nicubabe

We also extubate ASAP to CPAP. By the way I love the little masks, but you have to be careful that they're not on too tight or the nasal bridge gets dented in. Our Neo seems very reluctant to surf some of the kids and pull the tube, which drives us all crazy. He'd rather watch them struggle for a few days on CPAP rather than surf them initially. Of course these are the kids who then end up needing reintubated numerous times and have longer stays due to severe BPD.

The NICU that I work in has always mixed our own meds and drips until recently. We don't have a pediatric pharmacist and are very leary of the meds etc. that we now get from the pharmacy so we are constantly double checking and frequently find errors. It's beginning to get better with fewer errors,but old habits die hard sometimes.

I Believe you are correct Jolie about the neurotoxicity of chlorhexadine. We have only ever used Betadine followed by alcohol to prep sites and I have never seen a chemical burn yet. P.S. I'm going to show my age too. I also started NICU in1986!

we used to use 26 g caths but the company we got them from quit making them so we have been forced to use 24g. We would love to get the 26g caths again if we can find a company that makes them. Any names would be appreciated.:)

Most definitely too much of a load. How on earth do they expect one person to adequately care for these babies? Agree with mimi2rn that there should be at least 2 RN's . If the person who makes these ridiculous staffing decisions actually had to do the job, I'm sure the staffing would change.

Local chiropractor named Dr. McCracken. Also a Gp named Dr. Butts( just hope his first name isn't Seymour)

Cross training has its pros and cons as with all things, but I think it's better to be trained in similar areas. I have worked in NICU for many years and used to get "pulled" to adult ICU, med-surg, etc. I was clueless about meds etc. but was expected to function as an RN. I was thrilled when we decided to become a closed unit. I don't get pulled anymore, but that also means when we get really busy we have to help ourselves so we now have mandatory on call days.

I feel like I just read my own bio. Am still in the process of a divorce from a needy man who thought I should be his mother. 10 years and 2 kids later I decided that I only had 2 children come from my womb not three! I am enjoying my independence and don't think I could get married again for fear that I'd end up with someone needing me to take care of them.

Our lactation consultants recommend Nuk nipples for all breastfed babies, though I agree with most of you that I don't care for them either. I especially don't like them for small preemies who are lucky to be able to fit a regular sized nipple in their mouths let alone a wide Nuk