JohnnyGage

The company I fly for routinely does interstate transport. Because the company is licensed in Minnesota, and we as nurses are licensed in Minnesota, we are covered. Basically, while the patient is under your care and covered by your protocols, orde...

Congrats! As for this... I have two words: Rotor Blades.

While I am quite comfortable with chest tubes and the questions you've raised, I don't think I could adequately answer the questions in a forum like this... I'm much more of a hands-on teacher and for something like CTs, even more so. However... Have...

Overall fitness is key. A good fitness program will include flexibility (especially back and hamstring stretches), strength (we all know about the increase in "bariatric" patient populations), and definitely endurance. Not only that, but important ...

They died as heros. May they rest in peace.

What parts are you having trouble understanding?

We waste every time unless we're "actively treating or titrating". Basically it comes down to: if you feel confident enough about your patient to leave the bedside you should waste. That is, if you're actively treating chest pain or acute agitation...

When the creative commercials for Listerine Strips give you ideas of how to deal with "neuro breath".

flyeeng and wurking Trahma prety much rooned all of my dangrus hobees. I still luv to rok clime, tho. I never rid motercykles and sertianly wont ever. Spelling purposely changed out of spite.

Sounds good. Just remember to tell them if you feel more orientation is needed! However, also remember that orientation is not to make you a "great" nurse, just a "competent" nurse. The "great" is up to you and your work ethic.

I never give IMs any more, but when I did, I always changed needles. Mostly for the fact that going through the rubber on a vial will slightly dull the needle and I always wanted to give my patient the sharpest needle possible... less pain that way....

Hard to say, but I would guess: CVICU is a surgical unit taking open heart patients, probably also any aortic surgeries, possibly thoracotomies (ie cardio-thoracic stuff). CICU is probably a cardiac medical ICU taking critical coronary cases on vents...

We set up and run the machine in its entirety. Our patients are always 2:1 for at least four hours. We have found that during the time of set up and initiation, it is good to have 2 nurses -- one to manage the patient and the other simply to act as...

Well, it seems to me that "advanced care" is just another name for "step down" or "progressive care". One more term to throw into the mix to make the public think that it's innovative. Yup. Our hospital's got 'em. Don't know why there isn't a foru...

What does an "advanced care unit" consist of? Is it the same as stepdown or "progressive care"?

It sounds like under the circumstances it was an appropriate order. Everyone responds to drugs differently -- I have given pretty hefty doses of Ativan to some patients without adverse effects. In our unit, when someone is TC paced we usually use V...

Wow... kids sure are getting advanced. I didn't get my personal digital assistant until a couple of years ago.... (Yes, it's possible but rare.)

With the continued SARS outbreak in Asia and Toronto, I've been continuously thinking of the nurses on the front lines fighting this frightening disease. Since there's not a whole lot I can do directly, I've set up a virtual card to show support to a...

Heh... it reminds me of a t-shirt I had made after I graduated:

Never strip pleural tubes. As I mentioned before, we strip mediasteinal tubes to prevent clotting and tamponade. Yes, it can bruise the heart, but what's your other option -- death?

OK... Yes, I've clamped chest tubes for a couple of hours -- in a patient with a previous pneumo. We do it occasionally for a couple of hours and then get an x-ray to see if the pneumo will return once the tube has been removed, as has happened occ...

Kats... take a look at my reply in the CCU forum. CCU thread

I agree... you have to balance out the positives and negatives. While restraints aren't the ideal, the risk of having a patient extubate himself or pull out an arterial line -- not to mention the risks of having to put them back in emergently -- is ...

Yup... apparently it's the size of an NG tube, though slightly stiffer.

I realize that this is an old thread by now, but I was talking to one of our nephrologists the other day. He's very much into evidence-based practice, research, teaching, etc. I ask him his opionion on the use of renal dose dopamine. Here's what h...