caddismt

I wear Mechanix shoes designed for mechanics. They are a bit heavy, but I work in ICU and really don't have too far to walk. They have great support and the soles are remarkably poo resistant.

Did you titrate your Levo up? Perfuse those kidneys and you can solve a lot of problems.

When I have a family scrutinizing and documenting everything going on in the room I get concerned because they don't have a real good framework for interpretation. Also...what if the sat probe isn't reading correctly, what if a wave-form is dampened? I feel like people try to take a crash course in critical care medicine so that they can direct their loved ones medical care and it drives me crazy. For people do be documenting numbers and values they they cannot make a useful or reasonable interpretation of seems foolish to me.

The nurses in our ICU never d/c pumps...that's why they have cath lab techs. I don't have time to stand and hold pressure...what if someone codes when I'm holding? It's a small unit and we need all hands on deck.

"Excuse me for a minute, I need to have a bowel movement." -Laura Gasparis VonFrolio

We are an eight bed ICU...usually staffed at three RN's. We've had six vents, with a balloon pump that lasted for two days...and we get RSV peds in and out. We are usually a tight knit group...there is just so much negativity and tension....I hate that vibe when I go to work..

Our ICU has been bursting at the seams for the past week, and I feel like it taking a toll on everyone. I want to hear some good strategies to keep our moral high during these high stress times when team work is more important than ever. We have been short staffed and beaten into the ground....I just wish that we could all feel like the team that we are on a "normal" day!

I've tried these little gadgets and...well...I have had no luck getting them to work. They never stick and they are uncomfortable for the pt.

I like to secure tubes in two ways...#1...tape the tube to the ETT allowing no pressure on the nare. #2....tegaderm with benzoine...you can the the tube secured without any pressure on the nare. I also like the tegaderm because you can see what is going on. I've also had good luck using steri-strips, although the adhesive can be pretty rough...

Thank you for all of the replies...have learned that both "mom and dad" will be charged in this case. It frustrates me that this slipped through the cracks. Thanks again everyone.

They just started this on our med/surg floors. They came up with these little posters with a doughnut called "Riki the Rounder" to promote it. Most of the floor nurses that I talked to were so insulted that it was implemented in this way....were they trying to appeal to them because they liked doughnuts? It reminded me of the movie "office space". And I really felt like tearing the posters off the wall.

I was floating to the ED this AM and everything was peaceful with kidney stones and inflamed bursas when a mother came screaming in with the dreaded blue baby in a carrier. I assisted in coding her for three hours. She had a subdural hematoma and had been shaken. I was dismayed to learn that she had an anoxic brain injury from being shaken several months prior this. I'm sick.

When I was a new grad in ICU I hung a 20,000 unit Heparin bag on an arterial line....where it should have been 2 units/ml. YIKES...luckily the line didn't get flushed...needless to say it didn't clot off...

I'm an ICU RN and have cross trained and spent quite a bit of time in ER. I think that in itself is the key to understanding between these departments. ICU is relatively controlled and happy. But giving a good report is still a basic nursing responsibily as far as I'm concerned. Giving report over the patient is lazy and makes the patient feel like an item on the shelf at target.

We usually use them for pts. who are on tube feedings. It's nice when you pt has C. Diff or Hepatitis...keeps you away from the bugs...