dawnebeth

dawnebeth

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All Content by dawnebeth

  1. 2 different questions for NICU nurses

    dawnebeth replied to Lovelymo79's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Congrats on your new cousin. He's a nice weight and 34 weeks is a good time to be born. For some reason, I find that 35 weekers can have more problems. We usually tell parents to expect their baby to...

  2. giving meds that are less than 0.1 cc

    dawnebeth replied to nicu4me's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    On doses that are less than 0.1ml, we do one to ten dilutions (or even 1 to 100 dilutions for doses that are 0.001ml). For some drug that is being weaned, say betamethasone, and the dose is 0.02ml,...

  3. i want to work in NICU

    dawnebeth replied to emiii's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I had a difficult time reading your post, but I believe you're still in high school? What I did from the time that I was 13 years old was take care of small children. I babysat every chance that I...

  4. Managing O2 changes in preemie

    dawnebeth replied to twizzlers67's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    All the other posters gave great advice. It is really difficult to sit and watch a preemie desat--and most 24 weekers are elevator babies--they constantly go up and down in their sats. If you get to...

  5. nursing assistants mixing breastmilk

    dawnebeth replied to Lil' sister's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We went through multiple versions of checking breast milk, from different colored labels, to big ones, small ones, but mainly, double checking the medical number with another nurse is what has worked...

  6. Funny Names

    dawnebeth replied to nurserynurse55's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I was once helping register children for a health faire put on by the local children's museum and a mom came up with three girls. Their names were Brandy, Sherry and Korvasay. I had to ask for the...

  7. Funny Names

    dawnebeth replied to nurserynurse55's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Oh, my--some of these replies are just making me laugh until I cry. Nobody can work in a nursery for very long without taking care of some really stupendous names. My past favorites have...

  8. isolette humidity

    dawnebeth replied to jscrn's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I forgot--yes, we frequently have older preemies in an isolette without humidity. I'm thinking, if about thirty weeks at birth, we don't start humidity.

  9. isolette humidity

    dawnebeth replied to jscrn's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    One of our nurse practitioners is a skin specialist, so we have a protocol, which if I recall, is 80% for a week, then 60 percent for seven days, then 50 percent for another two weeks or so. The...

  10. nursing assistants mixing breastmilk

    dawnebeth replied to Lil' sister's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We don't have patient techs in our unit and only nurses can mix the breast milk. Bottles of breast milk have to be double checked by another nurse, and when the feeding is recorded, the other nurse...

  11. one yr of adult now nicu - scared

    dawnebeth replied to nicu4me's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    You sound very hard on yourself! That first year is so incredibly stressful. I did not ever do adult care, but when I started in the ICN straight out of nursing school, I felt like I had never, ever...

  12. Severe BPD

    dawnebeth replied to bbnyrse's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Texas2007--Sildenafil SO gives kids erections! It seems like I have a surprise waiting for me at each diaper! One of our kids actually grew pubic hair and a thin mustache about 2 weeks after starting...

  13. Neonatal Nurse Questionaire--PLEASE HELP ME OUT!

    dawnebeth replied to tashadanielle1234321's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    What do you think the top 3 traits a neonatal nurse must have to excel? be flexible, have a good sense of humor and be adaptable What do you enjoy most about being a neonatal nurse? Taking care of...

  14. Severe BPD

    dawnebeth replied to bbnyrse's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Babies like that are really, really difficult. Yes, some do die with respiratory disease of that magnitude. Some just have a long, long road ahead. Have your doctors tried such things as Nitric oxide...

  15. NICU after Med-Surge

    dawnebeth replied to sdclarinet's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Every nurse who comes in new to our ICN gets 12 weeks of training regardless of whether they just got out of nursing school, have done a year of med/surg or worked in a different ICN. We feel that...

  16. Heelstick vs venipuncture?

    dawnebeth replied to gudiarani's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We do nearly all our own labs. We can stick the baby where ever we feel would get the most blood the quickest, and we rarely use heel sticks unless it is for a blood gas or blood sugar. Generally, I...

  17. Need Help with Primary Care Nursing in NICU

    dawnebeth replied to oglesbymom's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I will look today to see if we actually have a protocol. I don't know! lol

  18. Post Traumatic Stress anyone else?

    dawnebeth replied to kangarooyou's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    As someone else said, it's definitely part of the job. Let yourself grieve, rant, whatever--and make sure that when you go home, you leave at least 75 percent of the job, the babies, the stress at the...

  19. Nitric

    dawnebeth replied to makenzee28's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We use nitric oxide a great deal in our nursery. First it was mainly for pulmonary hypertension, and worked very well. Nitric works on the pulmonary vascularture, causing vaso-dilation to make it...

  20. Need Help with Primary Care Nursing in NICU

    dawnebeth replied to oglesbymom's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I am a huge fan of primary nursing--I always have a 'primary' baby, as often as possible. In our unit, there is a list with each baby's name and three boxes beside it for each shift. If a nurse...

  21. ETT and fighting vent??

    dawnebeth replied to nicurn08's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We always at least lightly sedate babies who cannot be extubated but are fighting the vent. Not Fentanyl or Versed, but generally Lorazepam and maybe morphine.

  22. Questions about neonate drug withdrawal management

    dawnebeth replied to Race Mom's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    In my nursery, that resident would still be considered irresponsible. It's great that you want to write a policy, since it sounds like you need one. Maybe also get some other nurses involved and have...

  23. Alarm limits and ROP

    dawnebeth replied to Mithrah's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We would very definitely increase if the baby's sats were 20, but yes, so many of the babies are so labile that chasing them makes more work and doesn't improve the baby's overall outcome anyway. I...

  24. How to become a NICU nurse??

    dawnebeth replied to ksauce20's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Exactly! I honestly don't know why this old chestnut 'do med/surg first' is still around. Why? If you know what you want from the beginning--go for what you want. Babies, and lots of them. If sick...

  25. How to become a NICU nurse??

    dawnebeth replied to ksauce20's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I help train nursing students in their third or fourth semester when they are doing their internships. We do have nursing students in the ICN, but this is often not encouraged by their instructors and...