veegeern BSN, RN

Long story short here...Census has been low on our adult medical unit for around 1 year. Pediatric's census is up and down, so they've been bumped from floor to floor. Now, they're with us, and possibly will stay. Peds nurses are being crossed t...

Pain or sedation resulting in shallow breathing or slowed respiration rate? I've seen it with other procedures.

An e-mail went out today from the Pharmacy head stating that a (hospital) corporate wide change went into effect today. Until today, a medication could be given up to 1 hour before or as much as 1 hour after the scheduled time without it being consi...

:yeahthat: Most of ours have multiple tablets, and many take them 1 at a time. A couple of our nurses will crush meds for these to save time, but I really hate to do this if the patient can swallow. :smackingf

Thanks to all who have already responded. I see that there a those who have either always been held to the 1 hour standard, or have gone to the 1 hour standard. As an entire floor, it is a challenge to give our medications within the 2 hour time fra...

I have seen this with gravity flow, especially with INTs in the upper arm or when a patient is gettiing out of bed. Have only seen this happen with a pump when the MD ordered a rate of 20 ml/h, and then it only was partially up the tube.

My husband had a "different" odor to his breath before his thyroid cancer was diagnosed and treated. Don't know if it was the cancer or the impaired metabolism that gave off the odor. My grandfather had prostate ca. with mets to the bone. He had a...

I took a quick count of nurses who also happen to be male in my rather small, rural, southern facility. I counted 13 without even trying. If any of them are gay, then their wives and children are in for a big surprise sometime later in life. :icon_...

Funny how we never see things like this in the national news. As opposed to nurses that kill their patients...

Definitely oral care. Changing any tubing including feeding tubing runs a close 2nd. Usually gets done by certain nurses consistently, and not done by others consistently. Our assessment screen flags IV sites that are over 72 hours old (computeriz...

To the OP: I am so sorry that you found yourself in this situation. You say that you lost your cool, but I say that you kept it. You did what you had to do to protect yourself and to make the pt let go of you. End of story. You did not beat, to...

as a new grad, i did both of these!:trout: i was in a hurry and failed to note that i had incorrectly connected the tubing to the cannister. fortunately, our wall suction has a one way valve, so the secretions didn't make it into the system. i now ...

Our facility protocol is to flush IV sites q 8 hrs with 3 ml NS if the site is not being used. We also flush with 3 ml NS before and after IV med admin. Had a patient receiving multiple IV antibiotics. The patient's site was being moved about every ...

KVO fluids makes sense. Just had never heard of flushing with 50 ml saline. I have chosen to use 10 ml for certain abx and after phenergan. Thanks to everyone who replied!!

I'm in Georgia. Hep flush is only used for central lines in our facility. Saline flush only for peripheral IVs.

I personally can't imagine coming back into nursing after that many years, and I'm basing my opinion on the volume of new information that I've had to assimilate since I became a nurse almost 3 years ago. After 30 years, I think it would be like sta...

Have gotten a few chuckles...and a cringe...out of these! A newly hired RN with many years experience was providing patient care one shift. Our PCAs will often place used thermometer covers in a tray on the dinamap cart (even after being told not to...

As for me, I don't know if I would like peds or not. It was okay in nursing school, but I've never actually taken care of them as a nurse.

This was my point exactly. What do peds nurses know about all of the adult cardiac rhythms, meds and dosages...and all the other dxs that we have on our internal medicine floor. What do we know about peds dxs, meds, doses, etc...It's a safety issue...

Thanks to all who replied. You all are voicing what I'm thinking. Even though I'm a very independent person, it's nice to have validation at times. From what I've seen so far (almost 3 years with this hospital) this seems to be the norm rather tha...

FairlyThere has it right. I'd only add that you need good communication skills and LOTS of patience! Oh, and everything that you see the nursing assistant do...become as quick and proficient at it as they are. It will save you lots of time, effort...

I was the new med-surg (also BSN) nurse almost 3 years ago. Where is she with her organizational skills at this point? When she receives report, does she know where to begin? Forgetting for a moment that there will be endless interruptions, can sh...

:yeahthat:

Are you just referring to reconciliation at admission, or reconciliation b/t units also?

After our latest inspection this became our policy, also. For instance, we nurses were mixing large dose of Zofran and putting them on a pump instead of standing there and pushing them "forever." Now, we split the dose and dilute it with 10 ml NS. ...