justanurse

Latest Activity

1. Non-ICU nurse pulled to your unit...

   justanurse replied to askater's topic in MICU, SICU

   Don't take the assignment unless you're trained in caring for the vent patients. You need at least some orientation in what care you should provide these patients with. Some training on the...

2. Verbal Orders, Do you take them?

   justanurse replied to nilepoc's topic in General Nursing

   And, so far haven't been burned. I re-read my orders back so I know & the Doc knows I've got it right. Did hear about a very good Critical Care nurse who worked in ER and had a Doc tell her to...

3. Was anyone ever a floor nurse?

   justanurse replied to askater11's topic in MICU, SICU

   I worked 4 years in orthopedics until I went to CCU on the "buddy-plan". I worked 10 years in CCU and then did CN over our CCU/PCU (tele). I loved it (most of the time). It took me 8 or so years to...

4. IABP Removal

   justanurse replied to BJRN76's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

   IABP = Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump This device is a near ventilator size machine attached to an arterial line placed into the patient's femoral artery. On the end of the line is a balloon that is...

5. Dream Job

   justanurse replied to kjmta57's topic in General Nursing

   I've just landed my ?dream job. I will go from making $44K to $34K (which is only a grand or two less than I made last year before my big raise), but I will have two months off with pay, and can...

6. Comfort Care

   justanurse replied to robguerrero_rn's topic in Cardiac

   The physician usually orders a dosage to begin with. You can increase the dosage every 30 - 60 minutes to get the desired effect of pain control that your patient needs. Possibly more often at the...

7. Regrets about ADN?

   justanurse replied to teresab_2000's topic in General Nursing

   No regrets to having gotten "only" an ADN degree. I went straight out of high school, knowing I wanted to be a nurse. I received a full tuition scholarship to our local community college for my ADN....

8. Charge Nurse-ing

   justanurse replied to ccunite's topic in Patient Safety Issues

   Yep, did that too. I took over as one of the Charge Nurses in our CCU 3 years ago. For two years, I wore many hats. Many times I had 3 patients right along with everyone else, praying "please, God,...

9. Critical Care Pocket Guide & Calculator

   justanurse replied to pkr99's topic in Cardiac

   Hi, telemetryrn. Here are the sites I have found helpful with my palm: www.rnpalm.com/software.htm www.pdamd.com This one will probably have more options for you, since your software probably...

10. Using Haloperidol for sedation

    justanurse replied to aila's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    Be very careful. Check out your policy. At the hospital I work, we had a state review last summer. A nurse received an order to give Haldol to a patient who was very uncooperative & combative...

11. exposure to hiv in the work place

    justanurse replied to psychnurse01's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    I am so sorry for what you are going through. My own personal feelings are that that patient should be held accountable for her actions. As we all should. Should she be allowed to hurt others just...

12. icu/ccu visitor policy

    justanurse replied to sj's topic in Cardiac

    This is a hot topic in the CCU I work. Our policy is 30 minutes visiting 5 times a day. Our staff would like it to stay that way, but it never does. It is very difficult to enforce strict visiting...

13. Critical Care Pocket Guide & Calculator

    justanurse replied to pkr99's topic in Cardiac

    I got a palm handheld for christmas. It's very nice, the one I got has 8M of memory and cost $250. You can get a handheld computer for ~$600, that has 32M memory, even. I've downloaded a lot of...

14. Bonus for extra shifts: what are your facilities doing for you?

    justanurse replied to timonrn's topic in General Nursing

    Ours is paying a $50 bonus for a shift (either staying over 4 hours, or working an extra day), when it's deemed "critical need". On extra days, that are listed as needing help at the beginning of the...

15. Caregiving and caregivers

    justanurse replied to Jenny P's topic in General Nursing

    I'm with Jenny P. As of last spring, I am cargiver to my husband. Let me tell you, just because you know what's going on, doesn't mean anyone thinks you do. Doctors and nurses start to explain...