CVICURN2003

It's a consequence to my behavior and is accountability for me. I have to pay $45.00-$65.00 each test and we are tested 24 times a year. It is high, but I paid as much or more for my DOC. I am also looking for my first job after treatment. Good Luck.

All patient populations (unless NICU, then u have parents), have whiney, obese, pts "tat don't care about themselves". Including critical care. You have not seen whiney until you have seen a 40 year old male CABG pt who is a smoker. Who has to be on q 1 hour accuchecks and has to cough and deep breath. And, God Forbid, GET UP AND MOVE (honey, I just had HEART SURGERY)... But, I'm sure some of the nurses who can't even get an interview would LOVE it if you chose to wait.

I hear "triple beats" in my dreams and wake up on my feet as if to check the monitor to make sure its not my patient or someone elses... and yes, i have called to check on a patient, especially if my patient was sick sick.Did last night as a matter of fact. And I know I am not the only one in my unit. Other nurses call me to for the same reasons. I am OCD to the core and can't help it.

We don't run regular dialysis..just CRRT/CVVH either. But I am still responsible if anything anything happens.

Zofran can have a proarrythmic affect related to lengethening of the QT interval.

As a now pregnant nurse, I would never put my coworkers in the position of having to take on all the isolation patients just because I am pregnant. This is incredibly unfair to other staff. In my first pregnancy I worked 12 hour days on a transport ambulance (lifting and transferring patients all day, some with isolation precautions) right up until delivery... had a textbook pregnancy, and labor. I am one of seven pregnant women on my unit right now, if we all didn't care for isolation patients that would put an enormous strain on our non-pregnant colleagues. I agree...what I did not put in my first post is that she only lasted a few weeks after she gave her note. She went to a different area...home health..which so puzzled me because of her being worried about germs...We have about seven pregnant women in my ICU now. One of them took care of a VRE patient yesterday. Good Luck to the OP.:heartbeat

I took care of all kinds of isolation patients when I was preggo. And pulled patients up...and cleaned poo....I took care of at least one (known) VRE patient. I took care of a patient with full blown ES AIDS. I was just very careful. Just like I am now with a houseful of kids to go home to. Happy Baby! Check with your OBGYN if you are really bothered. One of the girls I work with did manage to get a note not saying she could not take care of any isolation patients while pregnant.

Taken the CSC and passed....You can search the site for info...But, I posted several times with no feedback on it. Or very little. I just don't think there are that many out there, so knowledge about the test is minimal. PM me and I will be happy to answer.

We use cathflo for our central lines and picc lines. Almost all of our pts have one or the other. It is a lifesaver (literally) for central line replacement. Pain in the rear...yes. But much less so than changing the line. I don't know the cost difference between cathflo and central line exchange, but much less trauma to pt and chance of infection IMO. I have only used the cathflo a handful of times. We use the J loop with a clamp on a PIV. We haso have clamps on our piccs and CVC. I always try to immediatey dissonnect my infusion and flush with 10 ml h2o. But, if everyone says that with two sick ICU patients you ALWAYS flush immediatly when it finishes...IMO it's kind of like saying, "I could NEVER make a med error"...... I piggyback into fluids when pt's have them running or they are comp with another med hanging. We have CVP lines connected on most of our paitents so I usually pigggy back or push IVP into those and flush and zero appropriatly. And we have to place a dead end cap on all of our piggybacks.

Me TOO!! I am forever "bringing out my book" Plus I have a general ICU reference book that is little bitty. Lots of people I work with use the Kathy White Book and love it. It's just not my style.

Caridac Rehab of the post CABG surgical patient. We ask them to do a lot when they are extubated and hemodynamically stable, which is usually within 6-8 hours post op. Or you could do the benefits/nursing standards of turning, doing the incentive spirometer q 2 and Cough and Deep Breathing on a CABG pt.

Prayers sent your way. I can imagine how scary that is.

My first code was when I was still on orientation, had passed my boards so I had RN on my badge but I was only two weeks or so into orientation so I was still clueless...I just went to "watch" and someone turned around and looked right at my name tag and said, "I need another nurse" Well, I turned to go get my preceptor and the nurse said "NO! I mean you!" OMG!!! After she saw the panic in my eyes, she gave me instructions and all went well. And that was a zillion codes ago...

We frequently push IV meds through the CVP port, then flush and zero, Sometimes that is the ONLY place we have to run something "extra". Sometimes we have femoral A lines that have extended tubing on it to run to the trancducer on the opposite side of the bed with a port to draw from laying over the patients belly that could EASILY be confused with a CVP port by a nurse that may be in a hurry or not as concientious. And since I prefer safer is always better, I check and relable all of my lines at the beginning of my shift. We have had a subclvian A line recently (first one I've seen, was really cool), but the port could have easily been confused with a CVP port.

I have taught all of my children (except the three year old) CPR and the Heimlich. I am confident in my 14 and 9 year olds ability to do it on anyone..my six year old...maybe. go through the motions. BTW my nine year old is 5ft 2 inches and 165lbs and wears a size 10.5 man's shoe..so he knows how to muscle into a compression. My six year old said two days ago "Mommy, Big Brother's tummy is moving up and down...so he's breathing" Education is everything. I also tend to roll my eyes at anyone's dissertation of their health problems. I watch how everyone walks and breathes. And for the veins in their arms. And I say to people who tell me they are going in the hospital...Tell your MD if you drink, smoke or take a benzo..we don't care, but it will help us take care of you. and I also say "Do you have a living will?: way more often then I ever thought I would.

