andi.w

andi.w

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About andi.w

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  1. Stuff my patients say...

    A patient recently told me that she was scheduled for a stress test and an autopsy the following day.
  2. medical error injection

    I think that a lot of RNs have or will make a med error at some point, whether big or small. I've made med errors before; it feels TERRIBLE. And as terrible as it feels, at the same time, it feels so much better to fess up and get it off your chest....
  3. Vent settings

    Good resources! Thank you all! One thing that I think I may be confused about is CMV vs. SIMV. It's my understanding that in CMV, the ventilator gives a fixed number of breaths with a fixed Vt and ignores any spontaneous breaths from the patient. Wh...
  4. Vent settings

    Hello, all. I've been looking for a good resource that explains the different vent modes/settings. Does anyone have any favorites? Thanks!
  5. Violent Physician

    Unfortunately, this sounds familiar to me. I have worked with a couple of physicians that have been ordered anger management classes for their behavior. In my experience, it didn't make a difference. Aside from the fact that no one should have to wor...
  6. Lexiscan vs. stress echo

  7. Cardiac Handbook

    Try this: http://fastfactsforcriticalcare.com/ I bought this mini binder as a new grad and still use it as a reference. It's not only cardiac, but has several sections for neuro, drugs, respiratory, etc. I also bought the additional sections for IABP...
  8. Shift change and visitation in ICU/stepdown

    I'm so jealous of those of you with visitation restrictions! The other two ICUs in my hospital do not allow visitors between 6a-8a and 6p-8p. I work cardiovascular surgical ICU, and we have NO limitations on visitors. It nauseates me to see small chi...
  9. crescent shaped incision for open heart surgery?

    I work in open heart recovery, and I have not heard of a crescent shaped midsternal incision. I do not work in a large hospital, but I have seen a few patients come through with a MVR via a thoracotomy approach. Maybe this is what she's referring to?...
  10. Trust?

    I felt this way when I first started too. It seemed like the more critical patients always went to the nurses who had been there longer. Eventually when I had gained some seniority and started taking the more critical patients, I lacked confidence be...
  11. amiodarone/a-fib

    Tricky. Is the BP low because of the afib or does the pt normally run low? I think it would definitely depend on how brave the doc was feeling. You could try giving a slow bolus of amio and then starting a gtt. If the pt was symptomatic maybe amio an...
  12. Staying organized on Tele

    I also started as a new grad on a tele unit. It took me several months to find a routine that made me most proficient. One thing that I did at first was make a Sort of "check sheet/graph." I listed my pt room numbers horizontally and then tasks s...
  13. priorities and time management

    It's good that you have a mental plan for how to begin. I work both CVICU and tele, and my "routine" is different for each. Everyone has a routine that works best for them. It took me a while to figure out how I could be most efficient. I too do a qu...
  14. EKG courses

    Skillstat.com is another good site for practicing ECG rhythms. It also has ACLS practice and other helpful info.
  15. Responding to the ER for STEMIs

    If EMS picks up a STEMI or if a STEMI walks into the ER, we activate an AMI page, and a page is sent out to the interventional cardiologist, Cath lab team, and the CVICU unit. A nurse from CVICU does not respond to the ER, however. The ER staff are f...