You know you're a neuro nurse if.....

when you swear up and down that the pt is regarding you or is with it,when the glas. scale says otherwise.. its so freaky, they look you dead in your eye!!

1.you Know What Neuro Breath Is
2.you Are On A First Name Basis With The Organ Donor Service Personell
3.you Can Explain The Differences In Sah Grades 1-5 So Simply That 1st Graders Can Understand It!

that's so interesting. I've had quite a number of neuro patients recently, and I'll admit they do have a distinct odor. Last week, I cared for a pt with Locked-in Syndrome...how sad, anyway, I gave her a bath and just tried to make her comfortable all day. She still had the odor after the bath. What's that all about?

You find yourself using the phrase, "You have a tube in your bladder" over 100 times in a shift in respones to your patients frantic "I NEED TO PEE!" diatribe.

Ain't that the truth!!!!

There is a simple remedy to this problem - refill the bladder with about 50 mls - either use warm saline or simply clamp the tubing for an hour or so.

The problem is caused by irritation of the catheter tip against the bladder wall and re-inflating the bladder moves the wall away from the bladder tip. You only occasionally need to re-inflate a second time. Warn the patient that this will take time to work. Even if you use warm saline - give it a few minutes for the spasms to settle before releasing the catheter and letting it drain.

Once you tried this once or twice (remember that it does take that little bit of time - especially if you simply clamp the catheter) but it DOES work and works well

I don't work in a Neuro ICU but I do work on a Med-Surg Ortho/Neuro floor. Two pretty common things are...

"Here are some pretty bracelets I'm putting on you to keep you safe and remind you not to get up."

And...

"No, I don't have a key to your house. You're at the hospital." Or something along those lines.

thanks
i was hating neuro so much but after one pt recover from lt. paraital bone depressed and he visited us after that in our ICU
i changed my mind about neuro

I began working on an ortho/neuro med-surg unit and didn't know that there was any specialty...thought I would be simply on med-surg.

For the longest time I absolutely hated the neuro portion of the floor, but as mentioned above, after seeing someone recover it is pretty cool.

I work in Trauma/Neuro/Surgical ICU and we decided to title our book "Suicide: Doing it right the first time"

Also, you know you work in neuro when you spend your entire shift trying to explain to your newly extubated neuro patient why it is inappropriate to play in your poop, grab someones boob, etc.