cvicugirl BSN, RN

Okay, what is your experience with online ACLS renewal? I'm catching holy grief from my staff because I found out that many of their renewals are done online and I am not authorized to reimburse them. Our hospital provides and pays for in-house cer...

Good advice from everyone. Make sure the docs and nurses disinfect their stethoscopes also (quite important with a surgical chest.)

I'm still curious-what causes green sweat?

We use music therapy in our heart program to decrease anxiety pre/post op. Specifically, instrumentals with 60 beats per minute, to mimic a "calm" heart rate.

In my experience, hespan has fallen out of use due to cost vs. benefit when compared to NS. Also, as PrettyinPink1234 mentions, coagulopathy and nephrotox are potential risks of use/overuse.

[quote name= The Mom (Nadya) has done IVF for all of her children, using the same (unidentified) sperm donor for them all. According to grandma, Nadya "just wanted one more girl"...[/quote] I'm a lurker from CVICU and have enjoyed reading your commen...

We had a surgeon who used to do that, too. I'm fairly certain our P+P used the same measurement frequency as a "normal" chest tube (measured and dumped hourly) and it also included regular instruction re: JP care. Emptying the JP with a large syrin...

I have witnessed many a CCL tech and a cardiologist or two massage a forming hematoma at the same time they were holding manual pressure. The cardiologist was essentially "milking" the hematoma from the cath puncture. Although I sort of see what th...

Niiiice. I hope you kept their tech until the postmortem care was complete!

:yeahthat:I'd also recommend training everyone on sheath pulls, not just a few. Training should include basic A & P review, technique, and troubleshooting (what to do when things go badly.) Ideally, the RN should have several pulls under his/her...

Hang in there. It is very common to go home emotionally and physically exhausted, especially with this stuff being so new. Do you hear bells and alarms when you are in bed trying to go asleep? We've all been there. As long as you know WHY do are ...

I had to make sure I read that correctly...your hospital has no pharmacy on the night shift? wow. I wouldn't hesitate calling the on-call Rx for new orders. Perhaps if they get bugged enough, they'd give you some coverage.

We had so many problems with tardy/missing meds and anesthesiologist complaints (Rx policy won't let them mix their own meds for routine cases) we now have a satellite pharmacy located between (and within shouting distance:icon_hug:) of the CV & ...

It is irresponsible the way your unit is staffed right now--eventually nurse retention and patient care will suffer. While it might seem fine if the MS nurse is given the easy patients, who has your back? Do your MS RNs have ACLS? Is your mgr also...

Plavix too. I'm sure that's why they didn't want to take the dude back, they figured you can't sew up oozy coagulopathy. What did his initial post-op chest film look like? I'd argue that it might be worth the re-op just to remove the big blob of g...

1. Don't deliver a dead person to the ICU and then argue that they aren't dead. (This has happened to me. Twice.) 2. Please don't tell me that you didn't treat the 2.1 potassium level that was reported hours ago because you were "having trouble" ...

Here's an update from my previous post: I finished reading the Fink book, concentrated on finally understanding what I didn't already know, and easily passed. The answers to the questions came from my experience, not a book, jmho.

It's that time of year again....Annual evals are due and I need to list a few measurable goals for myself and our ICU for the next year. Suggestions welcome!

If you only have 2 or 3 night shifts/month, schedule them all together and make sure you have at least 2 full days off to recover before going back to days.

Sounds entirely reasonable to me. Ever have an uncomplicated manual sheath pull blow on you? I'd rather catch it sooner than later.

Think of it this way: Dobutamine is an inotrope, milrinone is an inodilator. Dobutamine will increase CO/CI and heart rate (and cardiac O2 consumption) with a small decrease in SVR. Milrinone will increase CO/CI with little effect on HR and cardia...

I took the CSC recently and would agree that if you know cardiac A&P and have been recovering hearts for several years--you'll do fine. I didn't study, but then again, CV is my thing...

I feel foolish asking, because I'm sure it is obvious. I've been to the Louisiana BON website and I can't seem to find out the procedure. This is driving me NUTS (and they are closed today...)

I'm so frustrated with the lack of accountability shown by nurses! For example, isn't it a nurse's responsibility to maintain their licensure and certification?! I use an excel program that I use to track license, TB, CPR, and ACLS dates of my staf...