judytheoldrn

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting we give MS to brain dead pts, I was saying that I have less of a problem with DCD than when docs order high doses of MS on NON-brain dead, non organ donor patients to "hurry them along." Wonder how they would feel if they ...

That is great news. It looks like I will be training as a superuser at our system. Is there such a thing as formal courses that are non-credit/informational that don't cost tons of money?! Something that may lead up to certification or simply be u...

Thanks, that does clear things up a bit - so it's as if they've already "Built the database" and we just enter the records, etc. - our specific data into those fields, eh? Got it. Think I can do that. Don't want to appear a "wannabe" when I get th...

rninformatics: could you post a general link here for the groups you mentioned? I did pm you, but you are very busy I am sure, or perhaps not around this weekend? Pls check your pm Judy :an!:

I understand all that, but it was said that the nurses built the screens that we saw - perhaps the program is simpler than we think and a little education is enough to allow them to name fields and enter data points. . . . I will check it out further...

I guess I am wondering how these other nurses have been able to assist with the building of some of the screens - they work in IS but not for that long and as far as I know, there is no requirement to take any kind of course. I am told I will be give...

Thanks, Sues! I know how to paddle a canoe, LOL! But I do find kayaks a bit easier to control. I have not started working directly in the department yet, but I have been selected as a super user and we are getting the system up and ready for use ...

Great news - I've been placed on another committee - actually two more if you count the two halves. I am also looking at becoming a superuser really soon - training is this summer and I think I am accepted at the department!! Is there a certificate...

Vacating an ICU bed is the last thing on my mind. What I am saying is that if she is given a choice, then she will always feel as tho it was she who decided to stop care, and she will have to live with that decision for the rest of her life. Where...

Hi, Maury - so sorry about your mom. Must be really hard being the one with the medical knowledge and so far away. I think your mom would be so much more comfortable with the PEG. And it doesn't mean surgery at all. They will pass a scope with th...

valkyria - thankfully you were not brain dead. Coma is soooo different. I of course always talk to my comatose patients and encourage the families to do so as well - with good aliquots of rest!

OK, this is what I don't get. Why are these people given a choice? If he's dead, he's dead. You can't treat dead. Why put the burden of choice on the family? You tell them you are taking him off the vent and then you do it - it doesn't solve a...

I am also thinking of going into the NI field - I have 35 years of Critical Care/Ventilator Stepdown (8y) experience and we are currently setting up a new computerized documentation system. We have purchased the software and are in the process of ge...

Absolutely, they are the ones we are caring for, rather than the patient once brain death has been established.

When I was Nurse Ed on a ventilator stepdown, I got signed off on changing trachs, then signed off other staff nurses on each shift - hoping that there would always be someone there who had done it at least once. It can be tricky based on the individ...

I have to say I agree with the post above that cautions against doing things that are not currently in your hospital's listed scope of practice. Although my state board of licensure allows me as an RN to do ABGs, and the hospital approved it as well,...

NurseCutie, I agree, I talk to all - I don't believe in any way that they will hear me, but it's a way of cleaning out all the debris in your head before you move on to the next poor guy. I do, however, make it a point to not talk to my brain dead p...

Hey that was a good answer, Kessa! I would have given a slightly longer one, but basically the same once the units are cancelled out: mcg/kg/min x kg = __ mcg/min, then: __ mcg/min x 60min/hr x cc/mcg = cc/hr 5mcg/kg x 10kg = 50mcg, then: 50mcg/min x...

Actually in today's world, that isn't a valid order. When the accreditation team comes they will have a problem with it for sure. The doc should be writing prn for xxxx low BP or whatever. Your being new is a good example of why this change in pra...

I have more of a problem using a morphine drip in high doses when life support is D/C'd than I do with DCD.

I am concerned that you indicate there is more phlegm after feeding - feeding should not be increasing the production of mucus. Generally one would suction before feeding so as to decrease the risk of vomiting as stimulated by suctioning/coughing. I ...

Are they monitoring his intracranial pressure - that would require a bolt or a intraventricular catheter. If they are, you want to be sure that the stimulation doesn't increase the ICP. Subtract the ICP from the MAP and that gives the Cerebral Perf...

I've seen 25cm PEEP, but it's pretty scary. The patient was a 23 yr old postpartum amniotic fluid embolus ARDS patient. Multiple chest tubes for pneumothoraces. Could not tolerate suctioning back in the day before closed suction systems. She surv...