Night__Owl BSN, RN

Night__Owl has 3 years experience as a BSN, RN and specializes in ICU and Dialysis.

Latest Activity

1. Interesting case of the spilled pills

   Night__Owl replied to KCMnurse's topic in General Nursing

   I'm not fishing anything out of a sharps container unless a gun is held to my head. I'll get fired, I'll flip burgers instead of being a nurse, I don't care.

2. When to call for IO access

   Night__Owl replied to LibraNurse27's topic in General Nursing

   IO access is usually only needed in the field, since it's pretty much your only option if peripheral IV insertion fails. In the hospital in an emergent situation, I would expect either anesthesia or the EM doc to be able to place a central line, or a...

3. Working on weekends!

   Night__Owl replied to PubSub's topic in General Nursing

   The hospital I used to work for was a small private hospital which competed with a large public hospital. One of the ways they helped keep staff was having no-weekend positions. In our ICU, there was a crew of people hired specifically for Friday, S...

4. Robot tells man he'll be dead in hours

   Night__Owl replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

   I've used a "doc in a box" computer before l, and I strongly doubt that there was "no one else in the room." The tele doc computer cannot "roll into the room" like some kind of android. It's a COW with a webcam. A nurse pushed it in there. Now, if th...

5. Robot tells man he'll be dead in hours

   Night__Owl replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

   I've got a wild idea. Maybe, considering this man had just hours of time left, the MD did not want to delay his visit whatever amount of time it would have taken for him to physically arrive there. If youve got three hours left, and it takes the spec...

6. Nicotine Drug Testing in the Texas Medical Center

   Night__Owl replied to MA8675309's topic in General Nursing

   I get it, but at the same time I think it's ridiculous. I use nicotine replacement to keep me from going back to smoking. But every "smoke free" hospital around here, heck even my insurance company, treats that as same as smoking. I'll quit using nic...

7. Do as I say, and not as I do.

   Night__Owl replied to Davey Do's topic in General Nursing

   What do you think?

8. Do as I say, and not as I do.

   Night__Owl replied to Davey Do's topic in General Nursing

   I'm fairy certain we had a Clark in the ICU I worked in. A tech who iirc had failed out of nursing school, but had just enough knowledge to be dangerous. Unit Clark went into the room of a vent patient, saw that the IV pump was alarming and said "inf...

9. Sitting down - New nurse looking for advice

   Night__Owl replied to MgoBlue37's topic in General Nursing

   Is it possible for you to take shorter shifts? I know there are many EDs out there which have both 8 hour and 12 hour shifts. What is the minimal duration and frequency that you need to sit in order to be relatively comfortable, and not killing yours...

10. Ventilated Patients

    Night__Owl replied to rn39648's topic in Safety

    Yes, imagine a pt with VS HR 90, BP 150/90, O2 sat 96. BUT.... they are breathing 45 times a minute over the set rate of 20. It's important information, as is knowing if the patient is never breathing over the vent at all.

11. phenobarbital for ETOH withdrawal

    Night__Owl replied to freckles23's topic in General Nursing

    I've used both, both are good, but I definitely prefer phenobarbital. You usually don't want any pt on the floor receiving the high doses of benzos, because of the respiratory risk involved. I've seen patients withdraw so hard that if they were awake...

12. smokers and coughing

    Night__Owl replied to brownbook's topic in General Nursing

    When I smoked, I didn't have a chronic cough (didn't smoke enough years to get one, thankfully.) But I DID have a markedly longer recovery period after getting a cold. Hard to clear it out when you're constantly deadening your cilia with nicotine and...

13. Grades when you were in Nursing School

    Night__Owl replied to poliwag48's topic in General Students

    I was scraping above passing almost every semester. Did not have to tell anyone my grades when applying for jobs, had an offer waiting when I graduated. My overall still looks decent because of how high it had to be to get into nursing school in the ...

14. Why is it "legal" for patient to decline male nurses?

    Night__Owl replied to carti's topic in General Students

    It's simpler than this thread has become. If patients want to refuse care from you because of your gender, your age, your race, or because they just don't like the way your face looks, that's their choice, as are the consequences. You just say ,"I ca...

15. PCU Nurse Feels "Second Rate"

    Night__Owl replied to PacoUSA's topic in General Nursing

    PCU stands for Progressive Care Unit. It's usually an intermediate unit, for patients recently out of ICU, or those who are too high acuity for Med surg, while also not requiring ICU care either.