Cfholmes

Thank you for helpful reply!

Thank you for your insight!

I'm an RN working on a committee to plan for a move into a new level III NICU with single patient family rooms. We will be moving from a 14 bed bay style to a 14 room unit with a work station between every 2 rooms and 2 nurses stations. Since it is a small unit with limited staff, we are struggling with how to best utilize staff for patient care, deliveries, and charge responsibilities. Wondering how others who have made this move have handled staffing and communication between staff. Are you using phones or hands free devices when you need help? Nurses are worried about not seeing their other patients when in a room. Safety for our babies is, of course, our main concern. Any input is welcome. Thanks!!!

Hi! I'd like to know what other NICUs do to protect the nasal septum from breakdown when using nasal prongs for cpap or nasal cannula. Our current practice is to cut a strip of Replicare ( hydrocolloid) and apply it from just above the lip to above the tip of the nose. We change it once a shift and have had very good success with it. Now our head respiratory therapist doesn't like it because the RTs can't assess the skin underneath it. Any thoughts?

Thank you for your helpful responses!

Hi! I'd like to know what other NICUs use to flush their Umbilical Veinous Catheters after drawing blood from them. We use dual lumen catheters. Our current practice is to flush with solution drawn from the bag of 1/2 normal saline with 1/2 unit of heparin/ ml, which is running at 0.5-1 ml/ hour in one of the lumens. I don't like the idea of breaking into the line even though we clean it thoroughly and use aseptic technique when doing so. Does anyone just use sterile NS without heparin for flushes? Thanks!