coco317

I love the prismaflex. Everything is color coded and the machine has step by step instructions with color coded illustration for set up and any alarm troubleshooting.

If your hospital does not have a walking report element to shift change, I would get in the habit of going into your room and meeting the patient/family and checking your lines and placement of suction, etc. (do this with the nurse from previous shif...

IABP always 1:1. Fresh open hearts are 1:1 usually until the next morning when the swan is removed. Sometimes they are 1:1 longer if they are unstable.

My advice is to get your kardex/report sheet organized in a way that facilitates your workflow most efficiently. The information you will want to have at your fingertips is probably going to be different than when you were on medsurg. I always get t...

I applied for basically every open position at the hospital I'm currently employed. I did my preceptorship in a CVICU so I definitely wanted that unit or another ICU or tele floor. On my initial phone interview it came up that I applied for every op...

On exceptionally bad nights or to celebrate a birthday or someone's last shift we will go to the bar after work for a drink. The bar is packed with hospital workers every time we've gone. I've only been 3 times in about 1.5 years but its soo much fun...

In my experience if I'm charting what another nurse is doing I state in my charting "J. Doe, RN applying manual pressure to right groin" during a sheath pull. I would imagine its the same way charting meds on a flow sheet. " 1mg versed iv push admini...

Sounds like you're a great fit for an icu setting! My hospital is in the process of switching to meditech 6.0 with the point and click interface. We have a recall feature (an actual button that reads recall) to replace the f5.

I worked as a STNA at age 17 in the Cleveland area. Just depends on the employer!

Talk to the nurse manager in the icu and let them know you are interested. Try and see if you can set up a shadow experience with an experienced nurse if you're hesitant to transfer. You sound like you would be a good fit and it's normal to be nervo...

I work in a combined ICU /step down. Our posted visiting hours are 11-2 and 5-8. Exceptions for patients going for surgery or an invasive procedure. Limit 2 and no one under the age of 12. Unfortunately, it seems the only ones to follow the rules ar...

It could be a number of other factors as well. It sounds like your charge nurse doesn't want to set you up for failure. He/she may be considering the acuity of the patients on the floor vs how many seasoned nurses and newer nurses are staffed. My ad...

Gotta keep calm in any ICU setting! :)

In the area where you list your skills I would say "managing and titrating gtts" and during your interview they will ask what gtts you've managed.

When we have a positive d dimer there's a message that auto populates stating clinical correlation recommended.

I instruct them to suck in, take rests, coughing is good, keep the little bobber in between the arrows ( I call it the strike zone for those into baseball- that works well with men haha). I then throw out incentives : this will help you get off of o...

Trying listening to a meditation recording. "Meditation oasis" is a free podcast I downloaded on my phone. It usually does the trick in de-stressing me and knocking me out haha. I will also take melatonin 3-5 mg as needed as a sleep aide. It's over t...

In my personal experience with codes in the hospital, the family is called in because we don't know if they will continue to code again and again during the night. If the outlook for the patient is looking grim the physician will usually discuss it w...

My hospital does this and it's proven to be very beneficial to our patients and has brought our average door to balloon time down -- our record is 9 minutes! We call it a 'Code STEMI' - it's paged overhead. Cath lab is paged in from home during off ...

I've been working in a CVICU as a new grad for a little over a year now. Have a good relationship with your manager and preceptors with an open and honest line of communication. You need to voice your needs and try to get a wide variety of patients d...

My nursing school utilized ATI practice testing to prepare us for the NCLEX. (If you're not familiar it's online testing designed to simulate the NCLEX test) I used these practice tests to gauge my knowledge in the different care areas and then brush...

At my hospital we hold manual pressure in the groin for 25-30 minutes or longer until hemostasis has occurred. We always have a second RN in the room (or occasional our PCA) to document q5 vs and check the pedal pulse and groin. If a hematoma is fo...

I would have expected someone to consult an EP doc for possible pacemaker insertion. With BPs that low you have to worry about all of his vital organs being perfused even if he is awake and alert.

I work in a CVICU (which is half step down) and we rarely give anyone a water pitcher. Our pts are strict I and O's and most are on a fluid restriction. We use a new styrofoam cup every time someone needs a drink. So wasteful.

I did my preceptorship in the CVICU and I actually got hired on the unit as a brand new RN after I took my boards. I was in contact via email with the nurse manager before I started my preceptorship. I just asked her what drips were most commonly us...