katierobin23

Being a PICU nurse, I've learned the harsh truth which is that some kids will die no matter how hard we try to save them. I'm so sorry you're going through this, but know that you did everything you could have done to help him.

BUN 300. Alive and hopefully will stay that way, this is a patient in my PICU right now. Was down to 89 when I left this morning... 25 kg kid [emoji15]

If a baby is having feeding issues and has an NG (even a term kid), I want to know what's in the stomach before I start, even if the baby is going to nipple. If he doesn't feed well, was it because he still had a bunch of milk in there from three hou...

I'm starting in the PICU at a large children's hospital on Monday and these cases are what scare me the most. I can only hope I am able to handle myself as you have.

^^Everything that they said! The best advice I can give is to be a sponge! Take advantage of every learning opportunity and ask questions. I've found NICU nurses tend to be eager to help out newbies as long as you're eager to learn. We are big advoca...

We just started using the Medelas, but our policy is to only change the liners when soiled or torn. Has any research been done to justify changing more frequently? Very curious to see if we're in the wrong! Each liner is labeled with a patient label ...

We never even covered it. Very similar to what OP said, we were told that we would be trained on the job. I think it may have something to do with the location of the school...I went to nursing school in the northeast but then moved to NC for my firs...

In my opinion, L&D will help you more. Mother/Baby is almost entirely healthy couplets, you'll need strong assessment skills to know when something is going wrong but for the most part your patients will be healthy. L&D on the other hand, you...

We have Angel Eye cameras, they're still new so I can't speak to long term use issues but so far it hasn't been a problem. We were worried about the increased call volume but honestly, I think we've seen a decrease. I personally haven't fielded any c...

Very similar to NicuGal, we give a dose of fentanyl before intubation if it's not an emergent situation. Most kids on conventional ventilators don't get pain control, we use non-pharmacologic methods instead and most do just fine. Babies on a jet so...

We swab nares of every baby on admission and every 2 weeks. Any baby that comes up positive is on contact precautions until discharge. Any baby whose mom was positive is also on contact until discharge, regardless of the baby's actual status.

We continue to feed if the feeds are 50ml/kg/day or less. Any more than that and they are NPO for 3 hours before and 8 hours after. We run blood over 3 hours, so the kid ends up on fluids (clears if they aren't already running tpn/il) for the better ...

That cracked me up too! I would have had a hard time not responding with, "you don't say!"

How much teaching are you allowed to do regarding car seats in your unit? For me, we put the baby in it however the parents bring it to us and aren't allowed to say anything to them except, "read the manual." (Which of course none of them do.) I feel...

Following! I'm really curious too

We have a policy that says we can choose not to use leads on micropreemies with significant skin integrity issues. Those babies almost always have a UAC which we use in conjunction with the pulse ox to monitor their heart rate until the skin matures ...

We have a small tackle box with syringes and 18g needles for drawing up meds, epi, narcan, bicarb, lot of saline, tape, and a kit for needle aspiration. Respiratory has their own box that's a little bigger with ETTs, laryngoscopes, stylets, and tape....

Tight swaddles, pacifiers and snuggles are what work best for me. My favorite thing when I have the time to do it is laying the baby on my chest (baby in a sleep sack and me with a blanket over my scrubs) with a blanket draped over him/her to block t...

Yup, kiddo, kid, buddy, little man, big girl, big guy, dude, sweetheart

Our babies get a security tag when they go to a crib. Exceptions are if they have a running IV or are on oxygen support.

We have zero restrictions for car seat weight ratings. Most nurses and doctors in my unit have no clue that such a thing even exists. If they pass their car seat test, they can go home in it. It's ridiculous.

Mostly the strap adjustment has to do with the challenge. And just that when they bring it in, it should be a great opportunity to talk about the rest of it but we can't.

Glad to see its not just my unit car seats are such a passion of mine and none of the parents care. We had a baby die in a crash after she had been in our unit because of car seat misuse and still nothing changed. I can't believe we put so much eff...

Ditto to what nicugal said. Once a baby gets to an open crib, we are usually looking at discharge soon and if he/she is requiring an elevated HOB, the doctors need to be aware of that. If it was based on nursing judgement alone, it may be done incons...

Which way do your babies heads go when they're in incubators? In my unit, the head of the baby goes at the end with the display, but I see pictures of other units and the babies are at the other end. How is it in your unit? Is there any rational to h...