Dodongo

Dodongo APRN, NP

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All Content by Dodongo

  1. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    I guess my line of thinking is this - most med surg nurses don't experience code situations often enough for this to matter. The majority hardly use BLS enough to know how to properly do compressions...

  2. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    Hmmmm. Interesting to hear this. I only have experience in the northeast and mid Atlantic regions. Med surg nurses are welcome to get acls but they will be paying for it themselves. CCRNs, and to a...

  3. Why do Critical Care nurses look down their noses at Med-Surg nurses?

    Dodongo replied to marisatheresa's topic in Critical Care

    For your second point, I find the opposite to be true. The floors at my hospital have PCTs that do the majority of basic pt care, while the ICUs don't have PCTs. Or they do but they stock supplies and...

  4. CPR question

    Dodongo replied to Sand_Dollar's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    Oh, we have the blanketrol for sure. Same thing really. The arcticsun blankets just stick to the patient's

  5. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    And just to be clear I'm not, and was never, talking about panic yelling. I'm talking about yelling so that everyone is clear about what I'm doing and what I need them to

  6. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    Again, after the first few minutes. You are the rapid response nurse so once you arrive you can start directing the code. But if I'm the nurse taking care of a patient and they go into v-tach and I...

  7. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    Maybe after the first few minutes but when a code is initially called and its just the nurses responding before a physician or pharmacists arrives, no one really has a "set job". It's whoever starts...

  8. CPR question

    Dodongo replied to Sand_Dollar's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    We use the ArcticSun machine to initiate and carry out our hypothermia protocol. We do it for most all of our cardiac arrests. It's quite nice. It uses a core temp probe and circulates cold water...

  9. Blood Transfusion

    Dodongo replied to kulalas's topic in Critical Care

    Honestly though, this sounds like a trick question... It could be a hemolytic reaction which requires stopping the transfusion. It does not, however, sound like an allergic reaction. It could also...

  10. Why do Critical Care nurses look down their noses at Med-Surg nurses?

    Dodongo replied to marisatheresa's topic in Critical Care

    Settle down everyone! Haha. Cray cray. I think med-surg nurses have a roooouuuugh job. They have 6-10 patients at a time. And even if they are the healthiest patients that's still a lot to keep...

  11. CPR question

    Dodongo replied to Sand_Dollar's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    Haha. This. I have seen it once. We were letting a group of students get some experience during a code and they weren't going quite deep enough so one (LARGE) attending walked over and pushed them...

  12. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    You HAVE to know the concentration of anything you give. You just have to know. Would you give an unlabeled syringe of what pharmacy called epinephrine during a code? I wouldn't. I would want to...

  13. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    I agree with everything IndiCRNA and Tothc2 are saying here. Voices of reason. Talking to some of these other posters is

  14. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    This. All of it. It is standard. Although if you don't flush those flexi seals often enough - explosions can

  15. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    This sounds like a normal ICU patient... What's your point? I've had plenty of patients in a shock state, pressors, swans and on the vent. They were not 1:1. Still

  16. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    First of all, no, I'm not a manager. Second of all, the poster said that a pt on a vent, regardless of anything else going on with the pt, was 1:1. I have never heard of this. If this were the case...

  17. ICU nurses, Is 3:1 patient to nurse ratio a common occurence or am I just tripping?

    Dodongo replied to Scrubs911's topic in MICU, SICU

    This is very inefficient and costly. There is no reason a vented patient should be 1:1, purely for the fact s/he is on a ventilator. Paying for double the amount of RNs? My unit is 2:1 at the most and...

  18. Which is better RN cert. from a community college or BSN

    Dodongo replied to wchelsea's topic in Diploma, ADN, BSN

    Let me clarify that last point I made. As I re-read it I realized how it may have sounded. Now, bear in mind that I'm one of those crazy people that thinks a bachelor's degree is more than enough...

  19. Which is better RN cert. from a community college or BSN

    Dodongo replied to wchelsea's topic in Diploma, ADN, BSN

    If you can, do an Accelerated BSN. I had a Bachelor's already and in 12 months I had a BSN. You have to have a lot of pre-reqs already done at the point you apply, so if you don't have those it...

  20. Can you use O.9NS on a mainline and dopamine on a piggyback

    Dodongo replied to ab1984's topic in Patient Medications

    You can however have the NS line connected to a port on, lets say, the pt's IJ, and then have the dopamine (in its own line and on its own pump) connected down to the y-site of the NS line nearest to...

  21. Fevers In CCU

    Dodongo replied to Nursingbride12's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    You should all try and get orders or IV Tylenol. Ofirmev. I have never seen a patient not drop their temp after that. Amazing stuff. But also cooling blankets, cool wash cloths, ice packs. Turn the...

  22. Amiodarone help!

    Dodongo replied to Brama28's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    I had a patient in a fib with rvr (not pulseless) and the physician had me bolus with 350. Scariest moment of my life. And I documented and had the reorder document that I was specifically ordered to...

  23. Why do you love the CCU?

    Dodongo replied to caseywestt's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    Nothing is more exiting or intellectually stimulating/demanding than having a pt on pressors, with swan limes, IABPs, having to be able to interpret ekgs in a split second, etc. And the best kind of...

  24. Can you use O.9NS on a mainline and dopamine on a piggyback

    Dodongo replied to ab1984's topic in Patient Medications

    Never piggy back pressors. They always go through their own line on their own channel/pump. But you're right that you give fluids before giving dopamine. Gotta have fluid in the tank for it to

  25. what did you get for Christmas from your employer?

    Dodongo replied to AlphaPig's topic in General Nursing

    My paycheck. And a chocolate covered pretzel