anurseuk

Hi Everyone, I'm looking to move to and work in New York from July 2013 most likely. I currently work in London and have 6 years post qualifying experience - mainly in cardiothoracic critical care and most recently in peadiatric cardiac critical care...

Thanks silverdragon102 - do you think it would be easier to join a nursing agency as opposed to looking for a permanent full time job? I'm soon to be dual Adult and Paed trained (although I know it is a general qualification in US) but should cover e...

Oh Lovely thanks XB9S - there's a lot of information there... I will begin to sift through it when I don't have my nights shift head on I'm a bit shocked as to how difficult it seems to be for a UK nurse...

I have NEVER referred to someone as a 'dumb floor nurse' and never heard any of my colleagues do this either... Just saying :-)

....if I'm on my phone on the unit then I'm only ever checking calculations on the calculator feature...

As an ICU who has worked in a few different hospitals.... Why are the ward nurses always so rude to us when we transfer our patients to you? If you feel intimidated by us then I am sorry but this does not correlate to us thinking that we are better t...

No definitely do not mention that you are looking for lower stress... You'll learn that everyone believes that their environment is one of high stress (although not true) if I were you I would say that you enjoy the ER environment but feel ready for ...

A vented patient would be in a room by themselves? And throughing the lights on every 15 minutes? Poor patients!

If you recieve any infomation I'd be interested for you to share it if possible? I'm weighing up my options :-)

Hi, I am a trained adut nurse and currently work as a band 6 in a peadiatric cardiac critical care... I think it depends on the hospital and previous experience. I would reccommend getting some experience in your adult field and then you will be able...

It sounds like the patient needed possibly more suctioning. Suctioning alone will not cause hypoxia... unless I suppose you're a little to vigous and rupture something while your down there? And when a patient is drowning in their own secretions ther...

Just sign here and go away! (yep said that)

The only time I've heard of a member of staff contracting MRSA from a patient was when he had an open wound on his hand. If you're healthy, no open wounds then the chances of you contracting MRSA are very slim. Bare in mind that some healthy people c...

Side effects .....tachycardia, vasodilatation, chest pain, palpitations. Did a quick search in BNF.org and couldn't see any post cath (or even cardiac) indications? hummmm

We have basic stethoscopes at every bed space on my unit. We don't have any complaints and the Dr's use the same :)

Are you drawn to either one particularly? Neither would appeal to me but in your situation with baby at home I would opt for the clinic job. Once baby is older you'll have plenty of oppertunities to go for something more in depth. I don't know how mu...

I found that some medical was frustrating as some of the patients needed surgery but for one reason or another (usually age) were not fit for surgery. For your longer term surgical patients you'll have the same with 2hourly rolls, pressure area care ...

These are all things that will ware off once you've been in your post for longer, learn more and feel more settled with your new job. After all nursing is high stress and there is a lot of responsibility in critical care areas. This is comepletely no...

Can you imagine a whole unit of nurses who are cheery, happy and extrovert? It would be an absolute nightmare! I think nursing (as with a lot of professions) needs a number of different personalities to work effectively and complement each other. I l...

I don't work in a cath lab but have taken large femoral lines out. When removing IABPs we use a femstop device (which works a treat). Our surgeons tend to be a bit messy but we had a cardiology pt so the cardiologist came up to remove IABP, put the f...

Oh dear, well at least it happened early on for you. Some of our new nurses just wait in fear of their first death. Sounds like you handled it really well :) One thing I really like about critical care is the vast amount of knowledge that you will ha...

If you're not happy taking a fresh post op cardiac patient then CVICU is probably not for you. Generally under supervision our newly qualified nurses will take fresh hearts as soon as their 6 week supernumery period has finished. And taking IABP's wi...

I think it's a case of don't run before you can walk. There's nothing wrong with wanting to progress but your immediate goal should be to become a good and competent ICU nurse x

Do a bit of reading around general ICU issues before your interview, have a look through a critical care journal. Be enthusiastic and show that you are willing to work hard and learn. Good luck :)

Epicardial pacing wires very rarely get pulled on my unit as the patients have often been discharged to the step down ward by this time (3-4days post surgery). Chest drains will be removed on the following morning after secession of drainage. No spec...