slb0523

For your pediatric patients that weigh over 50 kg, do you continue to run medication drips at weight based doses? example: 18 y.o. weighs 54kg. versed drip at 0.1mg/kg/hr or 5.4mg/hr? There used to be a standard in my picu for patients over 50kg, the drips would not be weight based. (They would be run as adult doses due to their size). They are now trying to make them ALL weight based-no exceptions. I work in a unit that is pedi and adult ICU. Not all nurses are trained for pedi and will take the larger kids at times. They feel uncomfortable running pedi doses on teens that are over 50kg. what are the standards in your PICU based on weight?

We have a pedi wing, but no PICU. There are about 12 of us who are "trained" to take pedi pt's no less than 2 years old in our MICU. Any youger and we stabilize them and transfer to a childrens hospital. It has been VERY difficult having kids come into the ICU. Problems such as being understaffed, no trained pedi nurse on shift, extremely demanding familys of the pediatric patients, ect.... I would not feel comfortable sending my kid into an adult ICU. They should be kept seperate in my opinion.

I know how you feel! I was one of only 3 new grads that was hired into my MICU about 3 1/2 years ago. The other two were student nurses in the unit for a year prior to that, so naturally I felt the LEAST competent. It took me a good year to feel comfortable (no butterflies on the way in to work). I also did my first year on the night shift and i would recommend this to all New Grad Rn's working in an ICU. You have time at night to develop basic nursing skill and become proficient with assessments and so forth, let alone the critical care aspect. The day shift in my unit is CRAZY and there are some days that I still struggle to get a 10 minute lunch. I didn't even know if i would make it in the ICU initially, and now I am often the charge nurse, and a core Preceptor in the unit. Words of advice: You have to look out for your self, be assertive and whatever you do, don't freak out! Remaining calm amid chaos has proven to be INVALUABLE in my practice! Good luck to you!