ReeseCup819

What are your thoughts, feelings, opinions, knowledge about using breathing treatments for a pt who is actively dying. Especially those who are very agitated. I had a pt who was mostly unresponsive, but when he did wake up he was very confused and agitated. He was given Haldol ATC and ativan prn for it. He started getting congested and has an order for the breathing tx, but I feel like the steriod would just make the agitation worse. I decided just to use the atropine to dry the secretions up. What do you think?

One night I was trying to sleep, thinking about things I needed to get done, etc. I think about my pts a lot, but at this point I wasn't even thinking about work. I had a pt with terminal agitation who got a few hits in on me, and in the middle of my thoughts she just kind of "popped" into my head. It was really weird. A sense of sorrow came over me, not sadness-sorrow, but something like, "I'm sorry." Then it was gone. I searched for her in the obituaries a few days later and sure enough she had passed that night. I honestly believe she stopped by to tell me she was sorry (not that she had too, I never thought bad of her for what she did), and to tell me goodbye. It's a little spooky but it makes me happy that I obviously made some sory of connection with her in her last few days of life.

I live in Ohio and I visited the Carestar website. I'm still a little confused on how to go about this. I understand I need to fine an MD and RN to work under, but how do I do that? What are the wages like? How do I find patients and do all the paperwork, eg. taxes, etc. And can I do it as a new nurse? I have only been nursing for a couple months, and right now I am doing hospice home care. Any information would be a HUGE help! Thanks!

Thanks for the info! I'm not planning on doing it any time soon. I just wanted to know more about it. So there isn't really a class you have to take for it? You can just take a test?

I'm a brand-spankin new LPN and I am working as a Hospice/Crisis Care nurse for about a month now. I never thought I would do hospice care but I absolutely love it. Anyway, I am curious about this CHLPN thing. I've seen some people sign documents with those titles and I'd like some more info on it. I tried to Google it but I wasn't getting the answers I needed. So here are my questions: What exactly is it? Is it worth getting? How do I go about getting it? I just want to look into it because I would love to do anything to improve the care I can give to my patients and their families. Thanks!