NickiLaughs ADN, BSN, RN

NickiLaughs has 14 years experience as a ADN, BSN, RN and specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

NickiLaughs's Latest Activity

1. NPO status changes for EGDs?

   NickiLaughs posted a topic in Gastroenterology

   Hey all! So our protocol for endoscopies has always been NPO after mn & clear liquids morning of. Our medical director heard I rescheduled someone for drinking an ensure 4 hours prior. (I always double check with doc & he wanted pati...

2. Frustrated with New Manager

   NickiLaughs replied to NickiLaughs's topic in Career

   Update: More people have quit/transferred. He went to another unit and told the manager he needed to offer one of our open positions to someone on her staff. The nurse was so furious he told her boss about it she declined the position on the spot. ...

3. Frustrated with New Manager

   NickiLaughs replied to NickiLaughs's topic in Career

   I did finally talk to him. I don’t think he knows what to do and basically came out with a “I feel like you are all taking out your frustrations on me and things I can’t control.” I basically stated “we are working with 60% staffing on any given day...

4. Frustrated with New Manager

   NickiLaughs posted a topic in Career

   So I frequently fill the charge nurse role at my endoscopy unit. We got a new manager about 5 months ago who unfortunately has no nursing experience. It sounds as though he got his license a couple years ago and he was very vague about his experience...

5. Room turn over times

   NickiLaughs replied to Gi rn acm's topic in Gastroenterology

   Our docs “hop” between two rooms. So they have time to get the next patient out to recover flip the room and have it ready by the time the doctor is done next door. 5 minutes is phenomenal. We had a 15 min turnover expectation if we were only usin...

6. How to keep the team motivated

   NickiLaughs replied to special1rn's topic in Management

   She sounds amazing. ❤️

7. Got The Vaccine! Share Your Experience

   NickiLaughs replied to Nurse SMS's topic in COVID

   About a week after getting the second dose of Pfizer I started having moderate shortness of breath/light headed/palpitations. I ended up in the ER twice; my coworkers hooked me up to take me down I was in bigeminy. My only abnormal lab was my d di...

8. Back pain... the abysmal side effect of nursing

   NickiLaughs posted a topic in Stress 101

   Hey everyone! What do you do to combat back pain? I’m 37 and it seems over the last few years it’s gotten worse. I do have a special needs son who we have to lift sometimes for his care. I think also being tall (5’11”) as a woman and in n...

9. Post procedure vitals

   NickiLaughs replied to roseynurse345's topic in Gastroenterology

   We use fentanyl/versed/Benadryl. Our discharge time is 30 min from last dose and 15 min from scope out. I do VS every 5 min during the procedure or when a med dose is given. Then post procedure we do VS in scope out, 5 min after and then 10 min af...

10. Terminated the third week into my orientation

    NickiLaughs replied to HippyHappyRN's topic in General Nursing

    You should always directly inform you boss of any shift missed regardless of it’s a class or not. That was truly your only mistake but a big one.

11. Blood Transfusion With Leaking AAA

    NickiLaughs replied to atimeforeveryseasonednurse's topic in Emergency

    We’ve done that on critical hypotensive bleeding patients. Have you ever used a level 1 transfuser or a Belmont? You basically spike blood on both tubing ends to save time to get it in them as fast as possible. Our MTP (massive transfusion protoco...

12. On Call Requirements?

    NickiLaughs replied to hcurry1's topic in Gastroenterology

    Every place is different. Where I work we are asked to do a 6 hour call shift on Saturday’s or sundays about once every 10 weeks. I usually refuse and let other people pick up. We have plenty of part timers and I’m already there 5 days a week pull...

13. 20 yrs Total nursing years (15 yrs RN and 5 yrs LVN years floor not required to float

    NickiLaughs replied to CFern1's topic in General Nursing

    My system never has people exempt from floating depending on their unit. I worked ER they don’t float. I know IiCU could get floated to tele but went by travelers first, then per firm, then part time (all seniority based) then finally full time. ...

14. I can’t get past orientation and want to be an aid instead

    NickiLaughs replied to Bjessica's topic in General Nursing

    I’ve been a RN for 10 years and an LVN for 5 prior to that. I was I see you trained and couldn’t handle one shift on the telemetry floor with four patients. Just because you don’t succeed in one department doesn’t mean you aren’t meant for nursing....

15. The ICU sucks sometimes

    NickiLaughs replied to SquatsNScrubs's topic in General Nursing

    I did ICU for 5 years and don’t know why it took me so long to realize it wasn’t the right fit for me. I was good at it but emotionally drained. I switched to ER and was much happier. People still died but you didn’t get to bond with them or know ...