fitzfan82

Way to stick up for your pt's safety. I admire that.

I really don't understand why people love Dilaudid so much. I've had it twice postoperatively and it made me so nauseous and dizzy I would have almost rather have the pain. That's why I'm the nurse everyone hates who pushes it as slow as possible (and flushes slow too)... I don't need vomit everywhere!

Fun. That's when I suck up to my techs.

I think in general spouses should be an allowance. I was hospitalized with DKA last winter and the ER triage nurse made my husband wait and told him "because I might still be getting changed". Um, I think he's seen it . DKA is scary AF, I wanted my husband there. And Hipaa? Again, he knows, and should know, everything about my condition. I may need to write this into my living will. Previously I worked hospice inpatient - thst could get out of hand but we tolerated it, to a point. I can see asking siblings, friends, cousins, to leave, but not spouses.

I went from an ambulatory/same day surgery PACU to a PACU in the main OR of a level 1 trauma center. It was a bug adjustment in terms of pace, pt load, acuity, etc. but I found it worth it and really enjoyable.

What is the most ridiculous med order you've seen written by a doc in the ER (either an ER doc or an attending planning to admit his pt)? I had a a doc order 2 MG of Dilaudid IVPwith a 2nd dose in 30 min for a broken (mildly) arm. I thought that was a lot...pt was going home, not admitted for surgery or anything.

Is this Stroger (CCH),in Chicago...?

In the PACU, unless the patient has a PCA we push all the narcotics. Between them not being fully stable (and having to switch dosages and meds around a bit) and us being right at the bedside anyway, its not really a problem.

Thanks. The flareup is subsiding slowly, and I am on the list to schedule surgery with one of three top Drs in the nation who treat this rare condition, I just got really scared that night when the pain intensified so sharply and I lost feeling in my thigh. But I was afraid to go to the ER even though I was really scared. But it turned out. Pray that I get my surgery scheduled within the month!

Yeah, we have a Phase 2 recovery area, so when the pt is stable (like when an inpatient would be dc to the floor) they go there to make sure they can pee, hold down food, pain is controlled, etc. It does take most of them a long time to pee. After a certain time phase 2 closes up and those pts are held in the PACU. Some lap hysterectomy end up back here...definitely would have been better to give them a room.

I also can only take Tylenol, not NSAIDS because I take another medication that interacts. They also did give me some valium IV.

I jdischargeant that it was sad an RN has to be scared to go to the ER because of the staff attitudes. I don't expect to get in faster because I'm a nurse, I never even told them that I was. Actually when I went I was given a stat MRI due to the fact that the cyst on my spinal cord is filled with CSF and the intensity of the pain combined with the loss of sensation on one leg made them weary of a potential rupture or need for immediate surged on it. I was put in the main ER (not fast track) and given IV fluids as I had eaten in over a day, and am diabetic, along with IV Dilaudid after they reviewed the previous and new MRIs. As i said, I would never go to the ER for just pain, but with the type of condition I have, combined with being diabetic, they told me I was smart to go in. If CSF leaks into your body, it can become very serious, even life threatening. The sudden onset of new, intractable pain with other symptoms signal to me that something has changed. After paging my doctor through his office more than once. I had to do something. Not to mention that as a diabetic, my blood sugar levels were all over the place. On discharge, my dx was not 'back pain' but symptomatic sacral meningeal cyst.

Yeah, if they're still vomiting like crazy and come in needing IV Zofran, clearly the THC isn't actually helping.

Oh boy, I just read this after posting about how I'm scared to go to the ER with my (suddenly severe, intractable) chronic pain (as well as neuro symptoms) because I'm afraid of being labeled and dismissed. I do have my MRIs on file with this hospital which shows my condition and the severity, but I'm still nervous. That's sad, when a nurse is scared to go to the ER...

Thanks. I guess it is quite a long time. I haven't been in the ER the entire time, I currently float between ER and PACU, but still. I appreciate the input :)