skap

Glad to hear something positive! I'm glad to know that it is working where you work. I only hope the same for our hospital. Thanks for your reply.... skap

I work in a pediatric hospital and as of May 1st we will have a policy in place due to the Department of Public Health that when a parent or anyone visiting is in the room with their child that is in isolation they will have to wear all of the isolation gear we would have to wear. That means if they are in isolation for RSV, the parent will have to wear a mask, gown and gloves the entire time they are in the room with their child, including sleeping. If the mask becomes soiled or moist (usually within 15 minutes) they will have to change them that often. If they have rotavirus or MRSA, they would have a gown and gloves. At first there would be a "refusal" letter the parent could sign, but now the hospital has decided that we will not be able to let parents "refuse", which leaves me the question of how do we enforce? If I go into a room and a parent or visitor isn't wearing the appropriate isolation garb, what am I going to do but encourage their compliance? I can't force them to wear it, and I can't force them to stay in their rooms. In addition no visitors under the age of 12 will be allowed to visit. I find this to be difficult for families too. We have kids that stay in the hospital for 2 weeks or more at a time. One family comes to mind where the father has to work so they bring their younger child to the hospital to stay with the sister and mom while dad works, and then dad comes after work and goes home with the sibling. I do see the positive and negative side of this issue and policy, but mainly the negative. Their standpoint is that it will help stop the spread of nosocomial infections. Parents/visitors press the elevator buttons, visit the cafeteria, use the restrooms in the halls and that is what they believe is helping to spread infection from child to child while they are in the hospital. What do you think of this policy? Does your hospital do anything similar? Would you do this as a parent (especially while sleeping there)? I just think our patient/family satisfaction scores are going to go down the tubes! Thanks, skap

I work on a floor that has children that are in our "habilitation" program. They aren't critical enough to be in the PICU, but aren't ready to go home yet...parents have to learn care, more stabilization, gain weight, etc.... When we start we are given a class on the ventilators, are required to take apart the circuit and put it back together on our own, troubleshoot. Then we are given an orientation for about 3-4 weeks in the unit (with another nurse) so that we become comfortable caring for the kids on vents. There is always a respiratory therapist available in the unit, who is overall responsible for the vent and it's detailed checks. We check them every two hours to make sure non of the setting have changed (parents messing with the vent...sad but it happens) Hope this helps...

We had ours a couple of weeks ago. When they came to our floor they took a nurse that had a certain patient, and then went through the chart with her for over an hour,then they followed that patients trips throughout the hospital, (ie: er, x-ray, picu, our floor, etc..) to make sure the proper stuff was in the chart. They were also concerned with how we know that the nurses on our floor are capable of taking care of patient on vents. Hope this helps some....

Amen Cheerfuldoer!!!! Well said, I totally agree with you, and I've only been a nurse for a little over 5 years....it's like "Big Brother" is watching......

I'm surprised no one has recommend Tea Tree Oil! It works AWESOME!! My husband had warts around his fingertips for YEARS before I met him, went to the dermatologist, many many rounds of burning them off but the ALWAYS came back. He read online about tea tree oil (bought it at Osco Drug) put it on for a week or two 3 times a day and they were GONE and never came back! He also used it on a plantarts wart and it was gone too. Tea Tree Oil is a anti fungal,bacterial,viral. It doesn't smell the greatest (or at least I think so) but it works on warts! I suggested it to my coworker for her son's wart on his toes and finger and they went away too. Give it a try!

Our hospital is starting barcoding soon, we will have to scan the med, and scan the pt ID bracelet, and our badge before giving meds. Does anyone currently use this, and if so how do you like it? Any problems you've noticed with it? Any suggestions to make the transition easier? Thanks!

The hospital that I work at covers us. If we were to get our own malpractice insurance, and something happened, the hospital would not cover us, or help us out in anyway.

Roamin- I think it's a problem for all night shifters. We are mostly on time if not 10 minutes early..sitting in the break room. Boy do they all want to give report to us right away, early if we let them. In the morning you'll have a few who are on time or early..but then you always have the couple who are talking, or late. I think it happens everywhere. It can get annoying.

At the hospital I work at we're allowed 5 call-in's a year. It's a rolling year too. With the 6th call in we get a verbal warning, the 7th one we get a written warning, the 8th one we get a day suspension, the 9th we get terminated. I've never seen anyone get suspended/terminated but there are plenty of verbal/written warnings going around. The only advantage is that if we are scheduled to work M,W,Sat and we call in all three days it only counts as one time! As long as we never come to back to work in between those days it's considered one time.

I read in a chart "Pt complaining of headache. Tylenol given as ordered. Checked back with pt one hour later and head gone!" Didn't know Tylenol could take off your head! Yikes!

I work in a pediatric hospital and one night a little boy pressed his call light - we answered over the intercom and asked him "Can I help you?" He replied, "Can I please see your dessert menu?" Even kids get confused between a hospital and a hotel! :)