anne74

anne74

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All Content by anne74

  1. Does your OR have to hold til theres a PACU bay??

    anne74 replied to PACURN1818's topic in PACU

    I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that the OR just barges in and you have no clue what you're getting! The ORs always call before they're coming out with a quick report. And, if we don't have...

  2. New Grads in the PACU

    anne74 replied to Anjann's topic in PACU

    I was a new grad in a high acuity PACU. It's a wonderful place to learn how to take care of any kind of patient. Not to mention it's a huge open room, so you're constantly in the presence of other...

  3. PACU RN's- what is your visitor policy?

    anne74 replied to RN34TX's topic in PACU

    Try to fight visitation all you can. We are forced to allow visitors within 45 minutes of pt arrival to Phase 1 PACU. Often pts are not awake, vomiting, pain is not controlled, etc, and family...

  4. New nurse in PACU??

    anne74 replied to sungrl01's topic in PACU

    Oh - I get so tired of hearing that you HAVE to have ICU experience to be a PACU nurse. I started there as a new grad and have done just fine. They take new nurses in ICU, so why wouldn't they in...

  5. all PACU RNs Wrote up!

    anne74 replied to jrgrad1912's topic in PACU

    Where is your manager in all of this? How was this allowed to happen? How about having a meeting and making a new policy to start requiring DC orders, instead of sending you straight to HR and...

  6. How about a liasion nurse ?

    anne74 replied to anr33's topic in PACU

    We use a liaison, and it is very helpful in keeping the natives at bay, if you will. The problem is, we RNs have to take turns being the liaison. So when we have a day where there's no beds in the...

  7. Have You Ever Refused to Come in for Call?

    anne74 replied to All4Seasons's topic in PACU

    It's really not an option to refuse to come in. BUT, I'd personally call the day nurse, explain the situation and see if he/she wouldn't mind coming in early. Or, I'd ask the OR nurse if he/she...

  8. Patient assignments

    anne74 replied to Laney123's topic in PACU

    Each nurse gets assigned 2 bays, and then we go in order around the room. Our shifts are staggered, so the first nurse in gets the first patient and so on. It doesn't always shake out perfectly -...

  9. You might be a PACU nurse if...

    anne74 replied to mustanggirl's topic in PACU

    You give guys a "man-o-lantern" when pulling leads off a hairy chest. You call the floor to give report and the secretary says, "They're in report right now - she'll call you back." Uh - yeah - I'm...

  10. Narcotics at the bedside in t he PACU

    anne74 replied to pinkfloydfreak's topic in PACU

    How could you realistically waste narcotics after each dose? We keep them at the bedside and waste after the patient has moved on. We have lock boxes at each bedside that we're supposed to lock...

  11. Does your PACU recover general anesthesia c-sections?

    anne74 replied to Judycpan's topic in PACU

    We do occasionally get general c-sections. We just make sure they're stable and quickly ship them back to the L & D floor, so they can do the fundus checks,

  12. Pre Op pts in PACU

    anne74 replied to wayover20's topic in PACU

    Don't think your administration has fully thought that through. Maybe it will take one of them lying there, waiting for surgery as they watch a post-op scream, puke and rip their gown off. When our...

  13. How much math is required?

    anne74 replied to Mallory85's topic in General Nursing

    I was nervous about the math thing too before going into nursing. In Nursing School, the main focus is memorzing conversions - like to the metric system. We also had to do drip conversions (like...

  14. Family Visitation in the PACU

    anne74 replied to smidgen21's topic in PACU

    We're piloting a family visitation policy. It's been rocky. We allow families to come back within 45 minutes of a patient's arrival - never mind if the patient has uncontrolled pain, is sitting on a...

  15. Opinions please re: Phase I

    anne74 replied to sharann's topic in PACU

    We follow ASPAN standards and always staff 2 PACU RN's - none of this "use a charge nurse from another floor" or an "OR nurse" as back up. Sometimes it takes a sentinel event before hospitals are...

  16. Dryness of mouth in PACU

    anne74 replied to btrfly76's topic in PACU

    We just pulled all the lemon swabs I guess because of this article - but I couldn't find anything about it in the linked article. Now we just use the pink sponge swabs dipped in ice water. Then, we...

  17. Med-Surg to PACU

    anne74 replied to RN :)'s topic in PACU

    I had 7 months speciality med/surg experience, and then transferred into the PACU, with a high level of acuity. I had a great preceptor for 4 months. We are staffed really well, and if I run into...

  18. PCA's in PACU

    anne74 replied to cthorn518's topic in PACU

    We always start the PCA, epidurals, cont. nerve blocks, etc in the PACU. When the pt first arrives, we push Fentanyl or Diluadid until we get their pain "tolerable". Then we start their PCAs. They...

  19. 2nd Career - Are you happy with your decision to become a nurse?

    anne74 replied to Toots71506's topic in General Nursing

    I wish I could say, "yes - my life is so much more fulfilling now that I help people instead of pushing paper." But, I'm leaning towards regretting it - I go back and forth. I used to do...

  20. Should I Quit (Sorry It's Long)

    anne74 replied to kendratyler2001's topic in General Nursing

    Totally leave. Why would anyone want to work there? Save yourself. Give two weeks notice so you don't burn any bridges. And you'd be surprised on how easy is to get through your last two weeks at...

  21. Playing secretary and receptionis during med pass??

    anne74 replied to SoCalif1979's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    What is this one-phone-per-40-patients business? Don't they have phones in their rooms? Is this Little House on the Prairie? That's ridiculous. I like the idea of just not answering the phones...

  22. bolus dosing of femerol nerve block catheters

    anne74 replied to rpearson's topic in General Nursing

    Do you mean an anesthesiologist will insert a catheter into the fem nerve, it's hooked up to a PCA machine, and then the nurses will get PRN orders to adjust the basal rate or demand dose, depending...

  23. Is this considered change of route?

    anne74 replied to Marijane's topic in General Nursing

    Let this be a lesson to not let pts manipulate you, or talk you into changing orders for them. Most pts don't have medical knowledge and aren't aware of the dangers they can put themselves in....

  24. sacrifical lamb=triage nurse

    anne74 replied to Uptoherern's topic in Emergency

    Too bad the ED only receives attention when a tragedy happens. And no mention of the thousands of lives they've saved and the conditions they put up with on a daily basis, with few resources and...

  25. 1st Med Error

    anne74 replied to Eilana's topic in General Nursing

    Use this incident to develop an organizational system for yourself so you don't forget to do anything crucial for the patient. When you become a nurse, your number of pt tasks will quadruple with...