TangoLima

There seems to be a general disparity in how nurses in my unit view patients with DNR status. Most feel like a DNR being admitted to the ICU is inappropriate period, even if they are sick enough to be in the ICU if they were a full code. I've heard a...

Hi all, I am a senior nursing student with 1 1/2 semesters left til graduation. My hubby and I want to move to Columbia SC next year. I was wondering if anyone has any information about the hospitals there. Are there any that are particularly good, o...

I have been on nights for about 2 months now. I really don't mind working nights, have no trouble staying awake, etc. I just came off of a 3-day stretch, and now have a week off until I have to go back. I have now switched back to a "day schedule" s...

Hi all, Had a really rough/busy night last night, but I'll get straight to my question: One of my patients has a suspected case of necrotizing fasciitis. Her lactic acid on admission was 10.8, and had orders to start her on 1/2NS with 2 amps HCO3 at ...

At our hospital: K+ infused at 10 mEq/hr even in the ICU. Mg++ infused at 2 gm over 4 hrs. This is per the pharmacy's recommendations. Maybe it COULD be infused faster, but I have never done it. The others I don't end up doing very often, so I don't...

Our official visiting hours are 1000 - 1800 and 1930 - 2030. We do not allow visitors to stay overnight unless the patient is dying. They are welcome to stay in the waiting room, and our hospital maintains a certain number of "hotel rooms" next to th...

Our beds have a rotation function built into them. You can set how much of an angle you want to turn the patient and what time interval. I usually always set the bed to 30-degree rotation each 15 minutes on all my patients, and then prop them on pil...

I'm sure this has been discussed many times on this site, but here goes...... I have been in the MS ICU for about 6 months, and don't have a lot of experience with hemo monitoring with A-lines, Swanz, etc. We just don't get many patients that critica...

Can someone point me in the direction to find out the difference (if there is one) between an ABG and a BGE. I have done a quick google search and also searched allnurses, but haven't been able to find anything for BGE. We had a code last week, and e...

I don't disagree that often times, the families aren't ready to let go and we end up basically torturing their loved ones until they die. I also agree that it is completely appropriate to present the facts to the family, the expected course based on ...

I can't remember precisely, but I want to say 107ish. They were suspecting some form of malignant hyperthermia, although, no recent surgery or anesthesia. If I remember correctly, they were thinking it was related to some psych meds she had been taki...

What is insufflation, and how would one do it?

I think our hospital considers anything over 0.1 as positive. However, these patients will usually go to a telemetry floor unless unstable or having an active MI. When I was on tele, we would routinely get patients on Nitro gtt. Positive troponins ca...

This was the best reply so far! Made me crack up! I take a shower before each shift, brush my teeth, and wear deodorant. I usually pull my hair back in some way, but sometimes wear it down. I wear natural makeup. My scrubs are clean and in good c...

I will probably get flamed for this.... I will preface this comment by saying I'm not in NICU, so am not very familiar with what procedures would sugar alone be used as analgesia. For a simple heel stick, I would say that it's over really fast, so pe...

I just joined AACN too. I haven't received any of the publications yet, so can't speak to their usefulness. I find a lot of articles to be less than helpful. Like, I just read an article on ST segment monitoring (actually, I started reading it, got ...

I am considering going into HH on PRN basis for extra $$. Is doing dishes/laundry for the patients usually expected? I'm not above doing laundry/dishes, but I didn't envision going to nursing school to end up doing dishes/laundry. I understand the OP...

In our unit, CRRT is 1:1. I routinely have 2 vents, which in some ways I prefer over someone who is on the call bell every 30 minutes. The 1:1 vent sounds like a dream come true. Sign me up!

What do you mean by "cutdown technique"?

This is going to be a long post, so thank you if you take the time to read it. I am concerned that this may come back to bite me at some point. So that you know, I have been a nurse 2 years, and been in the ICU almost 5 months. I had the same 2 pati...

I have never seen Mag infused in less than 4 hours. Im not saying it cant be done, I'm just staying I've never seen it. Maybe that is our hospital pharmacy's policy. IDK. We run K+ at 10 mEq per hour unless we have an order to run faster. That includ...

Just to be clear, the patient came back from surgery at the beginning of day shift, and I inherited the patient much later after the tube feeds were already in progress. I was the one who STOPPED the tube feeds, and discarded the "residuals". I do re...

I utilize the rotation feature built into our beds. Putting a pillow under these people is pointless since they just flatten the pillow anyway. Really, there's just so much you can do.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this.....but sometimes I have difficulty knowing when to call doc. I've been in the ICU 3 months and a nurse 2 years, so you would think I would have this figured out by now, right? It's not all the time, but someti...

The only holiday our hospital pays holiday pay for is Christmas day.