TemperStripe

Yes, I am. Feel free to PM me.

Just heard from a coworker who returned from a conference that there are a bunch of new, really cool, much less invasive way to measure cardiac output and such, and that we are going to be swanning people less and less in the very near future. Anyone...

I have been agency/float full time for almost a year now and have floated to probably 30 different units, but wanted to bounce something off everyone. I just finished paperwork for a large multi-hospital system and also completed a single 4 hour orie...

Great, I feel totally vindicated. :) I've set up some additional orientations at these places and feel totally solid that it's the right thing, not just for me but for my patients. Thank you everyone!

I'm with the RFP and I love it. Can't say enough good things about the managers, educator, and schedulers. It's a great fit for me because I hate unit politics and am very protective of my schedule. I float to 6 Centura hospitals and quite a few more...

Any night shifters use light therapy and/or sustained release melatonin? Just curious about your experiences with it, especially if you switch back and forth or live in a darkened climate.

I started taking mine to work to use it during breaks and charting and 5 or 6 other nurses ended up buying their own lights. :) I use it mostly during the winter and also take a massive dose of supplemental Vitamin D. Does it help? I dunno...I did fe...

I have twice made the mistake of NOT calling in sick...thinking I'd be fine and it would pass. I was having sore throat/cold-like symptoms. MISTAKE. Both of those days ended up being some of the worst.days.ever. If in doubt, call in sick. Your physi...

Does anyone have any suggestions for preventing skin breakdown on a patient that is too unstable to turn? I was moving his arms and legs and tilting the bed hourly at least. And of course, he pooped 3x...of all the patients that you don't want poopin...

I have heard it can already be done but who can afford it? Not sure. As economics allow, I definitely think it's the future of the ICU.

Side-Back-Side I posted a few weeks ago about a patient I couldn't turn at all so I just moved his arms and legs whenever possible. Miraculously he didn't have any skin breakdown when I checked him the one time that I could. I've never had a patient...

I had used melatonin and also found it to be useless. However, I was taking 3-9mg at a time before going to bed. I've been reading that this is way more than the pineal gland ever secretes, and sometimes taking a lower dose (1-2mg) in the sustained r...

This particular case was an incredibly unstable pelvic fracture so the wedge wouldn't have worked because the patient needed to be 100% flat, but I will definitely keep that in mind for the future. I agree with the above poster who mentioned feeling ...

We've had a rash of elective surgeries that have had to stay overnight in the ICU because the patients have OSA. The policy states they have to be in ICU even though they have q shift vitals! I'm talking about tonsillectomies and vasectomies. Anyone ...

It's because the OSA makes them "high risk." However, many of them don't even have their own CPAPs. They're on room air all night long.

Obstructive sleep apnea.

Any must-haves for my trip to Haiti tomorrow? (Yes, found out kind of last minute.) Thanks!

Good idea on fun stuff for the kids! Will try to squeeze in some candy and bubbles. :) I don't actually have any psych experience outside of my degree...well, I guess everyday is a new psych experience, but no official counseling or anything. I actua...

We get inappropriate admissions all the time. Lately it's been pretty bad. A lot of times, it seems the docs are more comfortable with the patient-nurse ratio on the unit, and even though the patient is and always has been perfectly stable, they are ...

We get this all the time, especially in surgery. Read the book "The Final Exam" to get a better understanding of how doctors tick, and how they are taught, from Day 1 of medical school, that death is personal failure in all circumstances. It is very ...

I have an iPhone but previously I had an iPod Touch which could support all of the apps I mentioned above. I loved my iPod touch... Don't know about a droid, you'd have to check their app store. Sorry for any confusion, guess I thought "ipod" was kin...

I use my iPhone all the time at work. Here's what I have: Nursing Central: includes drug reference, lab reference, Tabers, and some random journal articles. I use the drug reference all the time, it's very hand to have at the bedside when I go in and...

Dec' 08 grad here. We rarely see 3:1 assignments, even when our acuity is low (which does happen...our hospital has no step-down unit so they tend to hang out in ICU longer.) Hope you're able to find a unit that cares enough about your license to be ...

The answers to these questions tend to be very unit-specific. As a new grad, you should ONLY work on a unit with great, supportive team members. I would say that is the number 1 thing to look for when you interview. There is no quicker way to sink wh...

I graduated in December, '08. Switching days and nights in the same week is extremely difficult, even without all the pressure of just being a nurse, let alone being new! It's no surprise that you are exhausted all the time! When can you talk to your...