AliRae

AHAHA! I don't have time right now to read through all the pages of replies, so I'm not sure where this discussion is going. I just have to share that this happened to me .. on CHRISTMAS no less! The first call on my cell phone was at 7:01 am. The...

I am happy with that kind of deep contentment that comes from knowing that I'm exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing. It might not sound like everyone's idea of a good time, but I'm headed to western Africa for at least a ye...

I'm a peds person, so all the time! Kiddos are very hands-on, and I take any opportunity I can to get the little ones out of bed and hold them.

In charge of a full PICU, heading out on a transport call when I got a call from the ED that they had a 1 month old in full arrest. Let me just tell you- that day was the truest test of my nursing I have ever had.

What a small world ... one of the blogs mentioned on the right hand side of the page belongs to a dear friend of our family!

I'm going to be intentional about friendships. I'm leaving in February and will be in Liberia for a year, so I'm resolving to properly keep in touch with those I love at home. (Anyone who knows me calls me "the e-mail black hole" ... I hope I'm not...

Crusade away! However, just be sure that when they program the dang pumps the limits are appropriate. Like I said before, there's nothing worse that being in the middle of a wicked situation and finding out that the pump doesn't think you should be...

This is my last-ditch tactic. When all else fails, I repeat the follwing mantra to myself: "EVERYTHING that happens today is happening solely for your amusement." Taken in this context, shifts like the OP describes become much more bearable.

When I was 15, my 17-year old cousin drowned. He was resucitated and vented long enough for my aunt and uncle to fly home from France (where they were when it happened). I remember driving with my family through the night to Toronto where he was a ...

WOAH! And she thinks she's a peds nurse?! :angryfire

With my big kids I do way #1 ... prime all the tubing with saline then clamp saline and run blood through until it reaches the end. Then I put it on the pump and administer per protocol. For the little ones, we have spiked filters that fit of the en...

Our hospital has 5 or 6 standard concentrations, A-E (or F) ranging from least to most concentrated. NICU babes end up with A and B usually, and our kiddos usually range from C-E (or F). It's nice to have a lot of different options and I think that...

We had a patient recently who was receiving donor milk. I'm a PICU person, not NICU, so we don't see as much breast milk in general as in the NICU. We adopted basically the same procedure as in the NICU and got two RNs to verify and cosign the brea...

I've been a peds nurse for always, but one of the best nurses I worked with in my old unit was a former SICU nurse! She made the swtich a few years ago and has loved it. She always said the biggest mental switch was just having to calculate dosages...

My favourite died in January. He had been "ours" his whole life ... never went home. The only time he left our unit was a brief stint at a rehab hospital where I visited him frequently. He was my baby - I remember one time working a night in the N...

What are those guidelines? Is it a standardized thing or something your facility has? Just bought my ticket! February 7th. I have a one way ticket to Africa, and I'm not planning on coming back before February of '09. Yahoo!

Mercy Ships requires a minimum of 2 weeks, I think, as an RN. Although I'm not so sure of the minimum, I know the max as a short-term volunteer is one year. Which is what I'm going to be doing starting in February! I can't wait. I've done one oth...

We went to them right before I left, and it was a nightmare. I guess there are always kinks to be worked out, but come on! One of my last days I was in charge and I helped admit a baby post arrest at home. He came up on dopa, and we needed to titra...

It's hard for us when one of "our" kids starts to go downwards. Last year one of our chronic babies developed a huge cyst in his brain and his parents made the decision to take him off the vent (he was trached) and let things run their course. This...

This is why I ended up as the death and dying" nurse this summer and fall. I'm glad there are nurses out there who share my perspective. That, yes, it stinks. And yes, it's hard. But we have to do the best we can for these families. I'd much rat...

hugs to you, elizabells. It's so hard when one a primary passes away, even when you know it's for the best. I'm glad you were able to be there with him and his family. Sending love to you as you heal.

It really does depend on how far along in your orientation you are. I've precepted many new nurses, and I just had them sit back and enjoy the ride the first day (or couple days if they're brand new) they're with me. Gave me a chance to talk with t...

I'm a PICU person (or I was, before I quit...) and I'm so very liberal and proactive with my sedation. Glad your little one has some fentanyl on board! But I just have to say that I've been following this story for a while and I've been cringing up...

It's taken me a few says to get past my own tears enough to reply to this thread. One of the last things I did at my job over the past few weeks was deal with one of these devastating situations. Previously healthy 5 week old infant, cardiac arrest...

I started out at a big teaching hospital. The tough part about a teaching hospital is learning how to deal with the residents. They don't necessarily know enough to write the right orders or do the right thing in any given situation. It took a bit...