dah doh

dah doh BSN, RN

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All Content by dah doh

  1. Without Orders

    Officially, nurses cannot do anything without a doctor's order or stardardized procedure or hospital policy to cover what they are doing! We put in IV's in all telemetry patients even if the doctor...
  2. I think you have the wrong doctor! My OB told me "I'll take you off work whenever you like, but definitely at 36 weeks." When I asked "why" because I felt fine. Her response was "because I know what...
  3. How often do you have codes on your unit?

    Somedays its none, somedays it's a few per shift in the ICU. The ICU is part of the hospital's code team so sometimes there are no code rapid responses or code blues in the hospital and other shifts...
  4. Male catheters

    Our facility underwent this huge patient privacy thing. This includes offering the patient the same gender nurse for things like Foley catheter insertions or to have a nurse of the same gender be in...
  5. Nurses Managing Epidural Pumps?

    I'm in CA, not sure about the OB area, but in ICU, the epidural order set has a range that the nurse uses to titrate to effect. If we have issues or problems, we call the pain management or...
  6. Have you applied other places in SoCal? Unfortunately, the job market's is very tight right now here. Most hospitals want BSN especially if they are a Magnet facility because they need a certain...
  7. Surgery floor nurses

    Everyone drops patients off near shift change; ER, PACU, ICU, OR, med-surg, etc. At my hospital, ER and PACU are notorious for it. ER because they have to get their patients out ASAP because there's...
  8. Where you start depends on which unit is offering you a job versus your areas of interest. I worked med-surg-tele for 18 months prior to transferring to ICU, but that was because they didn't hire new...
  9. Yes, my manager will always choose to interview internal candidates and volunteers first when we do new grad interviews. The interview panel decides which candidates to hire. We have hired a volunteer...
  10. Unfortunately, my hospital has hired all the new grads for this winter already because they have already started. We usually run 2 new grad programs per year. The summer session starts at the end of...
  11. ER transitioning to ICU

    It would be nice to know that you have familiarity with lines, gtts, and ventrics as well as experience caring for ICU patients in the ER. It could sway decision making if management wanted to hire a...
  12. Every area is open to males. I don't think men prefer L&D or postpartum type areas. My hubby has worked step down, ICU, dialysis, ER, PACU, and surgery. My friends have also done IV team, peds,...
  13. Ethical Dilemma

    It's not an ethical dilemma. Your patient has the right to refuse...both being NPO and further surgery. The residents should have spoken to the patient about the matter after you asked them to...
  14. cvp on introducer

    No we don't do that. We do CVP off the line and use a stopcock if the line is needed for
  15. From paper to computer

    Yes we went computer charting a few years ago. They originally launched but it didn't work as planned so they had to stop parts and do it again in phases. They sent us to classes and had "expert"...
  16. Height and size and race don't have as much to do with it as the ability to so the job! About a third of my coworker are small stature and/or
  17. Delayed Sternal Closure?

    I've had many patients with open chests, but only one with the retractor left in place. That patient's surgery was over 12 hr long...No bueno! I think he probably died a few times on the table. The...
  18. Interview with "Inappropriate" Questions

    Sometimes the questions are appropriate. I've asked an out of state interviewee what bought them to this state? They answered, my wife got a job at XYZ company so we decided to move out here. We...
  19. speech

    Practice practice practice! You should practically memorized it after practicing so much. Make note cards for emergency use. Watch your timing because people tend to talk faster when nervous and...
  20. Learning about Sutures

    That was awesome! Not being an O.R. Nurse, I usually just bring over the boxes of sutures and let the surgeons
  21. Med Surg Nurses That Switched Over to ICU Nursing

    MedTele nurse for 18 months prior to going to ICU. It was a long time ago, but it helps to know assessment, meds, communication with patients, families, and doctors, and multi-tasking. On orientation,...
  22. How far would you commute to an OB job?

    Several of my coworkers commute an hour or more to work. They make it work out. I wouldn't do that; my drive is 10-15 minutes. You need to figure out how the flow of traffic is around your shifts and...
  23. I never even had an ICU experience in nursing school and I'm an ICU nurse now! I'm not sure why so many students are fixated on the fact that they didn't get the senior preceptorship of their choice...
  24. Interview with "Inappropriate" Questions

    Asking you about marriage, children, and child care is illegal for them to bring up during an interview. However they can ask other questions that could lead you into volunteering information about...
  25. Same for us, nurse does swallow screening on stroke patient or upon physician orders. If the patient fails it, a formal dysphagia evaluation is done by the speech pathologist. They are super busy and...