HezzRN

Hi, I am a ICU RN at CAMC. I have worked at CHH and was an NE at SMMC. I will say that hands down you will make more money/hr working in Huntington and your benefits will be much cheaper and better. Although I like the unit that I work in, CAMC in general, doesn't treat their nurses as well as the Huntington/Ashland KY market does. As a new grad in 2007, I was making almost $24/hr at KDMC and my firends were very close to that working at CHH and SMMC. In 2008, when I started at CAMC, they started me out at $18.50/hr. Now I am PD there working 36 for $36, but I also started working PD at CHH for the same money, but wasn't required to work as many hours in order to make $36 on the hour. CAMC, in my opinion, thinks that they can pay their employees next to nothing. They are not located in a competitve market. Although, St Francis and Thomas are stepping up their pay from what I hear.

I work in a 12 bed Neuro ICU (we also take MICU overflow) and there is a debate on having to have the patient on or off of the monitor in 2 situations. Situation 1. Pt has transfer order to move to regular nonmonitored floor, AAT, VS Q shift, medlock, etc... The hospital doesn't have any available beds to move the pt to and the pt stays in our unit for a couple of days. My hospital policy states that we may go off of the MDs transfer orders at that point. Some RNs are keeping the pt on the monitor, stating that they are still in the ICU (although they are not charged for an ICU bed at this point). What does your hospital do? What do you do as the RN? Situation 2. Pt is DNR/DNI and is now made "comfort care only" or "pallative care". All labs, procedures and meds are cancelled with the exception of morphine, ativan and robinol. Consults have signed off. Pt is going to be extubated and is expected to pass quickly. Do you leave the pt hooked up to the monitor, bp cuff, pulse ox, pressure cables, etc.? Or do you try to eliminate as much as you can, making the pt seem more like themselves (for the family)? What do you do? Does your hospital actually have a policy addressing this? I would appreciate any insight. Thanks!

i completely agree. this has been my experience. i won't turn off an alarm for invasive lines either simply because i may forget to turn them back on or forget to pass on to the next nurse that the alarm is off (although they need to check their alarms) but one of the biggest reasons is liability. if you get busy with pt b and pt a get their ventric pulled out, who will notice? at least an alarm will bring attention to you or another nurse or monitor tech, etc. btw-go herd!!

Our monitors are mounted over the pts head but can be pulled slightly down and to either side. I always have my IV pumps on the side of my access, I keep the ventic drain also on the side of the drain. Our computers are on the right side of the pt, again mounted on the wall. Our sinks and supplies are also usually on the right by design as well, so by default the vent in to the left of the pt (when at the foot of the bed, looking at the pt). You always have to walk around our bed to get to the vent.

I graduated in '07 and started out in MICU and then moved to NSICU. This year I was a preceptor for the '08 grads and I am also working as a charge nurse for our unit. I hate to say this but I have had less mistakes and problems from our new grads then I have had from our nurses with 15+ yrs of experience. (especially with critical gtts) I am a firm believer that new grads can do very well in an ICU setting although it isn't for just anyone.