Veteran. Did construction work. Nurse since '80. Almost all in ICUs. Married. 2 dtrs. 4 G-kids. Old southern boy with liberal arts education and liberal ideas.
Brett has a good answer. I would only add that you should be thinking that you are going to work in both MICU and SICU sometime and in a CCU also. There are lots of things to learn from all the 'specialties' and to be the best nurse you can be you ...
Well, Username33, that's a simple question that actually covers a huge am't of ground -- how would you tell a seizure from a stroke? There are similarities of course. Changes in consciousness, deflections of gaze, loss of speech. A seizure is a...
I will admit that I am a TERRIBLE delegater! In ICU where the usual 'load' is 2 patients, I find I can focus down on just my two patients and develop a scheme for meeting all my expectations. When someone stops me and says 'what can I do to help?' ...
papawjohn replied to mirabelle's topic in Activism
I've noticed over the last few years that the field of Case Managers and the like has expanded amazingly. In my little ICU the last 5 RNs to move on all went to Computers and phone-conference type work instead of "bedsides". Makes sense in this "...
papawjohn replied to username33's topic in Geriatric
My sister tells this story on herself and I'll pass it along. She was a new RN working in a CCU and a patient was admitted with an irregular atrial rhythm and a peculiar heart sound. She called the Cardiologist and was trying to describe this. He...
Well KSL777, I'm trying to imagine the situation that has you posing this question at like 0100. (Of course -- where you're at, maybe it's 4pm! But the time-heading says 0139.) And I imagine you've just finished your shift and you had a push to g...
Well Stacia, I'll give you a bit of advice -- bear in mind that things that worked for me might or might not work for you. You say you work with Tele. Use your monitor skills and try to get all the pulls to the Unit and pick up whatever overtime th...
My personal favorite. Young pregnant gal contracts Guillian-Barre, ends up with paralysis to her ears -- worst case I ever saw. Vent and TPN and the whole 9 yards in our Neuro ICU. Part of assessment was documenting fetal heart tones. Whenever I ...
papawjohn replied to JosefVernon Hodgkins's topic in General Nursing
Joe, my friend, I didn't bother to check on all your other posts but would I find something on the order of 'What a great experience I had at work today!' if I looked? I've occasionally put that sorta thing here. Three nights ago I was pulled from...
Sounds like you're working in a Hospital with very slack management. But so are a lot of us and it's likely you'll be doing it a lot in your future. So as aggravated as you (justifiably) feel....get over it and do something on your own. Here's what...
Hello, fellow ICU nurse!! I've been at this over 30yrs now and still find that giving (and to some extent, getting) report is sometimes the most stressful part of the 12hrs. Isn't that nuts!! Think about it for a minute. You've watched your pat...
Well, I'll chime in. I'm a lot older than you but let me be boring, as grand-pa's tend to be, and explain that I was a military Medic (think--EMT) in the early 60s. I became a 'para-jumper' (think Para-Medic but in a helicopter) in VietNam (there w...
papawjohn replied to PayitForwardHolistic's topic in General Nursing
Ms Do-Over, you are correct and wise. People do NOT die from CO2 narcosis; they die from lack of Oxygen. And the Ambu-bag is your and their best friend-in-need. PapawJohn
Well, as you can tell I've had to think about this quite alot lately. I already belong to Medicare. I pay a lot of attention to politics (comment regularly as JohnMcC if anyone reads the same blogs I do) and worried extravagantly about the economy ...
papawjohn replied to knittingfan283's topic in General Nursing
If your workplace doesn't allow you to do EKGs yourself, or order them stat prior to calling the MD -- which I guess is true, you did exactly what your Facility planned for this sort of thing. Nurses have great responsibilities and tend to obsess o...