fusster

Latest Activity

1. Cardiac Stepdown Unit Meds...

   fusster replied to LovePurple's topic in Cardiac

   Well, there's the two drips I used last night-cardizem and dopamine :) other calcium channel blockers like verapamil, Beta-blockers mostly lopressor, labetolol, and coreg, aspirin, amiodarone, digoxin, rythmol, ACE inhibitors mostly lisinopril, diu...

2. Did a dumb thing r/t dialysis port

   fusster replied to SoundofMusic's topic in Urology

   I'm not a dialysis nurse, but here's my understanding. Dialysis ports (Permacaths, Quinton caths) are usually the only way for a patient to get dialysis. If you draw off of a dialysis port, you risk not flushing it properly and clotting it off. If...

3. ECG and Rhythms Need Help!

   fusster replied to Stacy2009's topic in General Students

   I was in your position about two years ago when I was in nursing school, so I know where you're coming from. It's hard to learn to interpret EKG's quickly, as you need to do in nursing school. Do you need to learn what the interventions are for eac...

4. tele/step-down nurses pulled to ICU

   fusster posted a topic in Cardiac

   I work in a community hospital on a telemetry/step down unit-not really sure which you would classify it under. We do drips-cardizem, dobutamine, dopamine, amiodorone, nitro, insulin-pretty much everything except for levophed. The majority of our p...

5. turning pts during sleep?

   fusster replied to girlr6RN's topic in General Nursing

   Pressure ulcers can develop overnight. I turn Q2H at a minimum, this is the standard of care for anyone unable to turn themselves, and results in better patient outcomes. They can be very difficult to get rid of once they're there, so it's best jus...

6. Highest BP you have ever seen on a pt

   fusster replied to nckayaker's topic in Emergency

   I work tele, not ER, but about a month ago had 2 patients in a room together. Bed 1 had a BP that maxed out at 211/110, Bed 2 maxed out at 245/115. Gave a lot of labetolol and hydralazine that night. Lowest was 40's over 20's in a dying patient. L...

7. Hourly Rounding

   fusster replied to Erianne1074's topic in Safety

   We're supposed to do this at my hospital too. I try to do hourly rounds, but if my pt is asleep, no way am I going to wake them up to say this. If they're awake, I'll say "how are you doing? Is there anythin I can do/get for you right now? Push y...

8. How old were you when you began nursing school?

   fusster replied to smellyacres's topic in General Students

   I started nursing school at 18, right after I graduated high school. I went into a BSN program, 125 or so students in my class, and the majority were right out of high school or within a few years of out of high school. At the University I went to,...

9. New admits at shift change

   fusster replied to megananne7's topic in General Nursing

   This reminds me of the time when the ER tried to send us a patient whose CT showed a dissecting AAA Now, wouldn't be so bad if I worked at a large hospital, but I work midnights on a telemetry unit in a community hospital with no surgeons in house ...

10. New admits at shift change

    fusster replied to megananne7's topic in General Nursing

    I find that at the hospital I work at there are a couple of reasons ER nurses wait until shift change to give report and sent patients to our unit. First, the census in the ER dictates their staffing. If they have a very low census, but another uni...

11. better to be an rn or an lpn?

    fusster replied to jenn-jenn's topic in General Nursing

    I would suggest you go for the RN. Since you're tyring to work full time and go to school full time, I'm guessing money is a factor for you. It isn't that much more schooling to get an ADN, and the top pay for a LPN is usually about the same as the...

12. You Know the patient is going bad when...

    fusster replied to Nurseboy1's topic in General Nursing

    When you're getting an admit from the ER and the house supervisor calls to let you know that the pt coded in the ER, then the family decided to make him a no code due to his terminal state, so they're sending him to our floor so his death won't be in...

13. Syncope

    fusster replied to E.R. Rookie's topic in Student Assist

    Look up the possible causes of syncope, then you can narrow down what assessments are priority (as a general rule of thumb, start with your ABC's).

14. Small town hospital

    fusster replied to All_Smiles_RN's topic in General Nursing

    I work in a small hospital, but we do not have this rule. If doctors are the type that don't like to be bothered at night, then they make sure their home phone numbers aren't in our contact information database and they turn their pagers off at nigh...

15. what to do when a PEG comes out

    fusster replied to fusster's topic in General Nursing

    ok, thank you all for your advice. I've been a nurse for less than a year and had never encountered this situation before. I followed the lead of the preceding nurse who had 20 years experience, but I guess she was wrong. Lesson learned!