evilolive BSN, RN

I would have done the same thing as the OP. How would it make the resident feel if the nurse dropped what she was doing for patient care for a pain med that could wait 10 minutes or so? If I were a resident receiving incontinent care, or having a dre...

Diagnosis, pertinent history, ambulation, treatment plan, and discharge plan are my necessities. It's a bonus if you tell me what fluids they're on, and how they take meds (I take a lot of medical overflow, and it would be nice to know if I need to b...

Electrolytes, Mag, Phos, CBC are the ones I see regularly on a telemetry floor. If you use a computerized system it may give your facility's lab value range when results come back, which makes reading them easier. Always know your facility's high/low...

I work on a stepdown unit now, and started with med/surg prior to transferring. The telemetry experience can only benefit you in looking for positions down the road! We have a lot of med/surg overflow, and patients who really have a lot of co-morbidi...

You know, I never thought about that D-Ring until you brought it up! Maybe if you had a few items on a carabiner (like scissors or hemostat) it would come in handy. I never liked that much stuff banging against my leg all night though!

Very infrequently do I have to use filter straws, but on the rare occasion when I have to draw up phenergan, I always use one. I remember when I did a L+D rotation in college we used them frequently to draw up Vitamin K. For some reason, there are a...

Being threatened with physical abuse. I am generally the "nice" nurse, but if you make a fist at me, get ready to hear me get very serious.

One thing I thought about when I heard about the reimbursement issue: I only fill out surveys when I feel as if I have had sub-par service. I know this is only my personal opinion, but I feel the need to vent and complain about things I don't like. I...

Never stop asking questions

I think you'd succeed in critical care by starting in med-surg. With med-surg, you'll learn a lot of the basics, and a ton of skills over the course of a year or two. If you have the basics under your belt, my thought would be that you'd transition e...

For the first 16 months or so of my current job, we had this glorious, convenient way of communicating with whatever in-house hospitalist was covering our unit - The Text Page. With The Text Page you could send a nifty little message to Dr. to get a...

Oh god no, that is just a mistake waiting to happen for the both of you. I have precepted two new grads in the past year, and we have shared the same patient assignment of 5 each time. You are responsible for teaching the new grad the ropes, and alth...

1) IV tubing that has an alcohol wipe wrapper covering the end instead of a sterile cap 2) Overflowing linen/trash cans 3) When the new lady in material services reports our night staff for "refusing" to use a program we haven't been able to log in t...

In three years of working nights I've never taken a nap. I believe there was one night when I laid my head down on the nurses' station for about 4 minutes, but then couldn't even think of closing my eyes. I don't get a "paid" lunch break, but I usual...

I work in CT on a medical floor. 5 patients per nurse at night max for my floor (we have 15 patients). The acuity ranges from "walkie talkie" ready to be discharged to ICU transfer who still looks like they're going to require a ton of care. It reall...

I had a death the other night, and despite performing post-mortem care countless times, I still print out my hospital's procedure for care. It tells us to gown the patient. Basic dignity. If the morgue needs to disrobe the patient, they will. The fun...

A rant, and a call for advice from my fellow Med-Surg'ers. I have been working 12 hour nights at my hospital for a year and a half. Over the past year we have had a MAJOR turnover of staff. We've lost about 4-6 excellent nurses who were able to be ch...

I had a female patient come onto the floor with a Dx of constipation. Admitting/overnight hospitalist came up to attempt to do a manual disimpaction of the patient, I was there at the bedside. MD is doing his best, but Pt. is confused and in pain. Sh...

I've been through quite a few codes in my short time on a medical floor. We have had one frequent flyer who has coded at least 3-4 times on our floor. I remember she was a transfer from SICU at the beginning of my shift (my patient). I had already re...

COPD exacerbation, acute renal failure, sepsis, UTI, pneumonia, syncope, anemia, intractable back pain, intractable abdominal pain, etc. etc.

At my facility we attatch the blue caps to IV tubing not in use. We keep plenty of these in stock and I usually pull out between five and ten for my 12 hour shift. A lot of nurses will use the tops from saline flushes instead of the blue caps, which ...

My facility instructs us to flush with 10cc saline and 1cc heparin Q8 hrs. We document on this in our MAR. I always double check my order, as some MDs will order without the heparin based on the Pt's current issues/past medical history. I still flus...

Good for you for sticking up for yourself, and more importantly- your patient! Is the open area truly a pressure area, or could it be a partial thickness injury? I learned this from my current hospital, that if moisture is a factor in the skin breakd...

I work with the same 3-5 doctors at night on my floor. After working with them for almost a year, I am on a first name basis with most all of them except one. I could NEVER bring myself to call him by his first name. When I call the doc on the phone ...

I am casually seeing someone from work. I like this person a lot, but I only get to see 'em once every month or so because of our schedules. It's fun, but there is no pressure on either end. This person will be moving next summer to start fellowship....