SteveNNP MSN, NP

Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic)

Member

All Content by SteveNNP

  1. SteveNNP

    Advice from any NICU preceptors??

    SteveNNP replied to Shanlee79's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    My advice is to be approachable, teachable, and friendly. Listen to report, go look up labs, meds, and look at x-rays and head ultrasounds. Offer to feed babies. Offer to help out nurses other than...
  2. SteveNNP

    Starting off as a New Grad in the NICU--bad idea?

    SteveNNP replied to iDeftones's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I did NICU as a new grad, and have done some per-diem work in PICU and peds. While I had to "remember" a lot of things when working peds, since my brain had been on NICU overload for awhile, the...
  3. SteveNNP

    How often do you change clear fluids? Pressors in particular!

    SteveNNP replied to NICU_babyRN's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    My unit has had two policy changes on fluid line changes in the past 2-3 years. It's maddening for the nurses. We change all our medlines, TPN and IL q 24h. When I was staff, I used to prime my drips...
  4. SteveNNP

    Infection control overkill?

    SteveNNP replied to BabyLady's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Of course. We also get swabbed for MRSA/MSSA clones once or twice a year (during an outbreak) to see if we've picked up something from our
  5. SteveNNP

    Infection control overkill?

    SteveNNP replied to BabyLady's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I've found dirt and dead bugs in newly opened glove boxes.
  6. SteveNNP

    Question about PICCs and syringe size

    SteveNNP posted a topic in Infusion, Intravenous

    Hi all, In the last NICU I worked at, and when I trained as a PICC RN, I was always told to never use less than a 5cc syringe when administering meds or flushes through the 1.9-2fr piccs used in...
  7. SteveNNP

    Infection control overkill?

    SteveNNP replied to BabyLady's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Let's all remember that gloves are there to protect the NURSE, not the patient. Handwashing and purell protects the
  8. SteveNNP

    got "fired"

    SteveNNP replied to aerorunner80's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Been there once or twice... considered it a good thing. You don't want to get stuck primarying a baby whose parents are out to get nurses. I've gone so far as to turn down primarying requests from...
  9. SteveNNP

    Ventilator alarms

    SteveNNP replied to I'mANurse!'s topic in NICU, Neonatal

    thanks for your input. unfortunately i have never worked in a nicu that has been able to accurately monitor etco2 levels off a vent circuit. so pretty much most of my experience thus far has been at...
  10. SteveNNP

    Best Neonatal NP programs?

    SteveNNP replied to WorkofHeart8's topic in Nurse Practitioners, NP

    Your best bet is to head over to the NICU forum, where there is a sticky of pretty much every NNP program listed at the top of the page. You may want to visit a few websites and see what kind of...
  11. SteveNNP

    Any news breaking NICU care?

    SteveNNP replied to ocean waves's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Do you mean things like whole body/head cooling for HIE babies? Neonatal organ transplantation? One-lung ventilation? The EXIT
  12. SteveNNP

    Best Neonatal NP programs?

    SteveNNP replied to WorkofHeart8's topic in Nurse Practitioners, NP

    More info is needed. Where do you live? Are you willing to relocate? Do you have the 2 years minimum of
  13. SteveNNP

    NNP program reputations?

    SteveNNP replied to HappyBunnyNurse's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    A friend of mine did UABs program... she liked it a lot. She did say it was a pain setting up her own clinical sites. Something common to most online programs, and something to consider. She did pass...
  14. SteveNNP

    FNP practicing as a Neonatal NP?

    SteveNNP replied to adboehnen's topic in Nurse Practitioners, NP

    Some facilities allow FNPs to work in the NICU. Technically you can, since you are "technically" trained to care for patients across the lifespan. However... You will be hard pressed to find a NICU...
  15. SteveNNP

    Uncertain New York Hourly Wage

    SteveNNP replied to otherendeavors's topic in New York Nursing

    Please reconsider uprooting yourself and moving to the NYC area. There are no new grad jobs in NJ, and VERY few in NYC. There are dozens of threads in this forum about countless nurses (new grads +...
  16. SteveNNP

    Transitional feeding guidelines to bolus feed

    SteveNNP replied to rnaffah's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    This is how my old unit did things... and it took FOREVER for kids to reach full feeds and get their lines out. Lots of central line infections and ROS'es in that
  17. SteveNNP

    Transitional feeding guidelines to bolus feed

    SteveNNP replied to rnaffah's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We don't have a protocol. We generally try all babies at least initially on bolus feeds. If they aren't tolerated, we do continuous feeds, and/or then compress gradually over 2.5, 2, 1.5, 1hours.......
  18. SteveNNP

    Guidelines/ Requirement for one to one Nursing Care in a NICU

    SteveNNP replied to ona fofah's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Our HFOV/Jets/ECMO/cooling/postop cardiac/sick vent kids are all 1:1s until
  19. SteveNNP

    RNC Exam

    SteveNNP replied to NICU_babyRN's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    There is no "score." It's like the NCLEX, in that you must stay above the "line of passing" in all testing areas during the test to pass. The difference is that you take all 180 test
  20. SteveNNP

    Aspiration Pneumonia in Neonates

    SteveNNP replied to ilovetiggerdear's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I'm a little late to this discussion, but the first thing I though of reading the description was that the baby had some form of ductal-dependent heart disease. It was a classic presentation....
  21. SteveNNP

    Ratio?

    SteveNNP replied to NebraskaRN's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    I work in a IIIc unit in NYC. Most assignments are 2-3 babies...since we don't have many vents. You can have as many as 4 on our stepdown unit. Our admission/stabilization unit on L&D handles all...
  22. SteveNNP

    Online FNP with focus on HIV/AIDS care

    SteveNNP posted a topic in Nurse Practitioners, NP

    Hi all, Does anyone know of an online-based FNP program with a specialty focus in HIV/AIDS care? I know some programs allow you to specialize your curriculum to an area of interest, but I'm looking...
  23. SteveNNP

    Online FNP with focus on HIV/AIDS care

    SteveNNP replied to SteveNNP's topic in Nurse Practitioners, NP

    Thanks for the great info and advice, everyone! No, I'm still in love with NICU.. In fact, I'm only a few months into my new NNP role. And still loving it. I am looking ahead, I guess. My hospital...
  24. SteveNNP

    Are there PAs in the NICU?

    SteveNNP replied to AnnieOaklyRN's topic in NICU, Neonatal

    We have 2 PAs here where I work. They take the same patients as we NNPs do. They are hired under Medicine though, and we are hired under
  25. SteveNNP

    Intraventricular Hemorrhage Management Protocols

    SteveNNP posted a topic in NICU, Neonatal

    Hi all, I am in the process of developing an IVH prevention protocol for our