Is YOUR unit using colostrum or breast milk for oral care since some VAP care packs have been discontinued or the companies manufacturing them have gone out of business? I've read some articles recently (one from nann) about using colostrum and EBM ...
Hey fellow NICU nurses, I've been primarying a trach baby for about 6 months who will be heading home soon. We are about to get a new bunch of new nurses so they will be orienting with her (with other preceptors) since she is our only trach baby. So ...
EmilyPeruana replied to EmilyPeruana's topic in NICU
yes, i have the nann article that was posted in that thread. just looking for additional ones. and information on exact practices/procedures in other units as i develop a proposal for our unit.
I'd use OG tubes on infants who are on the ventilator (easy to tape to an ET tube) or those on very high flow vapotherm or CPAP. With CPAP, you need a good seal with the mask or prongs, and an NG tube wouldn't fit or wouldn't allow an appropriate sea...
EmilyPeruana replied to EmilyPeruana's topic in NICU
After about 30 min with my jet patient, it all came back to me...yesterday, i was given a patient on an oscillator, so i must have been doing things right!
EmilyPeruana replied to medinarn's topic in Tennessee
i would think you could find something at vandy...especially if you start applying now to start sometime this summer...if not, then in the fall...there are lots of students at vandy who work at vandy also...maybe nurses getting their masters who will...
EmilyPeruana replied to rn51003's topic in Tennessee
my husband and i have a 2BR, 2BA, 1100 sq ft apt for almost $900 a month. not awful. nashville homes DO cost more. but if you live a little outside the city (murfreesboro, spring hill, smyrna, etc), cost of living goes way down.
EmilyPeruana replied to rn51003's topic in Tennessee
i think vandy starts new grads at around $19-ish? maybe $20??? at most right now. benefits are good...insurance is good, especially if you see vandy docs, it's cheaper....Rx's are cheaper if you get them at vandy pharmacies too. you get local discou...
the closer you are to vandy, the more expensive it is...but be careful, b/c you dont want to be in certain areas where prices are nice but crime isn't...there are some apartments in bellevue that are nicely priced and in decent areas...royal arms apa...
EmilyPeruana replied to nurse2teach's topic in NICU
we set our babies' o2 sats limits at 80-95% if they are on o2, especially if they are less than 32 weeks gestation. the target sats of 85-93%. this is to protect their eyes from rop. this is backed by studies. i will post them at the end. if the bab...
wanna know the easiest trick to doing it - GET A FRIEND. i'm the one who always takes the hardest babies or gets assigned the most complicated chronic ones because i dont mind them and have experience with them. but i still get another nurse or RT t...
EmilyPeruana replied to PrudenceNurse's topic in NICU
we do NOT filter lipids. we do filter tpn. we clean all ports with CHG prior to administering meds or flushing. we clean the port with CHG 5-6x 360*, waiting for it to dry is annoying, but we've broken our own BSI records. we replace lipids tubing/...
we haven't been able to get biotin yet but our adult units and picu have it so we occasionally call them for it...but i just read an article about using EBM b/c of it's bacteria-killing abilities and everything...i may present it to our mgt this week...
we've had some unusual back and forths with our census too...usually we are just low in the late summer (we have a capacity of 82...in the summer, we are in the low 50s sometimes)...but when h1n1 hit, we seemed to be low while the rest of the childre...
with vlbw/elbw babies, we have automatic admission orders that state something like this: please start humidity at 70% (maybe?) for 3-4 weeks, then wean slowly off over 3-4 days. depending on that infant's fragility at one month of age (and weight),...
EmilyPeruana replied to schoolnurseadmin's topic in NICU
parents put their baby's label on it...label is the same label we use in the unit to send labs, etc. it has the patient's name, dob, medical record number, etc. prior to mixing/administering/warming, we verify name and MRN with another nurse or "care...
oh we have a whole algorithm.... but generally speaking, we use CHG b/f using a port...scrub 6x 360*...wait about 20sec for it to try...time sucks but it works b/c we've broken our own BSI records... in terms of line changes, we do 2-person line chan...
we do our own hemoccults. we enter results into charting. we can't do urine dips anymore for whatever reason. we have to send the urine to the lab. they put results into the computer system. we do our own glucoses and upload results to from the gluco...
EmilyPeruana replied to neonurse12's topic in NICU
i dont know what our's is called...we call them 3-way or 4-way manifolds...but in terms of preventing blood stream infections, this is what we do: -we scrub the port 6 times, 360* with CHG, wait 20 seconds to let it dry, then flush, give meds -every...
EmilyPeruana replied to Julie Basilio's topic in NICU
you dont want my answer...we've been the overly nicu unit lately b/c our census has been low and the hospital has been bursting at the seams everywhere else...we have private room and are divided into "pods" and have given up a pod for acute care ove...
EmilyPeruana replied to Obnurseamber06's topic in NICU
i work in a level 3c nicu. it's nice to have a picc line in as soon as possible obviously...but until then, it's nice to have a double lumen uvc if possible....if not, you can give most meds through uvc with tpn...there are some that aren't compatibl...
omg. i'd die if i saw a 24 weeker on cpap...i've never seen us use cpap greater than 6...and it's rare for us to use 6...we generally use 4-5...we may try to extubate around 28 weeks to cpap...depends on the patient...depends on their gases...but the...