soprano3

The youngest preemie I've ever seen survive is 23 4/7 weeks, she did quite well.

:nurse:Yes, and not all heelsticks, sometimes venous or art sticks. I think it's the amount of heparin they put in the container, maybe it dries out after a while. If we draw the blood & quickly walk it down to the lab shaking it constantly, it helps.

:nurse:It sounds like you're working in a unit where "the nurses eat their young" I was lucky enough to land in an ICN 25 years ago where everyone is kind & supportive of each other. It still is that way, it's the culture of our Unit, a collective attempt to welcome newcomers I'm sorry you got stuck in the wrong ICN.

Babies with chest tubes in place are usually on something stronger, ie: morphine

Does anyone use sucrose routinely as sedation for cranky babies? I don't know of any studies done on this so I encourage nurses to only use it for pain management, to no avail. I'm concerned with long term affects of daily high sugar intake.

Chocolate is loved by all. Best of luck

I will address this question from a social aspect since that is a huge part of your job. I am fortunate to work in a NICU where staff are very kind to one another but some high stress NICU's will "eat their young". a.) do not act smarter than your preceptor b.) if you don't know the answer don't act like you do, admit it c.) Don't gush about how cute the babies are d.) Buy your preceptor a present Good luck, A former preceptor

Having done NICU for 25 years, I feel comfortable in codes & emergency situations. What stresses me out is the new computer charting. It is not friendly in an intensive care unit.

initial blood screen at 2 days of age via heelstick (unless micropreemie, then we use a UAC or Art. line)

Our 22 bed unit has been filled to capacity off & on for the past few months-having to close at times (which management hates to do), so it looks like everyone's having their babies in San Francisco

I can answer #4. A Nicu rn can work 8's or 12's depending on the hospital. You will most likely work every other weekend & every holiday to start out.You'll probably have to start nights.

We keep our primary care teams at the Charge Nurse desk & she/he makes the assignments for the next shift using that matrix as a guide, but sometimes your primary is paired with someone else's primary which causes problems. Also, some fill in charge nurses don't follow the matrix & just go by who the nurse had the day before so there's not as much consistency.

All our regular part time nurses are on Primary Care Teams, it is expected in our unit. Only the per diems are alternates. I like the idea of admitting a baby & following that family thru it's stay in the ICN, I think most of our nurses would agree. My manager says we can do a trial for 2-3 months to see if this works. So, I may try this system.

Thank you for your reply. Do you put the sign up sheet away from the bedside? Are people pretty good about signing up or do you have to hound them? What if 2 people who have signed up are there on the same day? Don't mean to be a pest, but you know us NICU RN's tend to be sticklers for details.

I am looking to revamp our Primary Care Teams. We currently have a mix of 8 & 12 hour RN's & have put all the 12 hours on one team. Everyone else is divided in to teams by opposite weekend (we all work every other weekend). Problem is there is not much consistency, 2 babies from separate teams are paired together & many times nurses don't get their primary baby. I'm looking for suggestions to make nurses & babies families happy. I thought of having a sign up sheet when a baby is admitted & people can sign up to care for that baby. Soprano3