KatieMI BSN, MSN, RN

ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine

Member

All Content by KatieMI

  1. KatieMI

    Organ Donation Organization Unethical

    KatieMI replied to dangerous1's topic in General Nursing

    How many meetings this third party organization can hold if the question has to be solved within short hours? Are families somehow forced to attend them? The two processes are similar in terms of a...
  2. KatieMI

    Organ Donation Organization Unethical

    KatieMI replied to dangerous1's topic in General Nursing

    Well, patients say outright and not so outright "no" every day re. stopping smoking, eating healthier, doing flu shots, taking their meds as they supposed to, etc. Does it mean we should stop teaching...
  3. KatieMI

    Organ Donation Organization Unethical

    KatieMI replied to dangerous1's topic in General Nursing

    From the one who was in transplant trenches for a while: "Donation" of organ/tissues is much more involving and multi-faceted process than most of health care professionals know of. When people mark...
  4. KatieMI

    Injury at work. Help!

    KatieMI replied to Scared_nurse's topic in General Nursing

    To begin with, you, as a health care provider, should be vaccinated against hep b. If you're that worried, you may go to any primary care location and get "emergency prophylaxis" with immunoglobulin...
  5. KatieMI

    US Citizen, thinking of foreign nursing route... no dice?

    KatieMI replied to downanelectron's topic in International Nursing

    Ternopol lies. It is known for quite a while now - what they teach there has nothing at all to do with NCLEX. Otherwise, getting any profession requiring professional licensure in a contry other than...
  6. KatieMI

    Got fired.. Need support

    KatieMI replied to uniqueguy34's topic in Long Term Acute Care

    The thing is, ALL healthcare systems in EVERY developed country in the world were, are and will be profit based. Whatever they say, they are first and foremost profit-based. It's reality. Unless you...
  7. KatieMI

    Got fired.. Need support

    KatieMI replied to uniqueguy34's topic in Long Term Acute Care

    OK, I got it finally. So, the patient was on a life-supporting drug not carried by pharmacy. It was not "critical" in the sense of Levophed or dobutamine, but still infusion must not be interrupted....
  8. KatieMI

    about ascites

    KatieMI replied to nfeese's topic in General Nursing

    Pressure in vein increases, the vein's wall is naturally more porous than arteries and has less collagen bundles, and water and albumin molecules are pushed out. Imagine putting some cottage cheese...
  9. KatieMI

    about ascites

    KatieMI replied to nfeese's topic in General Nursing

    Ascitic fluid is not actually "albumin-rich" in cases of portal hypertension. Albumin content is always lower than one in serum in transsudate. SAAG: The SAAG is the best single test for classifying...
  10. KatieMI

    Treat the Patient, not the Monitor.....Really?

    KatieMI replied to jk2185's topic in General Nursing

    Would you dig deeper if the patient, who is sitting very comfortably, eating Cheerios and playing on his phone casually tells you that he has left-sided chest pain, 100/10, just like he did the night...
  11. KatieMI

    Are there any Psych/Medical Units?

    KatieMI replied to NursesRmofun's topic in General Nursing

    One thing, it is place-dependent. My local (quite small) medical center has medical ICU filled with pretty much 90% of results of drug abuse of all kinds and sorts, from "salts" to meth and to DT....
  12. KatieMI

    Treat the Patient, not the Monitor.....Really?

    KatieMI replied to jk2185's topic in General Nursing

    This is why I am adamantly against "family-initiated" rapid responses, codes, etc. Families need to be listened to, and what they say sometimes has great value, but they should not be allowed to...
  13. KatieMI

    Treat the Patient, not the Monitor.....Really?

    KatieMI replied to jk2185's topic in General Nursing

    CI - Cardiac Index. Left ventricle output (HR x stroke volume)/ body surface area, L/min/M2. Norm 2.6 - 4.2. Roughly, below that = cardiogenic shock, guy is cold and mottled; above that = high output...
  14. KatieMI

    Nurses with eating disorders?

    KatieMI replied to CardiacDork's topic in General Nursing

    I too use baking as a coping against stress, and for some completely unknown reason it gives huge relief. I found it strange at first but when I got involved in King Arthurs' "baking circle" I saw...
  15. KatieMI

    Nurses with eating disorders?

    KatieMI replied to CardiacDork's topic in General Nursing

    Please don't forget that there are many pathologies and conditions which can cause very strange food behaviors while having nothing to do with eating disorders. My own "food behavior" is nothing but...
  16. KatieMI

    Treat the Patient, not the Monitor.....Really?

    KatieMI replied to jk2185's topic in General Nursing

    @ Horseshoe, .... well, it was a good reason to figure out, at last, how the darn thing can be turned off for good,
  17. KatieMI

    Treat the Patient, not the Monitor.....Really?

    KatieMI replied to jk2185's topic in General Nursing

    Seeing the line is nice, but when patient is already mottled with no peripheral pulses to speak of all hands should be on board already unless he is DNR. The thing is how to catch the coming crisis...
  18. KatieMI

    Treat the Patient, not the Monitor.....Really?

    KatieMI replied to jk2185's topic in General Nursing

    That's why some folks speak behind my back that I'm a witch or something. Because I can stay in the door and say "if I were you, I would leave that PICC alone and call 'cause it is DVT", and sure...
  19. KatieMI

    If you could pick up and go..

    KatieMI replied to Libby1987's topic in General Nursing

    NEW ENGLAND!!! Just vacationed
  20. KatieMI

    Has pain scale contributed to opiate problem?

    KatieMI replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

    The city I live in has, according to stats, has more PhDs per capita than any other place with comparable population size in the USA. The prescription opioid abuse epidemic is raging here just as...
  21. KatieMI

    Has pain scale contributed to opiate problem?

    KatieMI replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

  22. KatieMI

    Has pain scale contributed to opiate problem?

    KatieMI replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

    Pain scale is, essentially, a screen test. A simple, quick, low-cost intervention to sort out anyone who DO NOT need anything further to be done. Such tests, by the mechanics of their working, are...
  23. KatieMI

    Accidentally told my coworker what I make, BIG ISSUES NOW

    KatieMI replied to newrn93's topic in Patient, Colleague Relations

    Guys/gals, c'mon. People, nurses and not, are denied employment, mistreated snd fired EVERY SINGLE DAY in this country for less than what the OP did, including things which are illegal under law to be...
  24. KatieMI

    got fired/terminated

    KatieMI replied to YesYesRN's topic in First Year After Licensure

    The nursing residency programs are ranged everywhere from suppirtive, education-rich environments to gestapo-like hell on the Earth. Mine gave me 6 months of lost time and stress cardiomyopathy as a...
  25. KatieMI

    The Case for Patient-Specific Stethoscopes

    KatieMI replied to adventure_rn's topic in General Nursing

    No way unless some special considerations are on board. Stetoscope for me is like what pointe shoes are for a ballerina. They are personal. Every one has minor quirks, earplugs properly "deformed" to...