kaffenoir

Sharon, I work for a large university hospital, and the dialysis nurses are required to have BLS, and we encourage ACLS. A nurse must have a minimum of 1 yr. of on the floor dialysis experience, before being aloud to dialyze an ICU patient one on one. They must also go to the ICU 3 times with an experienced dialysis nurse. However when dialyzing ICU patients of any type it is the ICU Nurse's responsibility to care for the patient. The dialysis nurse is there to focus on one thing and one thing only the dialysis of the patient. The nurse should be able to recognize when the patient is having difficulties, and be able to notify the ICU nurse of changes in the patient's condition. The purpose of dialyzing the patient in the ICU is so that the ICU nurse can continue the care of the patient, and the patient can be monitored closely, otherwise the patient would be brought to the dialysis unit. Dialysis is the same as any other ancillary service, if ULtrasound or neuro-med came in to perform a tx or scan on the patient while in the ICU, they would not assume the care the of the patient, and the same is true for dialysis. The ICU NURSE must maintain the total reponsibility of the care of the patient.

Hi, I am a RN and my husband works for the airlines, we may be relocating to N.O. I was wondering what area would be a nice safe are to live, and one that is not too far from the airport? He doesn't mind driving 20-30 mins. We have no kids and would like a trendy professional area. We would like a condo or loft type home. I am an E.R. nurse & I do dialysis as well. Any suggestions would be great, and also how expensive is rent or mortgage in these areas? If possible we would like to be away from the areas hit frequently by hurricanes. Thanks in advance, Yvette

Hi, There are several types of caths. The name is usually on the cath. unless it is old and the name has faded away. Some are temporary and others are permanent tunnelled caths. Kaffenoir

Hi, I work in an acute care setting (hosp) and we have a chart which tells you which meds dialyze out. You can get them from the drug reps ie.. Pfizer etc.. Nevertheless, Vancomycin should be given the last hour of the treatment, and gent should be given post dialysis only, as it dialyzes out. Pushing it during rinse back is contraindicated as it causes ototoxicity. As a matter of fact we just had a pt. that had ototoxicity from nurses pushing it. Gent should be given over 30-60 mins. Ancef and fortaz are also post tx. If you need more info, or a protocol pm me back. kaffenoir

Hi,I am a RN, and I live and work in Cincinnati. Cincinnati has several hospitals. It depends on what you are looking for. The Health Alliance consists of The University Hospital which has a level 1 trauma center. It is a very busy place, but you learn a great deal about all of the high tech procedures and equiptment. They have approx 7 ICU's take your pick! Depending on what your needs are, I would reccomend that you take a agency position with the health alliance. They pay twice as much as the hospitals,and your health insurance is very cheap if not free. Their agency is called TMP(Tristate medical professionals), and they can place you anywhere in the hospital E.R. or ICU. The Health alliance also consists of Christ Hospital, which is more like the private side of the health alliance. You tend to have more private patients there. They do not have a union there, therefore the pay is higher. You can also go there thru TMP. There is also GoodSam, which is okay but not great for trauma care, there is Bethesda North which is a good hospital, but they are situated in the northern most part of Cincinnati. The Mercy's are a small community hospital, but the pay is not great! As stated before I think that agency is the best for the pay! If you have any other questions, you can email me at [email protected] Kaffenoir

Thanks, This is great information. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing now instead of the above ideas? Do you have any other great ideas? I'm searching for something that will work in a town that is big on healthcare with 5 hospitals in a 3mile radius. Several of which are teaching institutions for physicians. Thanks, Kaffenoir email:[email protected]