Bad things happen to healthy and unhealthy patients. It's a risk we all take every breath you take. As an ICU nurse (or a nurse at all) we know how fragile life can be. People code when they have been hemodynamically fine for no apparent reason. All of us have seen it. Surgeries go bad. Not becasue of the surgeon or the care, it just happens. We do get patients back that "don't die in the OR" but most of those times our surgeons and the OR team have worked their tail off to get them off bypass in order to get them with their family in the ICU. As heartbreaking it is to see as a human, at least the family can say goodbye and give them a little closure. And if causes me a little hard work...well that's ok. It's the right thing to do. The C-Diff patient yelling at me causes me hard work too. It's my job. It's nursing. It's Life. BAD THINGS HAPPEN and it's no one's fault. Do people make mistakes...oh yeah. And if you think you won't as a nurse you are sadly mistaken. Maybe you need to REALLY think about what kind of nursing you would like to do. Good Luck in your career.

I am sorry you had a bad night. I ahve had levo running at 100 ML/hr, Vasopressin at 30 ml hour (3x normal dose) and EPI at 100 ml hour plus giving epi boluses, plus given blood, plus a gazillion liters of fluid and had a B/P of 50.... your patient was probably septic and third spacing..so the CHF was a minor issue to be delt with later....And she was on CPAP? Not SIMV or A/C???? No pulmunologist? You did the best you could do...just chart chart chart to CYA...

In my ICU we are trained to tun the CRRT/CVVH machines. The dialysis nurses set up the machine and do the first connect to the pt. I am responsible for the UF rate and everything else. I am entirely responsible for my very sick patient. Yes, I will and have called the dialysis nurse to trouble shoot the machine, but not my patient. They don't touch my patient. Even during regular dialysis (in the ICU at bedside) I am responsible for what goes on with my patient. I have no problem calling the doc on the case and letting them know what is going on if I have a problem with what the dialysis nurse is doing. I have never had to do that, but I would in an ICU setting. I hope that answered you question.

I had a high risk pregnacy and the nurses at my large suburban hospital worked their tails off to keep me and my son alive. After 6 months...they knew when I was their patient, it would not be an easy day...unless it was a rare day we didn't try to die. I will be forever greatful to those nurses. And I hope they had a walkie talkie next to me because I certainly worked their tail off. Until, you have walked in our shoes (or actually ran), not sat down for twelve hours, coded your patient three times you can never know what it is like in any part of nursing. I would expect even clinic nursing could get stressful. I also suggest you get an a job in a hospital to see what we do...oh and make sure you can hold you pee for at least 8 hours, can do 10 things at one time and eat either in

For that very reason....I always put an "old" bullseye on my A line. You have to use a needle to access it. Because we never (unless mannitol or in a code) use real needles. So, it is another safety measure I personally use. I draw blood via vacutainer and real needle from my aline. If your hospital policy does not allow that, I would place a bright colored sticker on it that says A-LINE near the stop-cock. I really like the red only for arterial lines and other color coded stickers that another poster said their hospital uses...that may even satisfy MY OCD tendancies.

ditto. We have to be "checked off" first by one of our CV MD's then by two other nurses that can pull CT's. We do not pull pacer wires however. The PA's do that.

There is also Redmond Regional.They have an open heart program and do interventional cardiology. Floyd is the tramua Center and maternity center and peds in the county. Most of the Rome Medical Community (MD wise) is owned by a place called the Harbin Clinic. You can PM me for any other info... Good Luck!

At a **large superstore** they called a "Code Blue" overhead. Ofcourse the ICU nurse in me went on alert (habit)...and waited. I have heard them call a medical emergency at this store and they asked overhead for a CPR certified person to come to a certain area of the store. Turns out...code blue is to go get the shopping carts in the parking lot:chuckle:chuckle:uhoh21: I don't know if it is a national standard or not...but for any medical professional it is enough to make our adrenline get going, even when you are grocery shopping. You would have thought SOMEONE in their upper management would have at least watched enough incorrect ER shows to know that Code Blue is medically related.

At a **large superstore** they called a "Code Blue" overhead. Ofcourse the ICU nurse in me went on alert (habit)...and waited. I have heard them call a medical emergency at this store and they asked overhead for a CPR certified person to come to a certain area of the store. Turns out...code blue is to go get the shopping carts in the parking lot:chuckle:chuckle:uhoh21: I don't know if it is a national standard or not...but for any medical professional it is enough to make our adrenline get going, even when you are grocery shopping. You would have thought SOMEONE in their upper management would have at least watched enough incorrect ER shows to know that Code Blue is medically related.

we frequently have staff that work full time in one unit (say ccu) then work prn in pacu. if the nurse goes into ot it is charged back to pacu (because it is not her full time job). however these both are paid on the same paycheck and i don't see how that would affect her taxes. you will have to pay the same amt at the end of the year anyway...maybe you should look at you deductions and talk to your tax person.