liveyourlife747

If you get enough sleep before your shift you should be fine. I know night shifters that work a 12 then go to Walmart grocery shopping before going home. I like to crash ASAP when I worked nights, but each person is different. Just be sure to listen ...

Just do a basic assessment on them, focus on their neuro areas that are affected: legs, arms, etc. Also know the level of the injury, that will help you to focus your assessments as well. High level injuries will result in bowel/bladder issues that y...

I caused a bad nosebleed on my first ng insertion as well. We place our tubes in hot water to increase flexibility. If the pt is dysphasic I have one person hold the head back at the beginning and the move the head forward to help ease the tube it. A...

I had my first code blue today. Found my patient attempting to leave AMA but was found slumped over while he was waiting on a ride. I was shocked at myself for not being as emotional over the whole thing as I should. I pressed a RAT, men moved him to...

We get some TID and BID PRN medications on our floor. But the Pyxis flags us if we try to pull a controlled med before the 8-12 hr time that needs to be between them. Other PRNs that's aren't a controlled med that are TID or BID PRN don't have a warn...

Wow! That seems like a lot of work! I work on the floor and the ED nurses rarely, if ever, start giving medications on admitted Pts. Our Pts med recs aren't even scanned until the pt is on the floor. I don't know how you all do it, but kudos to you a...

We fax all d/c orders with copies of scrips to SNF prior to a pt being d/c'd. If the SNF sees something where they need a script, they call yhe hospital and usually the attending MD will write the script before d/c

The best way I've learned is to look at others note. You will see things you like and things you say "that shouldn't be in there." You can borrow others ideas of what to put in notes and make them your own. At my job we have "precut" nursing notes i...

If you were answering call bells an providing the care you are supposed to (which sounds like you did) then I would be more than happy to have you as my aide. Sounds like you did a great job!

I agree with all the previous posters. Also some MDs break down "problems" that the pt came in with or developed and they list assessment findings related to that as well as their plan. Since most MDs won't call and let you know about what they are w...

Some days will be better than others. Do the best you can. Try to cluster care as much as possible. Say rm 205 needs pain Meds? Md called on 204? See what md wants (I hate to put md needs over pain but they called first.) and call them back. See 205 ...

"Unflavored" respirations! Lol. Gotta love the typos

I'd like to know as well! I am looking into that program for fall 2013

If you are planning on staying around the JMU/EMU area, I would go to EMU. Our local hospital staffs way more EMU grads than JMU, and working on the floor, EMU students tend to act better and think more than the JMU clans. Not dogging JMU, but those ...

Oh and at our facility aides do not do bedside report. It is just the nursing staff that does this.

We ask Pts on admission if they want to be woken for bedside report. If they say no we both peek in the room to check on the pt and step out into the sink area where we can quietly do report but still be in the room. (we have private rooms). Im not ...

Thanks for all your responses! I will definitely have more ideas to conquer the mouth crud battle!

Ok this is a random thread but the more I work in the hospital, the more I notice that patients don't get proper mouth care, especially the total care patients. I'm having a hard time figuring out the best way to remove this dried on mouth crud becau...

This is how I would feel if I could've gotten the crud out! We would probably get along. And to everyone else, thanks for the tips!!

I would think mouthwash would be more drying. Maybe I just need to be a little more aggressive with the swabbies. Thanks for y'all's help!

Thanks. I try that too but sometimes it doesn't seem like its enough. Glad I'm not the only one who hates the crud!

We recently had a policy change that all insulin gtts have to be done on a monitored unit, usually pcu or Ccu. Saves us med surg nurses a lot of running and worrying! I'm very happy they implemented this new change.

Love my danskos! Also got some compression sleeves for my calves for Christmas that I wore for 12+ hours on the floor today, and I must admit my legs feel amazing! I would invest in danskos and compression hose :)

I would have stricter "on call" policies, better staffing, and would be sure everyone had a lunch break no matter what.