ParRN

Nurseyperson, I couldn't agree more. As a RRT I intubated in critical care and er literally hundreds of times over the years. It is a skill that one must do to keep up. And when you need to intubate you must be confidant in the skills of person doing it.Especially for women, a certain strength is needed in that left arm to stay off the teeth.Hitting the teeth on the dummy during ACLS is one thing;quite another for your facility to pick up the dental bill on our pt's. Respiratory Therapists are degreed ,have passed a registry examination and have more extensive training in airway management than nurses. Now, as an RN, I have so many other things to manage, I'm happy tp leave the intubation to the MD'S and RRT's. There is no doubt that any ICU nurse could be taught to intubate, but without the opportunity to keep those skills up it sounds as if the risks outweigh the benefits. Do we as critical care nurses need one more thing to manage?

I just took the NLN Med test and while we wern't allowed any books or notes, we were given a list of about 75 drugs the test might cover. Also our orientation included a review the day before that was very helpful. So many nurses were taking three attempts to pass, my hosp. lowered the passing grade from 80% to 70%. While I passed on the first attempt, I was glad I studied! I thought the med test was harder than the bkat.

Cybernurse2000 Sorry you missed my note of sarcasm ie:maxed levophed,3 pumps, dead monitor. I used exaggeration to express my frustration at more and more frequent trips to scan.

It seems were traveling to scan more and more often. In our 17 bed unit the RN always has to go and stay with the pt.If the pt is on the vent a RT also has to go.It doesn't matter if they have chest tubes,3 pumps one with levophed maxed and are vented if the MD wants a scan off we go! Ofcourse when we get there an emergency has tied up all the c-scan tables and we're left to wait in the hall while the portable moniter goes dead. I hate to go to scan something always goes wrong.