ripcurl1

I know this reply is a little late but...just to add to the thread....Most situations depend on the status of the patient and the team's plan. If they are planning on weaning to extubate sedation may delay that process. We place most patients on propofol and low dose fentanyl most of the time even if they are just remaining intubated overnight. We have started using a new medication called precidex which helps with the anxiety while being intubated but doesn't suppress your respiratory drive. It must be turned off though within 6 hours of extubation per our protocol.

I'm not sure what type of equipment you have but to minimize changing tubes with your right hand try this. Hook your butterfly tubing up to a 10cc syringe (this is only if 10cc of blood is enough for your labs) Once you get in to the vessel slowly press the plastic butterfly wings against the skin and gently switch hands...gently pull back blood into the syringe. Do not pull back hard...this can rupture the cells and cause your speciman to hemolyze. Hope this helps.

I work for two large teaching hospitals with different visiting hours in each. The first has an open policy in visiting in the ICU's. Family can come and stay at anytime. This was done in an attempt to decrease sedation needs, decrease anxiety, and improve patient comfort and outcomes. I didn't like it at first but it actually helps a lot of patients. They have also just initiated family presence during code situations. The other hospital has daytime hours from 11a-5p and then again at 830p till 10p. No family is allowed to be on the during shift report because of the sharing of info and HIPPA!! Or so thats what I'm told

I graduated from JHU 3 years ago. It's great and you will love it. Diane Aschenbrenner is great in pharm, she's tough but she's smart. If you need any help or have any questions just ask. Just a helpful hint...save your careplans. Cutting and pasting will save you a lot of time. Good luck!!

Hi Stephanie, A lot depends on what type of environment you uneed for Baltimore. If you have a family Perry Hall, White Marsh, & Towson are clean and quiet with a relatively short commute to Johns Hopkins depending on the shift you will be working. 95 starts to get congested around 6:30 if not earlier but as long as there are no accidents it moves through in about 15 -20 minutes. If you can deal with city living in a rowhome/townhome Canton and Fells Point are close to the campus but are newly renovated areas with lots of fun stuff to do. It's a relatively young area with lots of restaurants, bars/pubs, cafes, and stores. Housing in those areas can be a little pricey but it's a quick commute. Hope this helps Stephanie

I just have to say the ICU faqs website is one of the best I've seen. It contains a ton of information. I have referred many new grad's starting in the ICU and many preceptors to the site and they found the site was very helpful and informative. Thanks for providing thinfo : )

I always thought that anything containing D10 or higher needer to be infused through some type of central venous line. I also thought that TPN must be administered by iteself. I recently started working for an institution who infuses TPN through a peripheral IV (NOT A PICC line) and will also combine meds and IVF with the TPN line. Does this sound right? Does anyone else do this at their hospital?