Any Rad nurses out there??

dspring, RN · Jan 11, 2003

I'm fairly new to Radiology Nursing myself. I have been doing it full time since Aug 2002, but I was moonlighting in it for the last 2 years a work in a 200+ bed facility in OH, and I have taken a postion as the only full time RN in the Department. One of the other RN's I work with was the initial Radiology nurse for almost 16 years, and she is getting ready to retire. She is a great resource person for me. All my training was OJT, but I have also been an ER nurse for 10 years now. I still moonlight in the ER regularly. It gets in your blood. I am interested in swapping war stories with other RAD Nurses, and I am really interested in othe facilities documentation for procedures. I was told the Department will eventually be "My Baby" so I am always looking at ways to improve things.

Dennis

RadRN2 · Jan 11, 2003

Welcome, dspring!! It's great to keep this thread going. I came from an ER background (and ICU) myself, 10 yrs there. But, now in my late 40's, it's sure hard to keep up with the ER pace. Not to say that Radiology isn't busy, just not as consistently so as ER at my facility. Rad really grows on you fast, though. I just love it now and consider it my "specialty". Have been there nine years now.

You will be the only nurse in your dept? Have heard from several nurses in that situation.

Here's a hot button question for radiology nurses -- what's everybody's dept policy on using power injectors with central lines?

dspring, RN · Jan 11, 2003

our hosp policy is we are not to use them. I have had to start countless IV's on patients with Central Lines and picc's because of this. Usually the whole time the patient is giving me grief about not using their central line also. I work with one other nurse at a time, but they are both part time.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 11, 2003

We went thru a lot of discussion about this subject (using power injectors to inject contrast thru central lines) too. All the literature we requested from the vendors clearly states not to use power injector w/lines. However, our Radiologists (one from UCSD, one from Baylor, others from LLUMC) feel it IS safe to inject at a rate under 1.5cc/sec, have done so at other facilities without incident. Our policy HAD been: no, don't. But we re-wrote it so that the CT tech must consult the Radiologist if a central line is the ONLY IV access. The Rad. will then review the need for the contrast and direct the power injection, again, at 1.5cc/sec or less, depending on the exam. In otherwords, the window was left open to power inject at the discretion of the Radiologist. -- D

DeterminedOne · Jan 13, 2003

Hi everyone! Glad I found this site. Should be very informative as I am also a fairly new, lone nurse in our angiography suite. We have been doing everything except cardiac caths - till now. Got certificate of need to do cardiacs about 6 months ago and have been preparing extensively for this. We will be doing only diagnostic cardiac caths - no interventions. We do interventions when necessary on peripheral cases. I will have another nurse joining me when we start and I have had lot of critical care and supervisory background so I am fairly comfortable with my role. However - any advice would be appreciated. For those out there who have a lab that does both peripheral and cardiacs, is there a competition or disagreement between your vascular docs, cardiologists, and radiologists about "whose" lab it is? Our radiologist was first to do angios in our facility. He is great to work with and much more easy going than the others. Then we got a new, fresh out of school vascular doc who does his own angios, plasty/stents (he doesn't feel a radiologist is qualified to do them!). Now that our cardiac guys will be cathing - the vascular guy is "concerned" that they understand that is His lab. Is this type of turf war common? Seems pretty childish, doesn't it? Any advice, words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.

DeterminedOne · Jan 13, 2003

Dianah - in response to your question about power injectors - we do not use on our central lines or picc lines. Has been an on-going battle though to prevent this. We instruct our patients not to allow any power injector use through their line.

RadRN2 · Jan 13, 2003

DeterminedOne -- We don't do any cardiac caths in our labs but just in the last 6 months, two cardiologists have started using our labs for peripheral work. And, BOY, you talk about turf battles!!! We think its pretty entertaining!!. Our radiologists have always figured it's "their" lab even though they refuse to sign any contract with the hospital (don't know quite how they get away with that one) and we have always been at their mercy as far as showing up late, adding on "emergencies" on Friday afternoons, etc. Now here come the cardiologists who, by the way, show up on time, have all their H&P's, etc. completed. Of course, we make this well known!!! And then they kind of secretly try to watch each other's cases. What a day care!!

dspring, RN · Jan 14, 2003

Hey Radrn2, It must be a new trend, we have 2 Cardiologist that are going to start coming down to our lab. There is also 1 cardiologist that has been doing peripheral work in the cardiac cath lab in the hospital across town from us. I have a hunch the turf wars are just starting here in OH. by the way I see your from ID, I have friends in Pocatello, and one of them is a nurse also.

smittybike · Sep 29, 2003

I am a cath lab nurse transitioning into radilogy, I've worked in IR for 3 1/2 years, and now I am assisting in CT, ultrasound, xray. nuc med. I don't have much to go on as far as policy and procedure, documentation of my time etc. Any resources you could recommend would be great!

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 1, 2003

smittybike, I have to think on this one. ARNA core curriculum is great, and there's a good IR handbook (but I forgot who wrote/compiled it, as it was at my old place of employment). Will call and see if I can get the name.

RadRN2 · Oct 2, 2003

dianah,

Are you thinking of the "Handbook of Interventional Radiologic Procedures" by Krishna Kandarpa and John E. Aruny? I have an old 2nd edition from 1996 -- I don't know what edition is out in print now. ARNA also has their Guidelines and Standards binder available.

RadNurseInCali · Feb 29, 2004

Still pretty new to rad nursing but have found that there is room for improvement in our little department. I guess we are going through growing pains since we have restructured our entire rad nursing department. We are all newbies to the department and it makes for one bumpy ride.

At least I can say I enjoy going to work now. Was wondering how everybody handles the day to day flow in their departments. What I mean is, we are having problems being ready for our day. We are either missing info about the patients or missing the order or labs and so on and so on. Does anyone have a system in place that outlines what is needed for procedures and how they gather all the needed info on each patient?

Our newest IR thinks we are paddleing with only one oar. We are disorganized and are feeling the stress of it. Any advice for a new rad nurse?