abnormalities that cross into your other leads obscuring t...
  13. anxiety/desats when repositioning intubated patient

    As other posters have said preoxygenation is helpful. But you could see if you have orders to give a bolus of a sedative for an already intubated patient. This will decrease the oxygen consumption by avoiding anxiety altogether an also prevents exces...
  14. What to do in family emergency situations?

    I remember a few years ago a colleague called around 22 pm she wouldn't be in for the nightshifft. She came home found her husband drowned in the tub together with her 1 year old. As she called us the EMTs were still coding her child. I'm still amaze...
  15. Bullies at the work place.. vent

    The thing that has bothered me with the OP's post is the first line where he/she mentions "turned in". It sounds so malignant. You don't turn your colleagues in via a report ever, you just report an error and preferably a solution to prevent it as we...