smf0903

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All Content by smf0903

  1. smf0903

    Nurses' Attitudes Towards End of Life Care Research

    smf0903 replied to Tboland88's topic in Hospice, Palliative

    I started the survey but ended up not finishing because the questions are too vague for this topic. I found myself putting "neither agree nor disagree" for most because the situations/questions are...
  2. smf0903

    Weird actions that are out of nursing scope

    smf0903 replied to AriRN36's topic in General Nursing

    Patients look at me like I have a horn growing out of my forehead when I tell them I can't clip their toenails. You all know the hideousness of some of those babies!! Can't do it and I am A-OK with...
  3. smf0903

    team nursing in acute care

    smf0903 replied to medsurg4ever's topic in General Nursing

    I'm with Sour Lemon. We tried it as well (on Tele med surg unit) and it sucked big time. We had 2 Rns with 10 patients. THE powers that be wanted it as one RN did assessments and the other RN passed...
  4. smf0903

    What made your jaw drop

    smf0903 replied to DextersDisciple's topic in General Nursing

    Mine was an end-of-life patient (but still full code) who was heavily sedated, on a LOT of pain medication, and intubated. Family wanted them "woken up and the tube taken out" so that they could...
  5. smf0903

    What made your jaw drop

    smf0903 replied to DextersDisciple's topic in General Nursing

    Oh my
  6. smf0903

    What made your jaw drop

    smf0903 replied to DextersDisciple's topic in General Nursing

    Yes! We were on a nationwide shortage of morphine, so our facility substitutes with dilaudid. The waste was ridiculous with a capital "r". We were wasting 3/4 of a vial of it at a time because they're...
  7. smf0903

    What made your jaw drop

    smf0903 replied to DextersDisciple's topic in General Nursing

    I have yet to see dosing at our facility higher than 1mg/hr. I could imagine scenarios with higher dosing but for relatively opioid-naive populations I can also see that dosing heading them to the...
  8. smf0903

    What made your jaw drop

    smf0903 replied to DextersDisciple's topic in General Nursing

    Any friend/family member/Joe Shmoe from off the street who got caught pressing PCA button on my patient would be kicked out of the hospital. We have a ginormous obscenely-colored sign on our PCAs that...
  9. smf0903

    Starting in ICU next week with no critical care experience!!

    smf0903 replied to homieggg's topic in General Nursing

    You will feel almost like a brand new nurse and I think that's pretty normal :) I moved to ICU last year and that was exactly how I felt. It's like moving to any other new area, there's going to be a...
  10. smf0903

    Refeeding syndrome

    smf0903 replied to Mdtrain's topic in General Nursing

    Refeeding syndrome was a huge issue after WWII with concentration camp survivors and POWs. Here's a link to an article that discusses the electrolyte and fluid shifts along with hormonal changes....
  11. smf0903

    What kind of nurses have to suction patients?

    smf0903 replied to Maya331's topic in United Kingdom

    I suctioned someone only once in two years on a med-Surg floor. Now I'm ICU and suction all the time. A lot of nurses that I know hate to suction...there's something about mucus I consider myself...
  12. smf0903

    Secondary IV infusions

    smf0903 replied to eiwneon's topic in General Nursing

    I work nights and we don't have pharmacy in house during night shift so we mix a lot of our meds. The only thing we can't mix is potassium. Some things have mini bags that we can attach the vial right...
  13. smf0903

    I miss The Commuter!

    smf0903 replied to Emergent's topic in General Nursing

    Another one I miss is í ¼í¾¶in my ❤️. S/he (I always thought of them as a guy for some reason but have no idea whether they were a guy or gal LOL) always had such great posts. I loved...
  14. smf0903

    Lowest bicarb on abg

    smf0903 replied to mpilkington's topic in MICU, SICU

    So far the lowest I've seen is 5 mEq/L. Patient died about 3 days after getting to the
  15. smf0903

    Crap! Am I a crusty old bat nurse?? Carrying pens...

    smf0903 replied to klone's topic in General Nursing

    Our nurse manager just gave each of us a four-color pen that also has a pencil in it for Nurses' week. Best gift ever
  16. smf0903

    Medical Gloves Survey

    smf0903 replied to dpreece1's topic in General Nursing

    Do you have a preference for a particular glove material? (if so, why?) ...we just switched from vinyl to nitrile gloves. They are fantastic! They fit more snugly, feel thinner, and tape doesn't stick...
  17. smf0903

    Pre-ICU Jitters

    smf0903 replied to mattb1989's topic in General Students

    Congrats on the externship opportunity! I hope it is a wonderful experience for you :) Just off the top of my head I'd say definitely try to see and experience as much as possible (I know that sounds...
  18. smf0903

    ICU/SDU floor ratios?

    smf0903 replied to cle3221's topic in Critical Care

    We're similar (small hospital, ICU and patients comparable to SDU) and we are 2:1 usually. Every once in a while we have 1:1
  19. smf0903

    Crap! Am I a crusty old bat nurse?? Carrying pens...

    smf0903 replied to klone's topic in General Nursing

    Um, YES! I carry 2 of these and a pencil.
  20. smf0903

    The ANA is worthless, looks down on floor nurses, don't join!

    smf0903 replied to DannyBoy8's topic in General Nursing

    ...
  21. smf0903

    Tele strips in ICU

    smf0903 replied to Jaenic's topic in Critical Care

    WE print Q4h and with any change. We chart rhythms every Q2h but don't print the one between the four hour strip. We're a 10-bed unit. Regular telemetry out of the ICU is centrally
  22. smf0903

    What's your best catch?

    smf0903 replied to beekee's topic in General Nursing

    Thanks! I couldn't remember the exact quote :) We recently had a toddler in our area die and a sibling nearly die after getting into the grandparents' bp meds. Very sad
  23. smf0903

    What's your best catch?

    smf0903 replied to beekee's topic in General Nursing

    I've always heard it as you hear the hooves, sounds like a horse, assume it's a horse. When you actually turn around and investigate, low and behold it's a zebra. My best catch was during psych...
  24. smf0903

    Experienced RN/New to ICU...Help!

    smf0903 replied to ZSimzNeuroNurse's topic in General Nursing

    I went from a med-surg/tele unit to ICU about a year ago. I can thoroughly understand the feeling like starting over/new nurse again feeling. Although I've come a long way, I still feel like there are...
  25. smf0903

    Medication administration confusion???

    smf0903 replied to Mike DBD's topic in General Nursing

    I don't consider it lack of trust or confidence in my co-workers, I consider it good practice. On the flip side, I would never ask another nurse to give a med I drew up (except in a code situation,...