ICURN87

I am having a hard time finding an ACLS-EP course, could you help me with this? How did you find your course? Are you having trouble maintaining this?

It's quiet mostly during the holidays at work. Lots of the patients get discharged, transferred out of the ICU, etc. It's not so bad, especially since you get holiday pay. My hospital also gives you a free turkey meal! We also have a holiday party and everyone brings treats in. I work days/evenings 7am-7pm, so I still get to go home and spend time with my family for the evening.

We have MT6. I was taught to chart on everything at least once on my shift, with the exception of the vital signs, vent checks, CVP (these must be done every 4 hours) on the computer. We still have to chart the vitals every 1-2 hours on the flow sheet, along with the CVP and vent checks. I hate double documentation! Also, we have to do a modified assesment every 4 hours (neuro, cardio, resp assessment). It's a lot of charting and I hate it!!! Wish I could spend my time actually caring for my patients than doing charting. Anyway, I know it'll keep my butt out of jail in the long run!

Wow, you chart your IV site and skin assessments every 2 hours? Why's that?

Wow, I would think that bicarb is the answer here. Then probably put her on a bicarb drip. You know, I've heard some things at my hospital about avoiding bicarb IV push unless it's a code blue situation. It doesn't make sense to me. For this patient, she sounds so acidotic that she's HEADED for a code. I say push the damn bicarb already! Just my 2 cents.

At my hospital, the critical care nurses are also cross trained to work on the telemetry floor. A tele nurse typically gets about 5-6 patients. An ICU nurse who floats on tele can never have more than 4 patients. This is usually a piece of cake for me since I originally came from a med/surg floor. I know how to handle the load. The nice thing about working on the floors is the support staff. If you have a great tech, secretary, etc. Things usually go smoothly. Unless something unpected happens. It's a bit of a break compared to working in ICU where it's basically primary care. All in all, I don't mind being floated at all.