soapynurse@adel

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1. Calling the coroner when hospice patients die?

   soapynurse@adel replied to Blackcat99's topic in Hospice

   In Virginia, RN's out in the field do the pronouncing. We also made all other necessary calls and disposed of drugs. If the patient is in the hospital, a house physician can do it. The facility usually makes the calls, but often they forget to call...

2. Brainstorming, End of life and Morphine use.

   soapynurse@adel replied to Antikigirl's topic in Hospice

   I can't for the life of me think of the name of this scale, but it is often used in patients with dementia/or who are unresponsive. You gauge it by moaning, grimacing, restlessness, etc. I'll try to dig out a copy and post it here. If I had staff ...

3. Brainstorming, End of life and Morphine use.

   soapynurse@adel replied to Antikigirl's topic in Hospice

   We used morphine or oxyfast on a regular and frequent basis. We always got titrate to comfort oders, so the sky was the limit. We used usually lorazepam in conjunction because as pain increases, so does the anxiety level, respiratory rate, etc. I ...

4. worried about becoming faint in clinicals

   soapynurse@adel replied to galenanurse2b's topic in General Students

   It only happened to me once and that was because I woke up late and didn't eat. I too had worked as an aide and I learned early on not to be too grossed out. You could dry a little dab of Vicks under your nose or carry a bottle of peppermint essent...

5. On-line education in informatics

   soapynurse@adel replied to soapynurse@adel's topic in Informatics

   From all the researching I have done, it seems that you need to be proficient in Microsoft office....access, excel, etc. You will be doing a lot of database work, spreadsheets, etc. You also need to know presentation software...Powerpointe. Hope th...

6. SINI - Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics

   soapynurse@adel replied to rninformatics's topic in Informatics

   Hi Angela, I had actually read about this and it sounds very interesting. It sounds so valuable and could be a great source for networking. Guess I'll have to come up with some money for the opportunity that sounds too good to miss. Thanks so much....

7. On-line education in informatics

   soapynurse@adel posted a topic in Informatics

   I was wondering if anyone has had experience with either Excelsior or Canyon College. Canyon's program seems very brief compared to Excelsior. Any suggestions, support, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Alice in Va

8. Palliative Care and Euthanasia

   soapynurse@adel replied to bracken's topic in Hospice

   I absolutely believe it is better to stay ahead of the pain than letting it rear it's ugly head. And it can happen so quickly. I tried very hard to keep my patients comfortable for them and for their families. I often encouraged the family to stay...

9. any medics in excelsior?

   soapynurse@adel replied to tamzah14's topic in Online Learning

   Was just wondering if anyone else has had trouble getting info from Excelsior? I sent a request for info, director of admissions responded, but apparently dropped the ball. Got a response from a second person in admissions that it would take 7-10 d...

10. Assisted living- what happens when patients need more care?

    soapynurse@adel replied to lexilou's topic in Hospice

    We had several ALF's who used our services. We did not provide continuous care unless symptoms were out of control. Luckily, over time, the staff became very well educated and appreciated our help. This was especially good because they followed o...

11. IDT meetings

    soapynurse@adel replied to saribeth's topic in Hospice

    Our team meetings would often get out of control until we went to having a nurse scribe. This person documents all pertinent discussion and then the appropriate people sign the document and all is done. We used to have to fill out our team sheets a...

12. Mouth care for dying patient

    soapynurse@adel replied to nettie01's topic in Hospice

    "I've had the experience a few times of starting my shift and finding the dying patient with a mouth thickly coated with dried secretions. " Of course in hospice, this is a very common problem. We usually use toothettes (pink swabby sponges) maybe ...

13. pain relief in pancreatic cancer

    soapynurse@adel replied to Limegreen's topic in Hospice

    Sounds like you're on the right track. Yes, I think he'll get over the side effects, but he probably doesn't realize that. Duragesic can make some people very fuzzy. He'll decide when it's necessary to take the breakthrough med. when he needs it. ...

14. pain relief in pancreatic cancer

    soapynurse@adel replied to Limegreen's topic in Hospice

    Before I would even begin to offer any suggestions, I would want to know if the person is on any long acting narcotics and what do they have for breakthrough pain. Maybe it could be time for a clysis. Is the patient eating, ambulatory, having BM's?...

15. Palliative Care and Euthanasia

    soapynurse@adel replied to bracken's topic in Hospice

    Sadly, I'm retiring from hospice where I had really found my niche. But that's another story entirely. I absolutely agree that the patient should be given whatever it takes to make them comfortable (titrate to comfort). Our docs were very good about...