susumarie

This can be seen in dehydration.

32yrs old & RN for 10 yrs

Yes .. I would have done the same thing.

I work nights (7pm-8am) on a med-surg/oncology floor. Vitals are taken q8hrs (always look at your pts trends); 0600-1400-2200. I give the night meds at 9-10pm & you must always take and/or find out from the PCA what the pts vitals are before giving a BP/HR med. At 530-6am if the BP/HR is very high or very low I will do something about it at that time, re-check it & endorse it. The morning RNs look at the 0600 vitals & if a pt has a BP/HR med they take their pts vitals again before giving the med.

Amen to that !!! lol! :):)

Wash hands and apply clean gloves. Remove old dressing carefully; hold the cannula hub with you non dominate hand. Assess your insertion site. Perform hand hygiene and open dressing kit in a sterile manner. Most kits have all the supplies in them including hand sanitizer. Apply sterile gloves and set up your site. Clean site with antimicrobial swab. Hold the cannula with your non dominate hand and clean with your dominate hand. Allow to fully dry - do not blow on it (you should be wearing a mask) and do not fan the site dry either. Redress the site. Label appropriately.

I work med-surg oncology .. from 7-11pm I am assigned 4-6 pts & 11-730am I pick up more .. so average 8-10 patients .. depending on the census + staffing (& budget..)

You should leave this place ASAP. Not every place is like this. Maybe you would be happier somewhere else. Try applying to hospitals?

Yes the risk does increase, for example if IVF is running and the RN disconnects the fluids to draw blood, the sterile barrier is broken.. Thus placing the patient at risk. It is important to scrub the hub very well when drawing blood from a central line. PICC lines are usually good for 3-6 months.

Medical Oncology ... day & eve 1:4-6 with 2-3 tech's and nights 1:8-10 with 1-2 tech's

If you move to Med-Surg you will be busy. You do not necessarily have to get a pay cut. You can ask your manager/supervisor for full time hrs; one extra day a week is easy to get and also you will get paid much more for working nights. One more & most important thing to think about is switching to nights because it is not for everyone... but then again if you hate it you can switch in a year to a day position. Go for it!

Medical Oncology.. Days 1:4/5 with 2-3 techs.. Eve 1:5/6 with 2-3 techs .. Night 1:8/10 with 1-2 techs