sammyrnlv

We don't give the travelers the BKAT. Do you have any PICU experience? Summerlin is a nice hospital. As for travelers, we treat them pretty good. We keep in contact with a couple of them that passed through. They renewed their contracts several times with us.

At Sunrise Hospital, we hire new grads to PICU. The next preceptor program will start in July. PM me for more information if you are interested. We do open heart. Our program is 6 months long.

In Las Vegas, Nev., we have a 6 month preceptor program in PICU. We have openings in July and December. Come on down to Sunrise Hospital in Vegas for an interview!

If you want to do PICU, come to Sunrise! We have a great preceptor program!

What hospital are you at anyway?

Hi, kiddo! I give the BKAT to our new nurses in PICU. We don't fire them, but we evaluate what they scored high in and know what to look for. It is a great test that reveals what you know about critical care. It is nothing to be ashamed of if you don't score high; it just reveals where you need work! Ask me more specific questions if you are interested.

Hey, kiddo, I have 13 years in PICU and I always report a low K; every kid is different and they will shoot arrhythmias at all different measures; some kids do it as little as 3.3; others will let you go to 2.9. When out of the range of what your hospital uses, report it and smile if the intensivists say "Thanks"; then, document it. Consider if they are on Lasix, but still report.

Fentanyl, versed and vec if you need it (only on tubed kids!). If they are clotting off their lines, they need to go down! When you get to the point that you need CVVH, then they should be tubed and the medical staff should be in control, not the patient. Hope this helps. All our kids are tubed it they are that sick!

Troponin is usually higher in MI; sounds like sepsis did her in! She was 85, kiddo, don't stress! HOB is always up in most cases. You granted her last request!:nuke:

Thanks! I think you're right; we need to adequately flush lines. Probably need a quick reminder inservice.

I am a PICU educator that is looking for info on arterial lines-pressure bag vs pump. We have a dr that insists on pumps because she says we are clotting off lines with the pressure bags. (I have not heard about the clotting off part; I think she had one clot and blamed the nurse.) Thanks for any help you can provide! Sherri:cheers: