smf0903

Same here. I have also asked how they are planning on doing this (**insert cricket chirps here**)

We used to have a few people do this, look up their patient info prior to clocking in. Legal put the kabosh on that saying it was technically a HIPAA violation as you are not in the chart clocked in as those patients’ assigned nurse.

We had a 90+-year-old come in for knee pain. Labs came back with hgb in low 4. No symptoms, she only came in for the knee pain because she couldn’t walk out to get her mail or something, which was very off for her as she was incredibly active!

It really depends on the facility. Where I work, a new grad has zero place being in the ICU for a number of reasons: orientation is way too short (maybe 6 weeks), the support staff can be literally non-existent on shifts as we have many supervisors and charge nurses who have never worked ICU, some of our docs like to dump off hot messes of patients, and there are many times it’s just you and an aid in the unit. This is a setup for disaster for a new grad. Now, if you have a facility that does a superb job of orienting and has a great support staff then I say go for it.

I’m sorry but that nurse was out of line chastising you in front of the patient, groggy or not. Issues should be taken up outside of the patient’s room. It’s completely unprofessional. That being said, sounds like your patient was *maybe* a bit dry. Yes she has fluids going but 75/hr is 900mL in a shift (give or take with antibiotics and any PO intake...which sounds like PO intake was pretty non-existent). You said she had at least 2 liters out for previous shift, sounds like a lot of fluid loss with the diarrhea. And sorry, you can’t run a c-diff if your patient didn’t poop for ya ?‍♀️ No two ways around that one LOL I wouldn’t sweat it. We have a lot of patients who don’t pee during our shift (nights) or go all night and then pee like the dam burst. People tend to look at their 12-hour slice of the pie without taking into account the full picture and/or trends. Sure you could have bladder scanned her, but honestly I don’t think I would have been alarmed given the scenario you described. Next time that nurse tries to pull something like that in front of the patient tell her you’ll discuss it further outside of the room. Sounds to me like you did just fine, don’t let people treat you like that.

We have a protocol in place and it works great for us. There are of course, times when there is deviation from the protocol but ours is pretty thorough in addressing most situations (like potassium variances and quick drops in glucose levels). We have one physician who will always, ALWAYS put a diet order in ? We (the RNs) will only give ice chips no matter what the diet order says.

When we have contract we are paid overtime for anything over 40hrs/week. A lot of people space out their contract days, but I always butt mine together so I can get the most bang for my buck ?

Same here.

Were antibiotics started?

Aren’t people fun ? We recently had this happen with a nurse during a code situation. Literally the patient’s family asking how someone got to be in their position...during the code ? The family stated how much better they felt after one of the older nurses came I to the room. (If they only knew how little help the older nurse would be when tshtf) Just keep on doing what you’re doing...your work will speak for itself ❤️

Liquid potassium, bleach wipes, and we have this awesome-smelling no rinse wash that we use. Housekeeping also uses some vinegar-smelling concoction on some of the rooms and I love the smell of vinegar LOL.

Apparently this is coming from above our manager and she doesn’t agree with it. But they’re going to do what administration forces/tells them to do. Our unit is set up weird so even our supply room is outside of the unit. Technically, we can’t go grab a snack for a diabetic or a sheet from the supply room without leaving the unit. The nurses at the other end of the hall are WAY down the hall and even if we screamed for help they probably wouldn’t hear us. As a temporary thing I think everyone is going to refuse the assignment if there’s not another person back there. We’d rather lose our job than put a patient or ourselves in danger.

Hey all! I am hoping someone can guide me in the right direction regarding safety policies. I work in a 10-bed ICU. Administration is trying to implement a 1 RN in the unit unless there are more than 2 patients. What I mean is 1 RN and that’s it. No aide, no other human body back in the unit. I understand not paying a second RN be back in the unit but having literally no one else is absurd in my mind. Number 1, there is no one to watch monitors if I would be in a room with a patient. Number 2, we get combative alcohol withdrawals/overdoses. We have had nurses assaulted by other staff (I won’t go into that here but suffice to say it was not pretty). Irate family members, I can name a hundred scenarios in which having a lone staff member is unsafe. Administration does not get this. We have one charge nurse that covers the unit and 3 med surg floors, so they can’t possibly be at our beck and call. The charge nurse is also the medication nurse for caths if we have a STEMI, so in essence they can be off the floors for a couple of hours if we have a STEMI roll in. We don’t have nighttime pharmacy so we are mixing our own gtts and overriding non-profiled medications, so we would literally have to call to have someone come back to witness a controlled med that hasn't been profiled yet by pharmacy (wastes as well). We can go literally hours in the unit without seeing another employee. I don’t fault the charge or supervisor for this at all, they run their butts off every shift. I just don’t see how putting 1 RN in a closed-off unit is safe by any stretch of the imagination. I already told my husband that if they implement this he can expect me to lose my job because I will refuse to clock in. But there are people working there that don’t have that luxury—this job is not our primary source of income, most people working the unit this IS their income. It really ticks me off that our administrators don’t seem to have even the little sense that God gave an ant. In my eyes, this is a train wreck waiting for a time to happen. Any advice? Thoughts? Directions in which I can get basic safety requirements? I’m in Ohio. I’m trying to find something to help us plead our case. (And before you ask, yes I have applications out at other facilities.) I appreciate your input! ❤️?

Our facility has a 10-bed ICU and around 60 (?) med surg beds. We have one charge nurse to cover for all of that. Not to mention that we have no pharmacy to profile meds after 10 during the week and 3pm on weekends (don’t get me started ?) so the charge nurse pulls/overrides all meds (except for us in the unit, we pull our own stuff). The charge nurse only takes patients when absolutely necessary, it’s not a norm by any means.

LOL Davey ? This post made me smile...my daughter has high-functioning autism and had severe echolalia as a child. It made it challenging when we were trying to figure out if she knew how to read because she could recite a kid’s-sized book from memory after hearing it only once. That kid’s brain was like a vault, if she heard it once it was in there!