phoenixfire

I'm in a similar boat... been off of orientation in ICU for a couple of months now, looking at ACNP. I think it would be manageable, but my problem is that I have no desire to leave my hospital or the area that I live in, and there are no jobs here f...

I know that the hospital I work at says NOT to bolus.. but here's the thing: not every patient will respond the same way to the same sedative. Propofol is what we usually use, but some people don't respond well to it. If your patient is requiring sev...

I've made a notebook I labeled "ICU Pearls" full of the 'pearls of wisdom' i've collected from the seasoned nurses. Some of the best tips I've gotten are: 1- always make sure that your pump is programmed for the concentration of the drip you are runn...

I'm kind of on the fence with this one... on one hand I feel like its extremely difficult to care for a patient when I have to worry about their family member too. On the other hand, I wonder if allowing one family member (usually the spouse) to stay...

Something I learned recently... be aware of what the costs are if you work with Medicaid pts. I had a pt that needed a Flexi-Seal, and two things happened. One, my coworkers said I could call the MD in the am to get an order to cover the tube, and th...

Being a new grad DOES NOT MEAN YOU TAKE ALL BLAME! I can't stress that enough! I recently got thrown under the bus by a seasoned nurse that I thought I could trust, and when the write up came, I refused to sign it because it was a complete lie! No on...

I'm slightly less polite than this... if he continued to hang up on me after the first time, I would simply continue to call him back, and when he finally answers or stays on the phone long enough, I would say sweetly and kindly "Sir, I very much nee...

I keep a little list in my head of things to do before I call the doc: VS, I&O flowsheet (we use computer charting, so I can pull up a list of the last few days) for a positive or negative fluid balance, manipulate Foley tubing (move it around to...

I've been working as an RN for about 8 months now in ICU, and while I'm by no means an expert, in ICU I can tell you that you have to have a passion for it. We learned lots of things in nursing school, and most of it is relevant. One of my senior nur...

Hi all... I've been hooked on this site since nursing school, but now I have a different dillema... I'm learning to be a critical care nurse, with an eye towards CCRN sometime in the next few years, but a few days ago, I happened to be the first pers...

One thing I have noticed on my unit is that the seasoned critical care nurses are more helpful when I ask for their opinion if I tell them a) what the problem is and b) how I plan to fix it. The more experienced nurses know that we don't know everyth...

I think we are wearing the same shoes! All I can tell you is focus on those around you... look for people you respect, and ask them questions. I'm lucky enough to work in a place where even if my preceptor is not around, the other nurses will answer ...

Amen!! The money we could save in preventatives alone with socialized medicine would be sufficient to pay for it, and then some. I know too many people who waited until they couldn't wait anymore to see a doctor, and what happens is instead of spendi...

One thing that has to be addressed in this discussion is how much education the family members get when they are approached about this particular topic. Most of the families I have run into are concerned that their loved one will be in pain, or will ...

With ulcerative colitis, think of things that are non-irritating to the GI tract (ex. stay away from caffiene, spicy foods, etc). Stick with a bland diet that is higher in the elements your patient specifically needs (check your nutrition book). Also...

Just to give a little backgroud, before I switched to nursing, I was in the military for several years, and I almost always got put on an all male crew. It always started out the same...I had to work twice as hard, and be twice as good as they were f...

To stay on topic, I can tell you that I recieved my first two degrees from UOP, and it was harder than the prerequisite classes I took at a brick and mortar college for nursing! Part of what makes it so difficult is that to be successful in an online...

Everyone has one patient that really reminds them of why they want to be a nurse. Mine was a little old man I'll call 'Jim'. Jim was in the hospital because he fell at home, where he lived with his wife of 50+ years. He had suffered a GI bleed after ...

Ok, maybe I am looking at this with inexperienced eyes, but having worked in both places (as a tech), I have heard from both sides. I know that when I am in ICU, and we recieve a trauma patient, the nurses tend to be ***** because the patient is a me...

This made me laugh, and cry at the same time as I considered my own experience, so I thought I would share. Dear Preceptor, I came to your unit full of eagerness and excitement, willing to take whatever tasks you felt I was capable of. You du...

wow, some of these are pretty awesome, I'm laughing myself silly! Ok, one on me: begining of 4th semester, so hanging a new bag of NS should be a piece of cake, right? Nope. My instructor (a fearsomely smart woman who is not my biggest fan!) is stand...

Ok, so I'm super excited... I just got my first job at an ICU, a place I LOVE TO BE. There is so much going on, so much to learn, and so many ways in which we can make a difference. I asked some of the seasoned nurses that I work with now (I'm a part...

Lots of good replies on here... and many things to chew on while mulling it over. There are a few thoughts that come to mind on this topic, one major one is that we as healthcare providers are (usually) educated about what services are reasonable, ne...

You can look at it a few different ways...why is this patient needing information? He had a procedure, right? So your NANDA would be something along the lines of "Knowledge deficit r/t surgical wound care secondary to mechanical interuption of skin b...

I love critical care... because there is so much to learn, so much to do, and so many opportunities to teach and make a difference. I love to explain things via patho, and when your loved one is attached to dozens of tubes and recieving meds you've ...