EymieICURN

BONES! bones that stick out of the skin, broken bones that crunch together when you touch them, joints out of alignments, I paid someone $5 to take an IO out of one of my patients. I am thinking of getting some therapy!

Assuming ATB stands for antibiotics...antibiotics are used to kill bacteria not viruses for those you need antivirals.

Have the nurse and anyone that witnessed the incident fill out an incident report. Where I work the risk management department sends the report to the responsible party/department and they have to address it....fill out enough of these reports and hopefully his provileges will be revoked.

My good friend used to say C=RN!

8 mcg X 130 lb X 1kg/2.2 lb X 250 ml/400mg X 1mg/1000mcg X 60min/1hr ______ kg/min =17.7 ml/hr

I had this problem...A nurse actually manually stretched my cervix...that was more painful that anything else during labor. I went from being 1 cm for over 12 hours to 3 cms after she "streched" my cervix to delivering 4 hours later.

IN the heart failure patient; Nocturia develops as edema fluid from dependent tissue is reabsorbed while the patient is supine. A healthy person may have nocturia if the lower extremity valves are incompetent, or in my case, if you work on your feet all day and drink tons of water...The legs can store a lot of fluids (think about raising the legs on a hypotensive patient) and as you lay down that "stored" blood moves through the circulation and the kidneys making more urine. When I used to work the floor I tried to drink a lot of water...I would have to go to the bathroom a few more times a night after those days that on my days off.

In the Heart Failure patient:

In my experience the Filter size does matter! So, it depends what your hospital buys. I have worked in hopitals where we run lipids and TPN throught the same filters and some that you have to run the lipids in after the filter (so you do not clogg the filter up). Another reason can be the type of tubing. Some tubing needs to be changed every 12 hours when running lipids, and TPN can run for 24 hours before the tubing needs to be changed. I have worked in places that mix the TPN and lipids in the same bag, I have not seen that in the last few hospitals..I think a lot of what we do is dictated by what the hospital has in stock. I agree with one of the previous posters, call the pharmacy and ask the pharmacist... they can tell you why they do it that way in that facility.

I had a confused patient that spend half the night saying " Oh Lord, Lordy, Lord". I had a male co-worker call him on the intercom and say "MR...., this is the Lord, please get some sleep" and he did! I also had a confused patient that pulled his foley out. He was bleeding a lot so I said (can't believe I said this-it just came out), "I think you broke it" and he responded "Honey, it didn't work anyway!"

Even though the BP looked "fine" the fact that the HR was so elevated means that the heart is working really hard to keep the BP at that level. Once the heart poops out that BP will drop fast. Like the previous post notes...it is hard to make an educated guess without knowing the surrounding issues.

I worked as a NUrsing Instructor for 3 years and now I am the Critical Care Educator at a hospital in Tampa. I LOVE IT! I always loved education, so this was the right job for me. I did my MSN in a year...that was taking 10 credits per semester. I did a lot of it online. It was hard to work full time and go to school full time but doable. I figure I will work hard for a year and then I will be OK, before I knew it I was done. The Professors for the MAsters Program were great...I had to have emergency surgery my first Semester and I got married my last semester and they were very understanding. Good Luck

I am a graduate of FAU...I did my BSN and MSN (in nursing Education) with them. I love the school and their philosophy (Caring). Since I did my BSN with them and had a good GPA I did not have to take the GRE and they waived the application fee. The price is good too, specially if compare to Barry. Good Luck

Thanks for the correction GOMER...the CEN does not required 2 years experience but two yeas of experience is recommended. http://admin.ena.org/bcen/brochures/CEN-Brochure.pdf

You can do an ECG course, highly recommended before you take ACLS you can take PALS and NRP You can sign up for a critical care course (those can be a bit expensive) or and ED course. Certifications like the CCRN and CEN require a couple of years experience in the specific area. Good Luck

It is very hard to let go of some things when I get home...I make it a point on reading before bed...something unrelated to nursing. Find a good book ( love the Twilight series) or a magazine (love Rachel Rays) and try to read it until you are really tired! Even during nursing school I made it a point of doing this. Good Luck! and Like Bonnie nurse said we all make mistakes, just make sure you learn from them!

I had a D in Linear calculus when I was doing my ADN (I was working on a biology degree also), I had no problems getting into the MSN program and I did send in my transcripts with the big, fat D on it!

When we did our last skills Fair we set up for things that are not seen often and for some mandatories, restraints have to be done every year if your facility uses them. MAke sure you recruit some volunteers, it is impossible for one person to run all stations, that is usually the problem we run into. Collect expired equipment so you can use it during the Skills fair...all my nurses know to send me expired CVC kits and chest tubes. When you decide on the content you want to have on the Skills Fair make sure you review the policies so you can give people the correct information. I was responsible for the Telemetry Station in the CNA Skills fair at our facility and I learned a few things by reading the policy ahead of time. And yes call reps for any equipment that you are demonstrating...they will sometime come, bring demos and run the stations for you...Sometimes they will even bring food! Good Luck

I would bring copies of your resume, if you have a cover letter you can bring a few copies of that. I always carry my references with me because you may be filling out Applications and you want to have those handy. I have a Folder with plastic pages and I keep my important certifications and degrees there, but I do not bring extra copies...they can make them if they hire me. I had mini interviews on the spot, but it usually ended in we will call you, or you call us to set up an interview. The best thing you can bring with you is a friendly smile. Good Luck

It sounds like you are unhappy where you are...do yourself a favor and leave that job...if you feel that way this early it will only get worse. Best of Luck! I would sit down with your NM and thank her for the opportunity but inform her that you found a job that is a much better fit to you and your future goals.

Pre surgical instructions of the importance of coughing and deep breathing. Early ambulation after the procedure, I remember having surgery and being in so much pain I did not want to move...I could have layed in bed for a few days! This also helps with moving the gas after laparoscopic procedures. Taking pain meds..not trying to tough out the pain. I believe the aspirin should be held for 7 days before the procedure and 3 days after the procedure. That is all I can think of...Hope it helps!

Good Luck in your interview!!! Are your sure you will not be able to take time off for a whole year? In all the jobs I've had you start accumulating time off as soon as you start working, but you can't use it until you have been with them for 90 Days. I would ask HR about their policy. Depending on how many shifts you work per week you may be able to work your days for that week early and go on vacation and work the last days of the following week. I used to do this a lot! Work 3-12 hour shifts Sun, Mon, Tue-take 8 days off and come back and work Thu, Fri, and Sat. Good Luck

Rationale: Hypotension, hypothermia, and vasoconstriction may alter pulse ox values by reducing arterial blood flow. Likewise movement of the finger to which the oximeter is applied may interfere with interpretation of SaO2. Taking deep breaths will not change the reading the Pulse Ox gives you because in hypotension, hypothermia ( think vasocontriction) and vasocontriction the problem is with circulation to the area where the pulse ox is, not necesarily with oxygenation. This is meant to be a vary basic question...arteries are the pipes and the pulse ox tells you how much O2 is attched to the Hgb in the RBCs going through that pipe. If the pipe is blocked the reading is going to be inaccurate due to the decreased circulation. You can take deep breath and even mechanically ventilate this patient and the reading in that extremity that is "blocked" or hypoperfused will not improve significantly. An ABG can give you a much more accurate O2 level for that patient.

I agree with kimmie

I can put a face, or two, to all those descriptions!!!