picu75rn

What is everyone doing regarding kids that are obese and dosing meds based on wts? We had a 9yr old who was ordered Tylenol 10mg/kg. Typical dose for our kdis. However, the dose ended up being 1000mg /dose. Everyone was looking at the order and not taking into account that this is an obese child. Our pharmacy even signed off on the order. Does anyone have any protocols for this situation. thank you!!!!

When I was in Portland Or. our PICU intensivist gave us each a plant and choclate. In Arkansas we all received a 20.00$ gift certificate from where else Wal-Mart.

Unfortunely the saying "Nurses eat their young" is only to true. In my 30+ yrs. of nsg I have seen this same scene replayed to many times. You need to find a resource person on your shift. There are many of us seasoned vets that really want our new RNs to succeed. If your floor doesn't have someone for you you need to find a new dept STAT. You have far to much respondsibility for an IP. We,( meaning us looking a retirement) need new RNs that maintain a positive attiude and bring a new excitement to the profession. So good luck and keep up the gd. work. P.S. My daughter just passed her boards and has been facing a similar situation.

Please help! I have been a peds nurse for more years than I can believe. I have had the opporutunity to work with kids in a variety of settings. However, this is the first hospital that I have worked at where the mattresses are about 6 inches to short for the cribs. We have to put pillows at the bottom of the cribs so they fit. I have asked our manager and several other nurses about this practice. No one seems to concerned but me. Am I wrong here, I thought there had to be a safety code regarding things as this. Does anyone have any ideas what my next step should be. I don't want to see any of our patients injured. Plus I really feel we are giving a wrong message to our families when they see this type of practice. Thank you!!!!!!

As a PICU RN, I would suggest going that route. If you are in a large teaching hospital your PICU will include the surgical, medical and CV challenges that you would need. And as kids change FAST your assessment skills are fine tuned to any minute change. You also will see the needs of a variety of age groups.

My husband is a perfusionist and this is not a perfusion program. That usually requires a BA/BS in addition to a 18mon-2yrs intensive training program. (depending on what school you attend) I would suggest holding on to becoming an RN. The sky is the limit for jobs and the pay is improving all the time.

As a mother of 5, I would encourage any of my brood to go into nsg. So far no one is a taker!!! (we do have a budding vet and physical therapist)I know after 26yrs all the pitfalls, the poor wages, lousey hrs. etc. However, I feel that I have had the best career possible. Most of my years have been spent in a PICU. I know only to well the long, long days and nights with no breaks. The kids and husband have seen me dead tired both emotionally and physically. I have missed more than one ball game. But they also shared in my success stories. When we moved from the West Coast to the South I took off about 3 months. First time in my whole adult life that I was not working full time. I was a wreck.(Cooking every night was to hard!!!!) We need to encourage new blood in our field. They will make the big differecne in our profession. Twenty-six years ago as a new grad in Oregon, I made $6.25/hr. It took a few years but that changed. Now we are ready for a major change again. It will happen but we need some youth to supply some new energy.