nursingjudgment

I currently work full-time in a level-1 trauma ICU and I really enjoy it there. I've been planning on going back to school, but in an effort to earn a little extra money and to see what else is out there, I signed up with an agency and (through them)...

I don't know if my input is helpful, but I personally think that doing nursing before going through medical school is a great idea. Why? Because I did it.. or sort of did. Ever since I was a kid, I said I was going to be a doctor, so naturally I was ...

I'm so sorry if I made it sound like I think the people I'm describing are stupid. I actually heartily agree - most of the time, I think they are just so involved in their own (often heavy) stresses that it is almost impossible for them to process an...

The funny thing is, I don't think she did want to! This wife CARED. She was ALWAYS there, and was extremely involved. As my husband says, I think a lot of these stories illustrate how crazy people can be in times of extreme stress. This particular l...

I never cease to be amazed by how many family members want to give vented patients water/make them talk/pull out breathing tubes because they are 'uncomfortable,' ,' etc.. But our hospital is very 'family-friendly' so we essentially never ask people ...

I have a few. Ah man, there are some crazy people. I feel like I don't remember the best ones. I work in an ICU. 1) From the patient about his visitor: "My girlfriend fell and hurt her wrist a few days ago. Do you think you could put a splint on it a...

Do you feel excited by your job as a CRNA? I know you said you like it (and in general, the CRNAs that I know love their jobs), but I absolutely love the adrenaline that I get from intense situations as a SICU nurse, and I wonder if long days in the ...

Hey everyone, I am a new grad who started in the ICU in February. I have been off orientation for about two weeks, and it's been tough. I felt relatively confident in the weeks leading up to coming off orientation (and my managers gave me great feed...

I can think of twonurses off the top of my head that I know were hospitalized for mental illness of one sort or another before they became nurses. They are both nurses now. If I know two, as a baby nurse, then there are lots. FYI, they are both great...

1) I learned how to appropriately set the sensitivity and pacing threshold on my patient's external pacemaker. (I had learned how to do this before, but never actually done it on my own patient). 2) I learned that Guillain-Barre syndrome has a risk f...

Hey everyone, So I had a patient with Guillain-barre this week, and I have a few questions. First of all, it seems that this gentleman was not a typical case as he did not present with ascending paralysis. However, he did eventually go into ARF and s...

Thanks for the response! I was still a little confused so I went and looked at some journal articles, and it looks like tachycardia is usually caused by autonomic nervous system dysfunction, while bradycardia can be caused by 1)over activity of the v...

I have a notebook too! It's the best. I actually have two -- one for drugs and one for miscellaneous information that I want to remember. Also, I didn't realize 'mid-level' was derogatory. I won't use it anymore!

icuRNmaggie, thank you so much for that advice. It is really heartening to have someone tell me that it sounds like I am where I should be -- it's so hard to tell. Your suggestion about clarifying the plan with the care team is also really helpful; i...

Letterwritingman, I agree that I think horror-stories have something to do with it. I worry about everything: am I charting enough? Am I charting appropriately? Did I chart in a way that protected me? Am I meeting the standard of care? In school, I m...

I think that both sides are correct here. There are students who complain too much because they want to be able to pass while doing a bare minimum of studying, and there are instructors who don't think that their students are capable of any critical ...

I am a new nurse and am doing an ICU "bridge program" with nurse educators at my hospital. Most recently, they said that sodium bicarbonate shouldn't be used to treat acidosis because high CO2 levels cause our respiratory drive, so if we decrease aci...

Thanks, FlyingScot, that link was so helpful! I have a feeling that this is what my instructors were trying to say but didn't. I don't want to criticize my bridge program, but it often feels as though they are saying things that aren't quite right. T...

Hey everyone, So I'm a new nurse on the SICU. I just graduated in December and I am 3 weeks into orientation. It is going well-ish (everyone says I am too hard on myself), but I worry a lot about things when I go home. I'm told that's normal. Anyway...

Oh my goodness, that is frickin' amazing. I can't wait to try that.

Thanks for the response! Again, I'm new so I think I'm having trouble picturing what you're describing! Are you saying that you connect three 3-way stopcocks together on the same lumen?

Thanks, Jamisaurus! I hadn't though about the secondary pushing the primary in and that's a great point! I do tend to find CVCs overwhelming, since there are multiple lumens and often several drugs per lumen. When checking compatibility of drugs, do...

I am a nursing student in an accelerated program and have been told by my clinical instructor that she would support my working in an ICU for my senior practicum. I have been working very hard to make this happen the entire time that I have been in s...

Thanks so much for the response! I think I definitely like to see my patients get better, which is one of the reasons I was concerned about MICU, but then again, "variety and complexity" sounds great! It's hard for me to say what I have enjoyed the m...

Hey -- anyone else applying to GU Fall of 2013? :)