2many?s

I also have had this experience as a "white" nurse. Often I am a minority in my work setting and I am sometimes treated with hostility by my African American patients. They appear so happy and relieved when a nurse of their own race arrives. After 30 years of nursing, I try not to take it personally. People are naturally more comfortable around people who look like themselves. If I dressed Goth, people who were dressed Goth would naturally gravitate toward me. People are just afraid of the unfamiliar. We need to be the best we can be and slowly we will educate the world, meanwhile please realize that all of us, caucasian, hispanic, asian, african american etc, experience prejudice everyday, in different ways. I am treated with disrespect daily by medical students who because they have MD behind their name, think I am stupid... when often the reverse is true.

It is current practice to flush PICC lines with only 10 cc syringes to prevent rupture but I have additional questions that I can't find the answers to on the multiple web sites that I have searched. I've even contacted the PICC line makers and they have yet to respond. If your patient is receiving IV fluids through a PICC line, can you use a syringe that is smaller than 10cc's to deliver medications through the attached IV line? I am constantly giving pain medications which are supplied in tubex containers. Do these medications need to be transferred to a 10cc syringe before administration? Also, if a patients BP is dropping and we need to administer IV fluids rapidly, can we set the IVAC to 999 and safely administer fluids or is that too much pressure? I'd really like to know what others are doing in their facilities! Thanks for your help!