ObtundedRN BSN, RN

I'm curious about what kind of beds your hospital uses, and what you like or don't like about them. I'm asking specifically for Hospital beds, since LTC usually uses much different beds. Also, please say if this is a critical care or med-surg bed, si...

ICU nursing is very physical as well. So be prepared to go home feeling like you've been physically beaten. Buy critical care nursing books and read them. There is so much to learn in the realm of critical care. Rapid Interpretation of EKGs by Dale D...

I think all of the jouney interviews were done last week. Sorry if you didn't have an interview . The interviews are done by the individual nursing units. You could be asked to interview with a few of the ICUs or just one or none. The hiring managers...

As a new grad, I went straight into ICU. I've never had any doubts that its what I wanted. I worked in EMS for 3 years prior to being a nurse. Working EMS, I already know exactly what comes through the ED. The appealing side of the ED is that you do...

Haha, thank you. I always say the doctor has "prescribed" this XYZ treatment, and it is up to me to ensure it is appropriate to carry out.

So working in the hospital, as a nurse, one of our responsibilities is to be the very last check that a medication is appropriate and safe for the patient. I catch pharmacy errors on a regular (and too frequent) basis. Usually it is simple mistakes, ...

I could be wrong here, but specifying only males vs females allowed to care for a patient could be considered as discrimination. I would think they would do their best to get you a male, but I'm not sure they can actually require it be a male to care...

Red biohazard trash at my hospital.

Sounds like a place you don't want to work at anyways.

Turning q2 isn't evidence based. Maybe it's not good enough. Or maybe it really only needs to be done q4. And taking it as far to say criminal as a blanket statement could be a little drastic. If you willingly neglect the patient and it develops, sur...

An employer will pay you to take the class, versus you paying to spend your time taking it. Also, some employers like mine will make you retake their class anyways. Also, most likely as a student you may not be able to identify the EKG rhythm u less ...

Can I add to the above: NC Lpns can only do as stated above as long as the facility has a policy allowing them to do it, and the facility provides eduction on how to do it, and maintains competency training/validation.

Using. Strong penlight works well for them. You shine in into the skin and the vein will be darker. With all the fluid, the light passes through easily. You can shine it from the underside of the hand. Or just directly down into the skin where you're...

If only this was true. This sounds like dayshift propaganda to me... Lol

At my hospital we usually don't transfuse unless it's

Step-down does vary depending on the hospital. In my hospital, our ICUs are all the unstable with titrated vasopressors and sedation. They are 1:2 Our Progressive care is more stable but critical. Policy states they can have titrated pressors and se...

I have to say, when starting out and even today I find IV starts to be easier then venipuncture... A lot of it comes with lots of practice, a lot of failure, and a few successes to find what works. Sometimes I've found that too tight of a tourniquet ...

Perhaps the OP just didn't give it the way the instructor prefers it be given? Slow or fast, you can't exactly say it was "wrong." Just not how that instructor believes it should be given. I don't know if my personal technique is considered fast or s...

I don't know if I entirely understand. But once the patient is unresponsive and unable to make his own decisions, the next of kin would be the legal authority. If the family is there, is one of them not the legal next of kin?

I'd keep it. As someone mentioned about only the paramedic being worth keeping, not true. In my area, there isn't any RN to Medic bridge. They are seen as two different areas and require starting from the ground up, which I kinda agree with. And two,...

My hospital's policy is call for temps of 101.5 or greater. And our trauma services dept doesn't like to treat fevers unless very high. If I had called for those temps I probably would've gotten more attitude for calling about it, lol.

Many employers will make you repeat the classes with their instructors anyways, you could possibly be wasting your time and money. You'll need basic EKG prior to ACLS, ACLS doesn't teach EKG interpretation, the expect you to already know it. Not to m...

I work in critical care, 1.5 weeks is often a short time for most of our drains, depending on the drain, location, reason for it, etc, you could have lots of drainage. And each doc has their own idea of when they feel its time to come out.

I think you misread, usalsfyre wasn't saying the ACEi is a vasocontrictor, they were explaining how it works to prevents the conversion of angiotensin 1 to 2, which 2 is a powerful vasocontrictor

For heart failure the MDs often want the pressure low like what you are seeing. If they have significant HF, then having them hypertensive is going to easily overwork their heart, meet their starling's curve, and possibly cause some issues like pulmo...