luckynurse_1234

Thanks for both of your advice and kind words. I met with my scheduling manager about my concerns, and unfortunately only doing 8 hour shifts won't be an option but they did say for my upcoming 4 shifts in a row (3 12's plus 1 8) maybe I could be on call if the census permits. I was able to squeeze in a couple of unofficial (more along the lines of helping out here and there) shifts and it went ok. I'm still nervous about starting back officially tomorrow but I agree that I think I can manage the big stuff like keeping vital signs stable and when to call the doc.

Hello all! I am a new-ish (3 years experience) nurse in a CVICU. Long story short, I have been away from the bedside for six months due to an ankle injury/surgery/complicated rehab. I return to the bedside in a couple of weeks and I am honestly terrified. I requested to have a couple of orientation shifts to ease back into things but I was denied because we are short staffed. I do have GAD but I think it is legit to be concerned since our census is boom or bust and I still can't stand for more than an hour straight without excruciating pain. Plus, I worry that my nursing skills are rusty. Has anyone else been away from the bedside and returned to ICU with minor hiccups?

Had that happen to me a while back and to make things worse I had a student with me...luckily the patient did fine and the docs joked "well, they must have known they were ready to have the tube out!"

On our unit a full patient load is 2 patients. Charge nurse takes 1 patient, does daily chart audits and sometimes acts as the unit secretary in addition to the usual charge nurse stuff.

I have had a very bad experience this week (not sure if qualifies as bullying or just back-biting) and am hoping this is not common in the ICU, or nursing in general. I had a demanding, substance-abusing patient who made for a busy shift. I survived said shift and transferred care to the next nurse (I will call them Nurse A). Several days later, the nurse who took over the patient from Nurse A on the next shift (Nurse B) informed me Nurse A said I left a lot of things undone. Apparently Nurse A also told the patient that too, because the patient allegedly said to Nurse B they felt Nurse A was unnecessarily rough with them because they were mad about the things I hadn't done. Addressing the validity of these accusations, I double-checked all my charting and I can honestly say that if it wasn't perfect, 90% of the things that were supposed to be done were done and I worked hard and diligently to have everything done for the next shift. I feel this is an example of "nurses eat their young," that is not supposed to exist anymore (I am new to the ICU). I had a similar experience on while on Med-Surg: I missed a minor piece of charting as a new nurse when overwhelmed with my patient care load and an older nurse with more seniority took it upon themselves to yell at me at the nurses' station in front of everybody and then tried to have me written up. I was hoping that was an isolated incident, but I am beginning to wonder if this kind of thing is common in all nurses' work environments?

I just started in trauma so I bought Nurse to Nurse Trauma Care: Expert Interventions by Donna Nayduch, and I highly recommend it. I already owned Critical Care Nursing: Demystified and the Little ICU Book by Paul Marino. For me, personally, I thought found both of those books to be too general when it came to trauma. Nayduch's book is 100% trauma and it breaks it down by specific types of trauma to each body system. For me, it's like having an experienced preceptor and textbook all rolled into one. And it's pocket-sized, not bulky.

I think I am still adjusting from my previous PACU experience; there it seemed so easy to get all your charting done and everything wrapped up nicely. Unfortunately, the expectation is you will chart everything within an hour of it happening or you have to annotate "late entry" on everything you chart late. And it is unthinkable that you would enter anything 12-24 hours later (to admin anyway; there have been a few times I come to work the next day and realize I could have added something). One day at a time I guess! Thanks for the support :)

Thanks all! My current brain has boxes for UOP, temp, and BG; I might have to add some for neuro checks. My preceptor said I need practice getting everything done efficiently which I should get by the end of my orientation.

Hi all! I have just started a new job in a TICU at a Level 1 trauma hospital. I am still in orientation but I feel like it's going to be a constant battle to get all the "tasks" done on my shift (labs, meds, assessments) on really critical patients. For example, my last shift the patient had several meds, q2h lab draws, and q2h neuro assessments and then their respiratory status crumped (alredy vented). I think in all the confusion I forgot to chart the last neuro assessment even though I did perform it and I'm freaking out. With experience does it get better? Do you ever get every little thing done and go home with a clear conscience?

Thanks for your suggestions! In my facility they do walking report and at first I thought it was awkward but I guess at least you know they're alive and in no acute distress. I really appreciate all the help and encouragement I get here.

Hey all! I am orienting to ICU with a few years of Med-Surg/PACU under my belt. This is going to sound silly, but so far I have only ever taken care of 1 patient at a time. Now, I will have to start taking care of 2 patients at a time in order to progress in my orientation. I know all of you routinely take care of 2-3 patients, but I am still slower with my patient care and worried about one of them crashing while I am with the other one; as well as prioritizing two patients' needs. Any tips or tricks that help you keep track of 2 patients? I figured having good, organized report sheets is a given.

Ah, I was wondering about the "nausea and pain free" part. A few nurses that worked in other hospitals told me sometimes you have to send the patient home puking because they won't feel better until they sleep it off and get the anesthsesia out of their system. And I always seem to get hung up with the chronic pain patients who take enough narcotics at home to kill a horse and have done so for 10-20 years AND they expect to have zero pain after their lap.chole., hernia repair, etc.

I don't know if you can ship your car because COT and NTP are considered "tdy" i.e. a short temporary training. If you are staying at the base where you are doing NTP, then you can probably ship your car. At COT, you are not allowed to touch your car for the first 2 weeks but it comes in handy for going out and about after that. Also good to have during NTP, unless your city has great public transportation. I did my NTP in Las Vegas, so I would have been screwed without my car. Another note: a lot of buses/taxis can't go on base, so they might drop you off at the gate and you would have to walk a mile or two just to get to class for NTP.

Aaah scary when the MDs don't know what's going in; I guess there's new docs in ICU too. Thanks for the advice. Did you go in as a new grad?

Hello everyone! I will soon be training to become a CCU nurse coming from 2 years experience on a low-acuity Med-Surg and 6 months of PACU. I am wondering if anyone has any advice or if there' s anything you wish you would have known when you started. I know it's a whole new ballgame...