Radnurse54

We use versed and fentanyl as well the dosing of course is dependant on the procedure and patient. Protocol for sedation always requires monitoring of bp, pulse, resp and p02, in some area end tidal is also used as in MRI sedations. There are several levels of sedation with accompanying criteria, this is a standard anesthesia scale. You should be able to find it on the national website for anesthesia.

Sedation standards and policies in my experience are administered by the anesthesiology department. This is the first place you should start. Also, I am suprised that your department doesnt have a protocol that covers anxiolytics, moderate and deep sedation. Did you not have to take an exam at the hospital where you are to show your competency in sedation? Some big red flags are here for me. Start with anesthesia, they are your best resources.

I was an ER nurse for 28 years before becoming the only and first Radiology Nurse at the hospital I was working at, at that time. I learned a lot, the staff in radiology learned a lot about nursing as well. It was once described very well by a CT technologist who said you are like the translator, you speak nurse and radiology and you can help us understand and help the nursing staff understanding about the procedures and scans etc. Now I work in a teaching hospital with 26 other radiology nurses just for IR procedures and it is interesting most days, yes I love only having one patient at a time, and yes there is a lot about autonomy and dependence that the medical staff has in you. We always say, Radiologists dont do sick people. As far as the lead goes, if there is an option, opt for the newer lighter versions, it gets hard on call when you are doing case after case all by yourself for hours at a time. Good luck

At my sister's hospital in Texas...the health depart..came onto units and wrote tickets with fines for staff chewing gum.... ?????confused since when does the health department give fines on hospital units???

The part that may be missing from those above who are asking why choose nursing: I have been a nurse for 41 years when I became a nurse the options for women in careers was less varied than today, however, we are not acknowledging the fact that hospitals and health care has changed greatly. We are now large corporations making money for our stock holders, or not for profits trying to get their piece of the DC money for research etc. When hospitals became more about money they became less focused on patient care, and when they became less focused on patient care, they forgot about the care givers. So now in the throws of the hysteria over "Obama Care" the focus has become (in my opinion) less about patient care than ever. Why then are we surprised that nursing staff is being treated as a liability rather than the absolutely necessity it is to keep patients safe, keep infections and falls down and decrease patient stay. Nurses have become an expendable commodity. This was not always the way it was. So the answer to the question why...are we still here.....nursing didnt start out this way.....there was more respect for our roles in the hospitals , now that this is no longer true, we are being treated in this shabby way. Getting out....you bet....and I should have done it sooner. Its like watching a friend die a slow and angonizing death....I just dont have the stomach for it anymore.

I am of the same opinion, about pushing out those of us with long time experience for no other reason that they dont want to have to pay us. Here is the problem with that thinking, eventually there wont be anyone left for mentoring......no one who "has seen it all" and knows other ways to deal with it.....we will have a derth of experience and those who are going to feel the loss the most will be the patients. That being said, please dont send me hate posts because you have been a nurse for

I do not believe the word "rediculous" was used to refer to people who think they are in nursing as a calling. I may be a little wrong here but it seems some projecting is going on here (also a psych nurse in my past life). I believe it is important that we are open to what others have to say, even if we disagree even strongly so, how can we say that we understand a point of view if we havent looked at as many sides as we can, with an open mind. MariposaLPN, I applaud your passion, but perhaps your experience has been that when people disagree with you they are talking badly about you. This is not the case here. There are nurses with a vast array of experience here, we all came to be nurses for many reasons, each of them our own. I celebrate your choosing to be a nurse in the way you have chosen, it just isnt the same for all of us.

MariposaLPN, again you have misunderstood. I am not upset, you have as much right to your idealistic views as anyone else, and I have the right to my experience and loss of idealism, after years of banging my head against the wall thinking I could change things and make the world a better place. But, what I learned is first you have to realize that the world....mostly doesnt care to change, that greed runs many businesses including unfortunately these days hospitals, and to use the reason that you are helping people in a sort of altruistic fashion is how some of above stated "greedy bastards" get you to buy into why it isnt necessary to compensate nurses for the agonizingly, difficult, self sacrificing work we do by patting us on the head and saying "but you are doing it for the good of the sick and injured". THAT was my point. So, I admire you for wanting to defend your idealism, at one time so would I, but I grew up and got a reality check. Nurses (in my opinion) have for too long failed to demand pay for the difficult and often soul draining job we do. We not support each other enough, for where else would it come from. Do good work, but dont sell out to some archaic notion of an "angel of mercy", that title doesnt pay too well.

I think you misunderstood, that this is my opinion, it is not required that you approve or agree. This is a site about sharing our opinions and experiences and points of view.

I am confused about the comment that what we do is a calling. Let me be clear I am not a nun. This is a career, NOT a calling, thats just an excuse to make nurses feel bad for asking what would be asked for in any other profession. You want me to know you appreciate what I do, then pay me. I never thought I would be the kind of nurse who did her job for money, but here I am and I dont feel bad about my choice at all.

Try being 61, and a nurse for 41 years, and not getting a raise for 5 years, because I am topped out. However, those new coming in still keep receiving raises...pretty soon we will be making the same. It appears that they may be forcing those of us more experienced nurses out the door, or if we get disastisfied, they wont be sad that we leave. I believe through my own experience that nurses usually do not leave for how they are paid but for how they are treated. However, being devalued on a continual basis cuts both ways.

I work in a teaching hospital with 3 IR suites and CT/US body rooms. At this time in the IR suites, which are only used for IR procedures, the techs set up the table and prep the patient just as the OR does, patients wearing hats and masks as well. In the CT/US rooms which when procedures are not being done also do diagnostic testing as well, the docs set up a sterile table and prep the patients. We all wear hats and masks, including the patients and the docs wear scrub gowns. I have worked in other Radiology departments (smaller) where the doctors only wore hats, masks and gloves for the procedures.

Not ED either, think again. As an ED nurse for 28 years I assure you that though it is easy to become jaded and disgusted by the abuse and misuse of the system by patients and their irresponsible behavior, however, those who are critically ill, injured and mentally ill deserve care and compassion too. I think ED would also be a NO. Linda

Oh right, send him to administration...so we can have yet one more, disconnected, disinterested beauracratic administrator to oversee the care of sick people, from whom they are totally detached. I think....NO Linda

There appears to be one thing missing in all these posts. The problem my friend in fact might not be the job, but that you have an unrealistic expectation and seem to be egocentric in your search for "the job". You want excitement, purpose and interest, but it has to be on your terms, interesting that you have found ANY job to meet your expectations. Perhaps you would be better served by looking inside, if in fact you are able to see that you may have faults, and start there. I dont think it is the profession......its the person.