laurenD

English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary by Glenn T. Rogers They have it on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. I have this book. Not only is it a dictionary, but in the back of it, there is 30-40 pages of assessment questions and interventio...

I've always folded them in half to squeeze the air out. I don't imagine technique makes a difference a long as it's adequately compressed.

Remember ABCs...airway always comes first. If there's a plug and (s)he can't breath, suctioning on low vs high really isn't the issue. ~L

Hello all. I'm a new nurse (6 months old) in the ICU and don't have a lot of experience to draw from when it comes to the particular case I have been assigned these past few shifts. Run-down of the patient: She is 36 y/o hispanic pt, niether her nor ...

I had the same experience dutchgirl did. Dale Dubin's book is awesome. It should be required reading for nursing students IMO. ~Lauren

I took Paxil for a year and I really liked what it did for me. It was a big help emotionally. It takes like 6 weeks to feel the full effect...but I did start feeling better about a week and a half into it. As far as side effects... When I first st...

Have you considered that maybe you are just bored? It sounds like things have fallen into place pretty easily for you...maybe you need a challenge? I don't speak for everyone, I know, and I'm certainly not trying to downplay what you are saying. Pl...

As bird2 said, its hard to answer that without knowing much about the bed sore itself. Does your facility have a wound care team? Many times it just comes down to frequent dressing checks/changes. You may try using a rectal bag to corral the poop (...

If you're not sure whether you need to drink the water or not...I would opt to drink it. That way if you get there and it's not required, you can go pee. If you don't drink it and you do need it, then you'll have to reschedule. When I had my OB exa...

I have also worked at St. Luke's/Texas Heart Institute and unfortunately my experience was not as good. To clarify...the things they do there are absolutely amazing. I would not feel more comfortable being treated anywhere else. In that respect, t...

When I was pregnant, I wanted to do the cord-blood banking but didn't look into it until during my pregnancy. I don't know why I expected it to be inexpensive, but it was not. It cost around $1200-1500. I was really disappointed because we would n...

I believe the difference is in the background. NPs are nurses. PAs are not nurses, but have some other degree such as biology. I do not know the difference in the responsibilities, although I suppose I should. ~Lauren

Sorry if someone has mentioned this already... Of the rollover stories I've read, most of them seem to involve dad or a sibling rolling over the baby. I read a lot about co-sleeping when I was pregnant and was really excited about it. One of the 'r...

I work nights in the ICU. I admitted a 42 y/o man who'd had a CVA and was DT'ing. He lived at home with his parents. While assessing him, I mentioned to him that we (myself and a female coworker) would be in and out of his room all night, messing ...

There was an article about the Rapid Response Team idea in US World and News Report this past week. It's in the issue with the Top 50 Hospitals rankings.

Let me add... Having graduated school in the past year...here is the low-down on internships for new grads: Methodist, St. Luke's, Hermann, MD Anderson, Texas Children's, St. Joseph, and UTMB are the hospitals that I know have formal 12-22 week inter...

I live in Houston. As the previous poster said, we have the Texas Medical Center which includes two Level I trauma centers (Hermann Memorial and Ben Taub) Methodist Hospital (which was listed in US World and News as a top 10 hospital in neurology, a...

Just a tidbit of trivia to remind us how important turning is in prevention of ulcers... The average person respositions him/herself every 7 minutes while asleep. I tried laying still, not even moving my arms/legs. I only made it 11 minutes before I...

My school used HESI at the end of each semester so we could gauge where our weaknesses were. It was not required that we pass it (although if we made a low score we had to remediate) until the last semester during which it was used as an exit exam. ...

I started as a new grad in the ICU 6 months ago. I posted a few tips in the New Grad forum not too long ago: 1) http://www.icufaqs.org 2) There is nothing that you can do to your pt that will kill him/her...except MEDS. Use your drug guide religiou...

I worked part time during nursing school for the last 18 months. I would not have made it if I had had to work full time. I worked night shifts on Fri and Sat as a nurse tech...which was nice because a lot of the shift was quiet and I was able to d...

Ooh...oral care pet peeve: Oral care done without suctioning above the ETT/trach cuff afterward!!! All that crap builds up and breeds nasties...or if the cuff leaks they're aspirating!! We use the Sage Qcare Q4 hours, but you know it never gets done...

I completed nursing school in Texas this past December. A classmate of mine was in this same situation. He is 42 and had a DWI charge in his late 20s. He sent his paperwork to the Board of Nurse Examiners about 14 months prior to graduation and ma...

My name is Lauren. I graduated this past December and just completed my ICU internship this month. We were precepted for 16 weeks, and were on our own for the last weeks with a preceptor or resource nurse close at hand. Going into it (way back in J...