Blueorchid ASN, RN

Hello all, Bit of background history, I am a nurse with 5.5 years of ICU experience in a busy trauma ICU followed by 1.5 years of experience in the Cardiac Cath Lab. I switched to CCT ground in 2017 and October of this year will make it a full 2 yea...

Never one to do things halfway- the second night off orientation I manage to stick myself with a 21 G butterfly needle. I was drawing an ABG on a patient that required multiple measures of sedation- he'd had Haldol, Ativan, and I'd been watching my P...

Our multidisciplinary rounds consist of the critical care team with the attending physician, the fellow or resident, pharmacy, infectious diseases, nutrition, and respiratory therapy. Bedside nurses are expected to be present for rounds and you...

"Hold my beer and watch this!"...yep ?

I had a similar experience when I was in nursing school (and a tech in the ED) to which I always hear the resounding words of my clinical instructor. You are the nurse and you protect your patient. Having just done an extreme dressing change I would ...

This isn't the first time I've seen a thread like this but I would love to hear opinions from other people to get a better grasp on reality. Coming up on February of this year I will have been an ICU nurse for 2 years in an inner city trauma center. ...

Reposted this here because I think I might get better responses. If that's a problem someone let me know :) This isn't the first time I've seen a thread like this but I would love to hear opinions from other people to get a better grasp on reality. C...

Updated: I took a deep breath and reported to my manager how my shift report was a load of BS. I put it nicely that I was concerned if she was getting an incomplete report from the OR that there might be a communication breakdown. I mean, what if the...

Hahaha oooh I remember those days. My Med Surg instructor was the same way. We would go on the unit the day before our clinicals with our patient assignments, look up lab values, meds, medical history, and anything else pertinent and be expected to h...

I knew an old Neuro ICU nurse who swore by Frank Sinatra for her really sick heads. She said the tones decreased their ICPs. I think there's benefit for both the nurse and the patient so I'll frequently put on AOL Radio at night and turn the volume u...

A slight reversal of the situation. As a new grad on a busy ICU floor, I had the pleasure of dealing with a nurse for the first 4 months or so off orientation who would go out of her way to tell me each and every thing I did wrong. She would pick ove...

Hehe, I love hearing stories, my turn! From tech to newbie nurse - Pulling back the sheets on a 78 y/o LOL that came into the ED for AMS to find the most spectacular misplaced set of DD implants. We were getting ready to start the routine fingerstick...

Well, to all those who wanted to know everything came back negative :) :) :) After an unpleasant weekend wondering what to do next I went down to employee health and was told I was extremely low risk for any kind of transmission in the future. I'm st...

Amen, Our unit is going through something very similar with a patient right now and siblings that just can't seem to get it together. Meanwhile this poor woman is slowly melting into a hospital bed. The plus side is that the attendings have absolutel...

Didn't really know where to put this since its trauma related. But! Had a patient a few days ago with a Grade III liver injury, MVC that was ped struck and her organs took a hit from the aftermath. She was suspected of having heparin induced thromboc...

Oh boy get ready to learn a ton! I was that ER tech with a little bit of experience in the middle of nursing school. Best get a good pair of running shoes because you will be doing alot of work :) Flying Scot hit the nail on the head. Sometimes the ...

I'll try not to clutter up this thread with anything resembling an argument, but the term new grad, at least where Im from, means that you've passed your boards and are done with your preceptorship- and have headed off to care for patients without an...

Now hang on a second. I hate to divert from the original topic but as one of those new grad nurses I feel the need to make a point. First of all, as someone blessed to have a job in an ICU right out of nursing school I want those higher acuity patien...

Nope, you're not the only one. I was worried about SATA too. Prioritization Delegation and Assignment by LaCharity has a lot of good SATA questions- if you're taking the test in 2 weeks you would have enough time to get through most of it because its...

My mom grows these beautiful orchids that for some reason have like 8 blooms a pop and last forever. I never got her green thumb but I've always loved the flowers...and the White Stripes just happened to be big when I picked it. Its sort of stuck sin...

I passed the NCLEX in 75 questions YEAH!!!! PVT really works, even though I was one of the people that kept checking to make sure my popup was the good pop up (you know...in case they changed their mind right?) I'm so happy- like many of you guys ...

Yay yay yay! I know this is a little late on my part but CONGRATS!

I used the second edition of La Charity. It has a blue, gold, and red cover. Its really good for explaining the criteria behind delegation but don't be surprised if you take La Charity and Kaplan at the same time and find the answers differ sometimes...

I did the same thing! Took my test today and it shut off at 75 questions. I had around the same SATA but I also had a couple math (which scared me to death). Went home and tried the PVT got the "pending" message. Tried it an hour later and got: Our r...

Likewise and amen We have gone through so much to be here- we can do one more test! Woosah...as I sit here with my mug of tea I'm starting my own week countdown. Positive thinking trumps all...