General E. Speaking, RN RN

floor to ICU

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All Content by General E. Speaking, RN

  1. General E. Speaking, RN

    cardiac nursing--back in the day

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to surferbettycrocker's topic in Cardiac

    I remember having to take out every other staple on the patients legs (from graft site) and replace with steri strips. Some of those staples were imbedded and painful to
  2. General E. Speaking, RN

    Do you LIKE every patient that walks through your door?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to Katie5's topic in General Nursing

    #$*@ no!
  3. General E. Speaking, RN

    help me not dread telemetry

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to file03's topic in General Nursing

    Practice, practice, practice! I am the charge nurse on a Tele unit. Someone suggested that you take a couple of shifts with the monitor tech. I think this is a great idea. There are still rhythms...
  4. General E. Speaking, RN

    What's your mindset,...?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to Katie5's topic in General Nursing

    Honestly, it depends on the day. If I have been there on the floor as charge nurse for two days and I know we have a lot of high acuity patients and I know which nurses will be there with me my 3rd...
  5. General E. Speaking, RN

    "Breathable" air bed mattress pads?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in General Nursing

    any other comments?
  6. General E. Speaking, RN

    "Breathable" air bed mattress pads?

    General E. Speaking, RN posted a topic in General Nursing

    Does your hospital use any kind of special breathable mattress pads when the patient is on an air bed? I find that we go to all the trouble of ordering and paying for the beds but then they are...
  7. General E. Speaking, RN

    Direct Admissions without doctor orders

    General E. Speaking, RN posted a topic in Patient Safety Issues

    Do you ever get direct admissions to your unit without any orders? Has happened to me and I feel this is a huge liability. I mean if they are on my floor in a room aren't I responsible for them?...
  8. General E. Speaking, RN

    "Breathable" air bed mattress pads?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in General Nursing

    Also: Are these special pads strong enough to pull the patient up or do you rely on a sheet with the
  9. General E. Speaking, RN

    Lost it at Work

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to skittlebear's topic in General Nursing

    I had a meltdown at the nurse's station after a particularly awful 12 hr shift. I was exhausted, worked short all day, had very high acuity patients, got no lunch break (no break at all actually)....
  10. General E. Speaking, RN

    Direct Admissions without doctor orders

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    I am happy it is not a big deal for your unit. I have, however, had pt sit in a room for almost an hour waiting for orders. Spoke with the Risk Mgmt Dept about
  11. General E. Speaking, RN

    Group One

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to cutiepie1310's topic in Texas Nursing

    cutiepie1310. I'm gonna PM
  12. General E. Speaking, RN

    informed consent (texas)?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to jennifers's topic in General Nursing

    We get consents all the time. I'm in Texas. If I go in to obtain the signature and the patient is hesitant, has unanswered questions and/or feels uncomfortable signing, I will put the consent in the...
  13. General E. Speaking, RN

    Sickle Cell Crisis and pain management?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to Lola77's topic in General Nursing

    I often wonder after getting Dilaudid 3mg IV Q2 hrs for x amount of days then suddenly being taken off it, how it affects you. We try and decrease the amounts to wean. I don't recall anyone going...
  14. General E. Speaking, RN

    Sickle Cell Crisis and pain management?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to Lola77's topic in General Nursing

    I hope your comments were not directed at me. When I said some may be drug seekers in my post, I meant it in a general term as with any admission for any diagnosis with any patient. I, too, despise...
  15. General E. Speaking, RN

    Sickle Cell Crisis and pain management?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to Lola77's topic in General Nursing

    We currently have two patients on our floor in sickle cell crisis. I, too, find that they are immediately "labeled" drug seeker. You know they must have a tolerence to narcotics because of repeated...
  16. General E. Speaking, RN

    Will you give out a medication without the order yet?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to rn4ever?'s topic in Patient Medications

    In urgent situations where the patient's blood pressure is in the toilet or they are having a possible allergic reaction that is escalating and I have tried to get in touch with MD and I feel he is...
  17. General E. Speaking, RN

    Direct Admissions without doctor orders

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    Thanks so much for everyones input. I am really peeved about this. I am mad at the situation but also I am flabbergasted that everyone involved doesn't think of this as a HUGE liability/safety issue...
  18. General E. Speaking, RN

    Direct Admissions without doctor orders

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    Yes,
  19. General E. Speaking, RN

    You know you're Old School when...

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to snoopy29's topic in General Nursing

    Oh yea... I remember those double shots! How about oral polio doses? Used to be the only kids that got injectable doses were the ones with immunocompromised households (or immune problems with...
  20. General E. Speaking, RN

    What do you do to prevent falls?

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to carebear01's topic in General Nursing

    We have to call a "Code Yellow" and folks come running..... then we simply put the patient in bubble wrap and tuck them back into
  21. General E. Speaking, RN

    Direct Admissions without doctor orders

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    The issue specifically is that the house supervisor will call me to get a room for a direct admit coming from MD office. I assign the room. The patient goes through admitting (usually). I have had...
  22. General E. Speaking, RN

    Low Press "Gag"ney Scores- help!!

    General E. Speaking, RN posted a topic in General Nursing

    Getting discouraged with the Tele Unit Educator part of my job. It is a supplemental position (4hrs/wk) in addition to my fulltime charge position. I want to concentrate on things like "Anatomy of...
  23. General E. Speaking, RN

    Low Press "Gag"ney Scores- help!!

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in General Nursing

    Not directed at me but I wanted to comment. We had a very difficult patient. Complained about everything. Constantly calling "service hotline" number posted in every room about our 'service...
  24. General E. Speaking, RN

    Direct Admissions without doctor orders

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    Everytime it happens, I do an incident report. Never hear back from Risk Mgmt. Most of the House Supervisors are good at making sure we get orders before the direct admission are accepted. Thanks...
  25. General E. Speaking, RN

    Low Press "Gag"ney Scores- help!!

    General E. Speaking, RN replied to General E. Speaking, RN's topic in General Nursing

    You make valid points. I believe the staffing issue boils down to money. Plus, they expect us to work with higher acuity patients on the floor. With the co-morbidities of the patients these days,...