Music in My Heart

I've never entered orders without a verbal but I have initiated therapy on occasion (a) if the doc was someone with whom I had a strong relationship, (b) the doc was tied up, (c) it was urgent/emergent, and (d) I was certain that it's appropriate and...

That's unfortunate. I wonder if s/he might have benefitted from getting help much earlier. I used to tutor professionally and I commonly found that by the time students sought my help, it was too late to make a meaningful improvement. ♪♫ in my ♥

On occasion, yes... in fact, oftentimes so... either with a referral to hospice or with a palliative care consult... or, if the patient refused those, simply with medications and strategies for symptom management, though the refusal of hospice/pallia...

Don't stress on it and don't repeat it. Phenergan is a terrific antiemetic and IV administration is, in my experience, more effective and more rapid in the relief of nausea... IV is the preferred route *if* you have a patent IV in a moderate-to-large...

Looks like you've got a pretty good handle on it. What specific help are you looking for? And regarding forum etiquette: Rather than expecting people to open your attachments (I generally don't for simple reasons of security), it would be more approp...

Consider the class: Pathophysiology Consider the disorder: Huntington's Prepare a summary of what you'd expect to find in the assessment of a Huntington's patient and what kinds of specific risks they might face. Don't turn this into something it's n...

You might consider using an abbreviated guide like the "Incredibly Easy" series. Likewise, use the chapter summaries as guides as well as the major topic headings for outlines. What book are you using?

Personally, I wouldn't stress it. I got NO L&D experience in nursing school and it's had no impact on the trajectory of my career. The guys in my cohort who preceded me into the L&D rotation spent their hours standing at the nurse's station w...

As stated, the answer is 33 Did you perhaps use the 250mg somewhere? If so, take another look because that's irrelevant to the question. Before you start busting out formulae or consider dimensional analysis, think about what's actually happening *ph...

My practice is: swab - flush - med - flush/clamp I see no point in swabbing between the flush and med since the syringe tips are sterile.

Frankly, I think this is a particularly bad time to be making such a weighty decision, given the stress that you're under with your mom's illness. What might be best would be to take a leave of absence to focus on your priorities (which I can't imagi...

To be frank: The best way to handle it is to skip the holiday celebrations in favor of attending his classes.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this case from the perspective of (a) a nurse who has made a serious medical error, (b) a nurse who does occasionally pull meds on override, and (c) a nurse whose role sometimes sends me to MRI to administer ...

I will point out that backboards can cause harm unto themselves and aren't appropriate for general use, particularly given that there's a dearth of evidence that they prevent morbidity and mortality. Setting aside issues of skin breakdown, the very p...

I was sharing with a coworker some of the sweet/sad/cute/charming things that my DD said while she had RSV as a toddler or was recovering from major surgery when she was 5. It got me to wondering what kinds of things you pedi nurses have heard. 1) Wh...

Well, it's happened. Despite my best efforts to provide excellent care, I've been involved in a serious error. I say "involved" rather than "made" not to avoid my role but to recognize that it was a chain of events that led to the error. I'm sure man...

I've been thinking about what simple advice we could give to those new to our ranks... a bullet list kind of thing... Tips 'n Tricks... Pearls... ED Nurse-Hacks... Here's the one that I was thinking about that provoked this thread: ~~~~ + Wear a gow...

I very often read posts on this board which complain about the staff nurses. I was a nursing student, too, and I know that such criticisms can be valid but you should know that a lot of us really dig having students around and look for opportunities ...

During a recent code, during the rhythm check, a small wound was noted on the patient's chest -- it appeared to be an open fracture. The MD said that the patient had had a sternotomy in the past and that the staples had probably abraded through the s...

I'm looking for some perspective since my present gig is the only large, urban ED in which I've worked. It seems that most shifts include at least one episode in which curses and or threats are directed at me or one of my nearby colleagues. It's beco...

I'm wondering what people's personal practices generally are regarding lidocaine prior to placing male Foleys.

One of the things that I most like about working in the ED at an academic medical center is working with physicians-in-training (residents) and medical students. I find the vast majority of them to be smart, kind, friendly, and respectful. I try to r...

Recently, an ALOC patient needed a CT. For safety, we decided that the patient should be transported with a nurse and a tech. The patient was transferred to the CT table at which point the patient became resistant. For the patient's safety, the patie...

One of the things that I like about ED nursing is the unknown that's always right around the corner and the zero-to-sixty rush... We had an upper extremity arterial bleed walk into the lobby... greeter got some pressure on the pumper and got him STAT...

I presume that most urban hospitals are beginning to form contingency plans for how to react when a possible or suspected Ebola case arrives in triage... though these plans may reveal the Emporer to be stark naked. Our hospital sent out an e-mail tha...