texas2007

texas2007 BSN, RN

NICU

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All Content by texas2007

  1. NICU considering new grads?

    texas2007 replied to I<3NICU's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    D-I-T-T-O. There's some cheaper "nice" apartments south/southeast of the medcenter that the girls at work like, but the area personally makes me a bit uncomfortable. I'd rather pay a bit more and...

  2. Death rates in your NICU?

    texas2007 replied to babyNP.'s topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We average 8-12 deaths a month...census is usually 80's, been hopping lately

  3. What to use on the nares to prevent breakdown of skin

    texas2007 replied to wrighty's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We just started putting a special kind of jelly in the nares...before this we didn't use

  4. Just being sad and venting a little bit.

    texas2007 replied to preemieRNkate's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I have wondered the same thing myself

  5. How did you become an NICU nurse?

    texas2007 replied to wooosp's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    How were you trained? Had a 5-6 month orientation with a preceptor who would choose different assignments How long have you been doing it? 9 months What other areas did you work in? Went straight to...

  6. venous stick for PKU????

    texas2007 replied to rn4babies63's topic in General Nursing

    Hmm hitting a vein and getting blood back is a lot easier than starting an IV. Can't tell you how many times I've hit something and been unable to advance the catheter, or the vein blows etc. I hate...

  7. venous stick for PKU????

    texas2007 replied to rn4babies63's topic in General Nursing

    In the nicu, we get what we can. If I have a lot of labs to do at the same time, I personally prefer art sticks but some nurses like venous sticks too. Plus, sometimes those big fat kids don't bleed...

  8. The economy and your job

    texas2007 replied to StephanieS321's topic in General Nursing

    We've been booming since June, lots of OT available anytime you want with bonuses in addition to your OT pay, just hired a bunch of people

  9. Have you ever missed a day because you didn't know you were scheduled?

    texas2007 replied to Ginger45's topic in General Nursing

    My work is generally understanding about it because it's pretty much happened to everybody at some

  10. Wound VAC in NICU?

    texas2007 replied to MegNeoNurse's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I've seen them used post abdominal surgery (like a perf) and the baby gets too swollen to be closed up, or after the wound

  11. Charting Bloopers

    texas2007 replied to AHarri66's topic in Nursing Humor

    One of our admitting diagnoses is "Full term neonate with major problems". OK then...Have seen it on multiple

  12. I overcame my first year as a new RN and to top it off I got engaged!!!!

    texas2007 replied to Morettia2's topic in General Nursing

    Congrats on your anniversary and engagement! From what you wrote, it sounds like you needed a nice long vacation away from work. I'm looking forward to my own week away from work coming up in a few...

  13. Fluid Changing practices

    texas2007 replied to NANSNURSE's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We are now doing full line changes, including the triple connector, q-day, so no more 'pulling through' TPN. This is supposedly per CDC recommendations but sounds like one more thing to waste supplies...

  14. bagging in treatments

    texas2007 replied to sjc02's topic in General Nursing

    ditto...we give them treatment with whatever they

  15. Has anybody taken a PBDS before? (Performance Based Development System)

    texas2007 replied to Kurious RN's topic in General Nursing

    I took it, it was OK, kinda cheesy...one thing I did notice is that even though we were told it would help our preceptor personalize our orientation...it didn't!!! My preceptor had never even heard of...

  16. Fluid Changing practices

    texas2007 replied to NANSNURSE's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Wow that would never see the light of day at my hospital. Are you a smaller

  17. Policy/Practice with capped PICC

    texas2007 replied to RN4Little1s's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    When a baby is advanced to full feeds, we generally keep the picc line hep-flushed q 12. If the patient tolerated it well, they will usually pull the line the next

  18. I hate NEC

    texas2007 replied to Sweeper933's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Have to add on that I hate it as well. My patient the last 3 nights suddenly passed away from it in a matter of 8 hours last

  19. PAL's and BP Monitoring

    texas2007 posted a topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I am wondering what your unit policy is regarding PAL's and BP Monitoring? Do you go by the PAL BP on the monitor or go by the BP

  20. Fluid Changing practices

    texas2007 replied to NANSNURSE's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    For dextrose based fluids running >3.0 ml/hr, we change the tubing q 72 hrs and 'pull through' the new bag of fluid daily in the meantime. For dextrose based running less than 3.0/hr, we change the...

  21. LOW Census

    texas2007 replied to Sweeper933's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We've been hopping too, got a later start than usual but been 100+ (80's is normal, 60's is low) consistently since July. Everybody is starting to get burnt out working so much OT plus it doesn't help...

  22. UACs and tegaderm use

    texas2007 replied to NICU_Nurse_3986's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We tape our UAC's to the abdomen with tegaderm but not the area right at the opening. If anything, the tegaderm is used to just secure it from coming out. I think the reasoning behind not doing so is...

  23. Night shift employees expected to attend things during day??

    texas2007 replied to ArwenEvenstar's topic in General Nursing

    I work in a very large hospital...our cafeteria officially closes at 2 am, but often by 1, many of the stations are already shut down. Luckily we have inservices offered at all times, I usually make...

  24. policy for flushing INT's

    texas2007 replied to casper82's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We flush our unused lines q 12 with 5-10 units of heparin, depending on the doctor. I have personally experienced a line clot off....it was some exotic double lumen tunneled brachial line from...

  25. Here Comes Ike!

    texas2007 replied to HouTx's topic in General Nursing

    I'm over on the far west side at home...We were on the clean side and missed most of the big rainbands that hit the greater Houston area. We were luckily to have power until about 430 or 5 am. Noticed...