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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,...

Skillstat.com is a really good website for beginner EKG and rhythm interpretation. It's also a nice review for anyone when those yearly competency days come around :) I used it a lot when I was first...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Congrats! I think it would be a perfect place to start. You already know your coworkers, the type of patients, and the general day to day functioning of the unit. That's half the battle as a new...

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...

Skillstat.com is another good site for practicing ECG rhythms. It also has ACLS practice and other helpful info.

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...

Separating compatible drugs is a wonderful suggestion, and I always try to do this. You never know when you may need to run your IVF in quickly, and you don't want to risk bolusing several drips in...

We regularly use an endovascular cooling catheter, but it was in use on another patient at the time. We used cooling blankets instead, which do not have the ability to rewarm. Apparently rewarming by...

We recently had a cardiac arrest patient that we placed in a hypothermic coma. After the 24hrs of cooling the patient, they began passively rewarming. The patient was very slow to rewarm, and after...

Thank you :) I was reading into it way too much.

We use IV amio after the pt goes into afib. We start a beta blocker POD 1 if the pt can tolerate it. Otherwise, we are not currently doing anything preventative.

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what the augmentation is. i have taken a couple of balloon pump classes and researched online, but I'm still having a difficult time understanding. Can...

On my unit we have always just completely paused the pacer, and it always makes me so nervous! I agree that it should be turned down gradually. I feel like it's a nursing judgement call, and if the...

I started out in CCU/open heart as a new grad. Definitely overwhelming. I went to a small community college before moving to a larger city. I felt as though my "small town" practicum experience...

I work in open heart recovery. We had a post-op valve code one evening and the surgeon advised us to do compressions at a rate that kept the patient's systolic BP in the 70s per the arterial line....