catamounts303

You're easily going to get critical care RN, sometimes they play a game to fill slots and might try to talk you into med surg and say you can move over to icu immediately; don't do it stick to your guns they are just trying to fill a quota; they will make an icu slot for you.

sammitate, with that academic profile you should be going to CRNA school, or applying to the Army's USGPANN active duty crna school.

Great questions. So the drug in most protocols used is lorazepam iv push 1 - 2 mg sometimes as frequently as every 30 minutes. Lorazepam has a short half life, it's also a benzodiazepine which in high doses can be dangerous causing respiratory depression. One thing you should read about is a medical called phenobarbital, it's a class of drug known as a barbiturate and originally manufactured as an anti convulsant. It is longer acting and allows for minimal dosing of lorazapm to suppress the dangerous effects of alcohol withdraw. It is administered IM or po.

Kegels are intervention and outcome is continence of urine. You will never ever use this stuff in practice.

You have a great shot and welcome to the profession. BSN backups are a great easy option, umass Amherst is awesome, check out umass Boston, and lastly mgh institute of health professions, mgh is costly but an excellent program.

Bottom line make them stop this and get all your pressors and sedation on infusion pumps. This must be so frustrating for you!

Heavy GI bleeds, ARDS, exacerbation CHF/COPD, and DKA. Progression to Septic shock, organ failure, from the aforementioned population. Exciting therapies now for ARDS and Sepsis. More patients surviving these critical illnesses.

So ya just flip em eh? Will give it a go. Work for a big county hospital, many uninsured so it's hard to get reimbursed on the KCI.

Hi everyone, Our ICU is starting to get really aggressive in identifying and aggressively treating ARDS patients much sooner. We have used the huge KCI beds that rotate with much success. With that said we want to try proning more patients sooner and much more often. The KCI just isn't feasible all the time. I was wondering is if anyone could comment/walk me through as to how they prone patients on the bed. Ive heard it can be done safely with a log roll and would be greatful to hear how you do it. Thank you all in advance.

MICU: Levo, Vaso, and then inotripics dobutamine for hearts dopamine for sepsis. Ionitropes selection may also be influenced by extent of AKI.

I don't think you really had a choice especially if fluid bolus was something you had to avoid. Levophed is at least our standard. Do you guys carry primacor drip ? The MD probably was just squeamish because of the chance and incidence of fatal arytmia with dopamine. But for a flight over you did the right thing.

Outstanding reponses. I've been thinking lately when cases do arise would this adult patient event benefit? So many are lung transplant receipients, ILD, and in full blown septic shock on Levo and fluid resuscitattion. But we still see a steady flow of the acute lung injury and somewhat stable ARDS patient so I do hope there is a push. I'm yet to see the machine I figure the concept is similar to the heart lung machine? That is a wild store having to prone the patient without the kci bed!

Good work laurel

Definately do the ACLS and their is also one called TNCC (Trauma Nurse Core Curriculumn you might find helpful). I can imagine you're probably good with Rythms working in tele. There is a book published by the AACN called Essentials of Critical Care Nursing. I would read the pharmacology section which will give you a solid background on sedation and the types of medicines used in critical care. And just have a good understanding of shock, the types, and how you would treat etc. You'll be more than prepared.

Hi everyone On our unit we've been seeing a lot of ARDS lately for multiple reasons. Usually things like aspiraton pneumonitis, fibrotic lung disease, acute lung injuries, trauma, etc. One of the treatments we have done has been of course the KCI bed that turns the patient upside down etc. However recently I've been hearing about putting a patient on ECMO allowing the lungs to heal while the machien can perfuse the body. I was wondering if any of your centers have used ECMO? I have heard a lot of the military hospitals have been using it. Just curious about the success rates etc. Maybe even some NICU Nurses could chime in on what its like to manage a patient on ECMO therapy. The idea seems awesome. Wonder if and when or if it is in fact going on in some of your hospitals?