HamsterRN ADN, RN

Does your Rapid Response Nurse have the ability to initiate ACLS (and push drugs) without an MD order? If not, that sort of defeats the purpose of many of the ACLS algorithms which is to avoid waiting for the Doc to return a page to treat the patien...

I've never worked in outpatient surgery but I would think there should be orders/protocols that would define this sort of thing. It's not at all unusual on my floor to get patients from inpatient surgical floors who have gone into heart failure due t...

Being ACLS trained and being allowed to use ACLS by your facility are not one in the same. I wouldn't expect a med-surg nurse to push adenosine on an otherwise stable patient without the assistance of a nurse experienced with that intervention if RR...

There is a new book that addresses everything you've brought up and more: Educating Nurses; a Call for Radical Transformation by Patricia Benner. Unfortunately, the ANA is the most powerful force in Nursing curriculum, not Benner.

For those with a science focused background, Nursing "Theories" cause an understandable amount of aggravation and annoyance. I find it helps to not think of them as scientific theory's, but as philosophical theories, since most of them don't come an...

We used to have this problem but now our Dynamaps sit in a closet and are only used as an occasional temporary replacement for a continuous pulse ox. We only use manual BP's now, I can't say I miss the Dynamaps at all.

It's not that they get a late start in terms of starting clinicals, it's that for the first quarter or two, or even 3 quarters with one program in particular, the BSN nursing students' "clinical" time consists of packs of nursing students with clipbo...

I agree with the bedside commode suggestion, either in the room or placed over the toilet to avoid the toilet clogging issue. If she insists on using the actual toilet, which is understandable, you could open the back of the toilet and unhook the ha...

These difference are far more related to regional differences than ADN vs. BSN. In my area, ADN students and BSN students have the same required clinical time (16 hours/week), although the ADN students get far more direct, "hands on" experience due ...

If nothing is divulged that identifies the identity of a patient then there is no HIPAA violation.

I don't think there is any push to totally do away with care planning, just the use of NANDA terminology, and NIC/NOC is still used frequently. One of the strengths of Nursing is that we see patients as a complex mix of problems, goals, circumstan...

We also had to pull out any NANDA terminology during out last Joint Commission survey. The requirement for this was in their "compliance binders", which you have to pay for. I don't remember an extensive explanation, just something to the effect of...

"things I thought I was sure about...I'm not" - That's actually a typical and even beneficial mindset as a new grad. If anything, nursing school teaches you how much you don't know. If your hospital/facility is up to date with current practice...

While all white uniforms on women nurses imply "nurse", I've noticed that when men wear all white it seems to imply "psych-ward orderly".

There are clear requirements to claim FMLA and birthday parties/weddings don't apply. Aside from that, if FMLA leave is so regular and consistent, it really shouldn't be that hard to make adjustments for; just increase the float pool as required.

I'd avoid Lippincott whenever possible, Moseby's Nurse consult, or for that matter any person off the street is a better source of nursing information than Lippincott.

Shared governance is a way for staff nurses to become involved in the decisions that affect patient care, particularly decisions that involve direct nursing care. It usually involves some way of representing staff nurses at a unit and hospital level...

I was also taught that the main concern is coring when entering the vial, which is the advantage to blunt, "non-coring" needles when accessing a vial. Accessing a vial using a regular needle the switching to another regular needle doesn't solve this...

We're finally getting IV lasix again, apparently there was only one manufacturer in the US and the factory burned down. We've also been using 10mg morphine carpujects for every 1 or 2mg morphine dose, wasting the other 8 or 9 mg. A good argument f...

The policy where I work is to use a "non-coring"/blunt needle to draw through a rubber stopper to reduce the chance of injecting bits of rubber into the patient, a filter needle would serve the same purpose but at a higher cost. Many diabetics re...

All standard IV primary tubing should contain an in-line particulate filter. Add-on filters are typically used for filtering air, not particulates. Our policy is to place an add-on air filter for all patients with a PFO or other R to L shunt, and ...

I know it drives you nuts but accusing someone guilty of the very common "HIPPA" mistake of being incompetent or unprofessional seems excessive. Unless you live in Hawaii, the double P keystroke is far more natural than the double A keystroke. He...

As you point out, high starch / simple sugar foods are cheap, but they are also what Americans like to eat. As hospitals become more consumer oriented, they seem to shift to providing the same diet that helped put their patients in the hospital to b...

I certainly don't argue that no state allows an RN to practice outside of their scope and I haven't made that argument, nice straw man though. What I and others have questioned is what is practicing/treating and what is not since that is what defin...

Keeping a closed system is best practice, and multiple secondaries, even incompatible ones do not justify opening a closed system. Medications that form a precipitate when combined form that precipitate as a result of their pH levels. When you com...