flo136

flo136

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All Content by flo136

  1. I have been doing ICU for 15 years. I love making such a difference to lives. When they are rapidly deteriorating, and everyone is so busy doing stuff to save them. That adrenaline rush is the best!...
  2. Single Use Leads

    We use them here in Adelaide, Australia. But only on VRE/MRSA patients. They are great.Our regular patients' ECG leads are a bit bloody despite the cleans between admissions. Particularly with VRE,...
  3. Ever seen a pt live after 5 chest tubes?

    How is the patient going? Any updates on his
  4. How did you find your specialty??

    I was working in a Recovery/PACU unit. They were building a High Dependancy Unit next door. Before it opened, I popped to have a look. All clean and fresh and new! Got the job, but that unit rapidly...
  5. Ever seen a pt live after 5 chest tubes?

    Hi. I am betting he may make it, and have not seen 5 in at the same time but 4. But the ventilation issues are huge, an absolute nightmare to wrecked lungs. Some smart tricky ventilations modes and...
  6. How do you measure temperatures?

    Hi Sarah in Adelaide, Australia here We started using Alsius units 8 months ago. Fantastic. Look like a central femoral line. Do a great job. Easy to use. Nice little dial to see the fluid running...
  7. I'm so sorry....your spouse just died.

    While you obviously didn't feel the situation was handled as you had hoped, please remember it is an awfully hard thing to do. A family's reaction can be so unpredictable and a sick relative can...
  8. VS standards- Am I Wrong?

    Hi. I have been in my current job for 5 years now. I have always said my old place did things better. It's hard when it's true! But I have stayed here, and I can draw on that past experience to add...
  9. just finished week #1 of being an ICU nurse

    Hi. I hope you stick with it. I have been doing it for about 13 years. I reckon it took me a good year to get the hang of it, but doing the specialty course helped heaps. It made everything 'come...
  10. I think you are doing the right thing. You don't need to do anymore. You have said you could maybe try at work when you start again. You have said you are a new nurse as are your friends. You have...
  11. Question for Nurses who are MOMS

    Hi. I am a 37 yr old Mum of a toddler. I work in Australia but trained in the UK. Nursing is great for being a parent. My sister and my parents are all nurses too. I do permanent nights in intensive...
  12. Hi. I reckon go for it. I've worked in general, cardiac and neuro ICU in Australia and the UK. Neuro is a great one to have under your belt: the skills you learn. It's a different approach to...
  13. I work in a big public ICU in Adelaide Australia. We are 1:1 ratio. Definitely for vented patients. Very infrequently you get 2 patients, but are HDU or ward transfer types. I worked in the UK and...
  14. Stress Relief after a BAD shift?

    I have been nursing for 20 years in a public intensive care unit. Mate, this is the answer: big big glass of red wine and hot bubbly bath. Leave the troubles at the hospital door. It's not worth the...
  15. Does your unit do it's own CRRT?

    We are 1:1 for CRRT, via a Vascath line. But if the patient has a AV fistula we get the dialysis nurses to come down and do it for us. Plus it also depends on the patient's
  16. Bleeding patients 'till they're anemic

    I agree we take too much blood off. Where I work the new nurses are told to take blood gases every 3 hours. I've let it go a lot longer. They are also slow to rectify low urine output so nearly all...
  17. propofol

    I've seen too much propofol cause urine to go green. Hourly rates of 30mls and
  18. Inappropriate ICU admissions

    I work in a public hospital in Australia. We get dumped on frequently. A classic is when the anaesthetists can't be bothered to reverse the patient in theatre. Instead of going them to the PACU unit...
  19. Need a good ICU book

    Hi. I've worked in the Uk and currently Australia; and a great book we use for our ICU course is T. Oh's ICU manual. It is heavy and thick but the chapters are interesting and it covered all we were...