Nightcrawler BSN, RN

If you still have proof of the positive titres in your files and can produce copies, they may not necessarily draw blood. In the past they have foregone the blood draws when I have been able to provide proof of positive immunity. If you are not abl...

Positive cardiac enzymes have not been considered critical lab values at either of the hospitals that I have worked at, regardless of how high they rise. I have seen some truly amazing results with no peep from the lab and results that routinely tak...

Best tattoo that I ever saw on a patient was pre- lung transplant. She had a dotted line tattooed for the incision line for her transplant. Very cool individual. Hope that she is doing well.

One item to remember..... when you take the test to prove that you have become an expert in your field, you will be held legally liable for your practice at the expert level as indicated by the CCRN designation. This is something that does not both...

Sooo... some of you may remember that I have been having headaches. Several weeks ago I had an MRI and a scare that was thankfully false for tumor. I did have a few very bad days about that one. Anyhoo, the current theory from the neurologist is t...

Ahh, and that is what I am afraid of. I have always been the biggest nightshift cheerleader imaginable, and have turned down dayshift positions numerous times. On the other hand, if there is even the slightest chance that the shift is causing the h...

I keep waiting for all of the people to tell me I am crazy to consider it. Didn't anyone read my post? Even I didn't think that I made the move sound very fun! I know that I have probably made the decision, but I can't believe that I am actually go...

I have been having these headaches for years and always thought that they were tension headaches. Of late they have been much worse, more one sided and associated with some facial numbness. Much more indicative of migraine. Also, no meds work.

Nope, 12 hour shifts only. I explored the idea of trying days for a month or two, but my manager wants me to give it at least 6 months to adjust to the change. Yick

IMO no ICU nurse should ever have more than 2 patients, so if you are full you should have 3 nurses on duty, not 2. But that is not the point of this thread. More to the point, I know that in my state that it is illegal to ever have only one license...

Pm me and I will give you more information.

Why, thank you. I have to say that we have really grown and improved. Really invested in teamwork, improving pt outcomes, and are almost finished with a complete remodel of all cardiac inpatient care areas. Great place to work, but because of that...

The contract that I signed for my new grad training WAS in California. That being said, the program was comprehensive and thorough. I stayed my 18 months and didn't begrudge them one minute of the time. I left after my time was up because I wanted...

You are thinking about this backwards. They giving you training that you will take advantage of for the rest of your career. If you want to work in this specialty it is every bit as valuable as your student loans. There is an old complaint from t...

And this is why they are asking you to sign a contract. A good ICU training program costs a hospital TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars per nurse. This is a major investment for hospitals, especially small ones. Many new grads over the years have done an...

As a lifelong asthma patient, I can tell you that inhaled steroids are highly unlikely to lead to increased serum glucose. The reason for this is both in the low dosage and the fact that it is not taken systemically. Those who take oral steroids fo...

I don't know. The one patient that I saw that died of a ruptured AAA was in a huge amount of pain and very, very anxious for the 5 or so minutes that it took for him to lose consciousness. Granted, he was out of it for the end, but I would not disc...

I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way looking for medical advise. That said, I have been having these headaches for years. When I get them, it is either the same headache that lasts for up to 2 weeks, or different headaches every day....

unfortunately what they saw was posterior to the pons, underneath the cerebellum. Essentially in the 4th ventricle, an unlikely place for a tooth abcess. My doc never called me back last night, and no neurologist will see me without a physician re...

I am still waiting to hear back from my primary doc. I am sure that she is going to shunt me over to a neurologist, which is just fine with me. One other idea I had was to go get a head CT done. I know that they are not as specific as MRI, but if ...

My understanding is that there is a requirement that any unit has to have at least 2 nurses on duty. One of our units was quarantined for Noro recently, and the night before we reopened we were down to 2 long term patients. And yes, there were 2 nu...

While CT's are not used very much- after all cardiologists do get paid for doing a cath- and the radiologist gets paid to read the CT, I have seen them used a few times prior to EP studies for ablations. EP studies and ablations are understandably h...

I agree with the other suggestions posted. I think the two most important ones are whether charge is required to take patients and why no one is stepping up from inside the unit I always see red flags when a unit is trying to hire from without. Eith...

My thought as well was that a nitro gtt would be a good choice. My worry for the OP would be the long lasting nature of so much beta blocker over the course of the previous shift. I hate it when doc's keep trying increasing dosages of the same meds...

This is not necessarily true. While the RN does have a higher level of responsibility, anyone at any level of licensure can do all of the tasks of those of all of the other levels. This is how many companies eliminate supportive personnel altogethe...