murphyle BSN, RN

Emergency, Critical Care (CEN, CCRN)

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All Content by murphyle

  1. murphyle

    Confess! Whats the craziest force of habit you've done in the "Real World"

    murphyle replied to vhern246's topic in Nursing Humor

    Just had another one happen tonight - was at an event with some fellow nurses, and one participant's son stepped on a sharp rock and cut his foot. As I'm cleaning and bandaging the injury, I...
  2. murphyle

    What color is your stethoscope???

    murphyle replied to sch1109's topic in Scrubs, Uniforms, Gear

    My school scope was a Littmann Master Classic in black (it's still my backup/"beater" scope), and my work scope is a Cardiology III in navy blue. Boring but professional. The SICU where I precepted in...
  3. murphyle

    Opinions: Best scrubs?

    murphyle replied to raebabelvn's topic in Scrubs, Uniforms, Gear

    Okay, here's my 100% anecdotal, completely unscientific analysis of scrubs I've worn. Please note that my hospital mandates solid ciel blue for RNs, so availability of cute prints will not be...
  4. murphyle

    Summer lull?

    murphyle replied to emtb2rn's topic in Emergency

    Christy1019: We've been having hot fun in the summertime in the suburbs, too - our census has been running average to high all summer. We don't get so much of the Knife & Gun Club like you do...
  5. murphyle

    Confess! Whats the craziest force of habit you've done in the "Real World"

    murphyle replied to vhern246's topic in Nursing Humor

    Count another one for checking veins. I've also unthinkingly given 24-hour values for time requests in public, which nearly always elicits a confused "huh?" from people and a very embarrassed "Oops!"...
  6. murphyle

    Trauma vs. ER

    murphyle replied to healthstar's topic in Critical Care

    foreverLaur: Yes, the most recent (6th Edition) is dated
  7. murphyle

    Trauma vs. ER

    murphyle replied to healthstar's topic in Critical Care

    From the Trauma Nursing Core Course Provider Manual, 6th Edition: Trauma is any injury to the body caused by transfer of energy from the outside environment, such that the energy transferred into the...
  8. murphyle

    ED Nurses: Tdap vs. Td

    murphyle replied to Lunah's topic in Emergency

    Tdap for us. We're also seeing a slight (now) resurgence of pertussis, particularly among populations who might not have been immunized as children or whose immunization might be wearing off r/t...
  9. murphyle

    Worst doctors orders ever received

    murphyle replied to jenfromjersey's topic in Emergency

    Yes, I get that; a KCl push is a lethal injection. (Cold KCl is also a cardioplegia solution in open heart surgery - either way you're stopping the heart, so it'd be a lethal injection if the patient...
  10. murphyle

    Carpuject!?

    murphyle replied to hendersonar's topic in Patient Medications

    We do blunt-needle draws off Capuject vials all the time - our Dilaudid, morphine and Valium all come that way, and I've only ever seen one Carpuject device down here, much less anybody ever using...
  11. murphyle

    Worst doctors orders ever received

    murphyle replied to jenfromjersey's topic in Emergency

    CamaroNurse: The patient was in for diuresis r/t CHF exacerbation; they were taking Lasix at home PTA, and getting 40 mg q12h in the hospital. K-Dur 20 mEq q12h was already ordered, and the patient...
  12. murphyle

    What is your Nursing Kryptonite?

    murphyle replied to Lunah's topic in General Nursing

    Secretions don't bother me in general. (Did a TON of ETT and trach suctioning in nursing school preceptorship - I suspect because a few of the nurses on my unit had secretion issues, and said "Oh yay,...
  13. murphyle

    Bad code

    murphyle replied to sk8rn's topic in Emergency

    5H 5T - the old mnemonic for the correctable causes of asystole/PEA (5 beginning with H, and 5 beginning with T). The numbers of Hs and Ts have changed over time; common variants include adding...
  14. murphyle

    Worst doctors orders ever received

    murphyle replied to jenfromjersey's topic in Emergency

    Had one of those when I was in school - one of my fellow SNs had a patient with a K of 3.4 who was ordered 40 mEq of KCl IV push, through a peripheral IV. (The patient was a known tough stick; all we...
  15. murphyle

    The Great Emergency Prank War

    murphyle posted a topic in Nursing Humor

    As I've posted on these boards previously, I am a recent grad working nights in emergency at a hospital in the Detroit suburbs. I was recommended to the position by one of my old clinical instructors,...
  16. murphyle

    I can't believe the hootzpah of some people!

    murphyle replied to ShayRN's topic in General Nursing

    Likewise, the patient's relative that starts asking you for OTC pain meds for a headache or cramps or whatever, and then gets all pi**y with you when you politely explain that you can't medicate...
  17. murphyle

    Describe the Ugliest Scrubs You Have Seen!

    murphyle replied to PacoUSA's topic in Nursing Humor

    Saw another standout set in the cafeteria the other day. Peds is the only department in my hospital where personnel aren't color coded, and this young lady had some real winners on: VERY low-cut...
  18. murphyle

    Alert patients who refuse meds.

    murphyle replied to Caffeine_IV's topic in General Nursing

    Interesting, indeed. We don't have mature minor doctrine in this state, but again, if the teen is making a reasonable request and the parent backs it, we'll honor their wishes. As for the need for a...
  19. murphyle

    Alert patients who refuse meds.

    murphyle replied to Caffeine_IV's topic in General Nursing

    Along similar lines, we occasionally get patients who refuse procedures. This happened to me most recently last night when I had a patient who tried to refuse a straight cath s/p head, neck and back...
  20. murphyle

    Nursing School Must Haves??

    murphyle replied to Servingshots's topic in General Students

    Yes, but some are better than others. Carpenito probably does a better job explaining the diagnoses, but goes into a lot of "fluff" detail about psychosocial and community intervention that probably...
  21. murphyle

    Inept New Grads?

    murphyle replied to imanedrn's topic in Emergency

    I'm a second-degree recent grad who started straight in emergency, and am just about to complete my Phase 1 orientation. Far from the norm, my department actually looks for selected new grads to...
  22. murphyle

    Common practice for any ER??

    murphyle replied to BAMARN09's topic in Emergency

    Hospital policy here calls for "tiered" priority with pump vs. gravity infusions. Any concentrated electrolyte solutions, any vaso- or cardio-active drug, any chemotherapeutic agent, any sedative or...
  23. murphyle

    tPA Question

    murphyle replied to punkstar's topic in Emergency

    On the topic of tPA administration timing: our window is four hours. Some docs will push it if they feel that there might be some issue with how long the patient's actually been symptomatic or if they...
  24. murphyle

    ER Nurse Salary??

    murphyle replied to honeyrosc's topic in Emergency

    One of our case managers comes close to that mark, but has to work four different jobs to do it. Then too, Metro Detroit isn't exactly the world's hottest job market, so compensation tends to be lower...
  25. murphyle

    The Great Emergency Prank War

    murphyle replied to murphyle's topic in Nursing Humor

    More SpectraLink fun from the last few nights: Apparently our ECPs got a poor introduction to the workings of the SpectraLink 8020, as one of the docs stopped me at the desk the night before last to...