elthia

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All Content by elthia

  1. elthia

    Post CABG dressings (what do you use?)

    elthia replied to rickard's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    We use a type of sponge dressing that is impregnated with silver nitrate and covered with tegaderm, it is applied in the OR, and is not removed for 7-10 days. Since we have started using the silver...
  2. elthia

    made a mistake, might get fired- thoughts/advice?

    elthia replied to xariel's topic in Nursing Career

    Once the cup touched the trashcan it was contaminated. You need a refresher course in basic hospital standards of what is considered clean, dirty, contaminated, and sterile. Germs and bacteria are...
  3. elthia

    they teach us to be advocatees for patients but,,,

    elthia replied to mRpeNa's topic in General Students

    Sometimes I have given a pt medication, and then and hour later they have called for the medicine...somtimes pt's forget. Sometimes I have had pt's tell my how the evening shift nurse gave them...
  4. elthia

    Things you would like the ICU to understand

    elthia replied to I_LOVE_TRAUMA's topic in Emergency

    I am not an ED nurse, but I have friends who work in the ED at my hospital. Here an LPN is paired with 1-2 RN's, and a PCT/CNA is assigned per pod. I think there's 16 beds per pod. In theory that's...
  5. elthia

    Med Errors: Share Your Stories

    elthia replied to Ruby Vee's topic in General Nursing

    My worst, it wasn't a med error, it was an allergy error. I took over a pt at 1900, the pt literally had about 50 allergies, one of which was latex. The hospital had changed it supplier for gloves,...
  6. elthia

    Chest compressions s/p open heart

    elthia replied to mcknis's topic in CCU, Coronary, Cardiac

    We had a pt, 10 days or so post CABG, sent to the ONC floor for a previously dx cancer, he coded and the nurse doing the compressions recieved a lac from the sternal
  7. elthia

    Most disgusting thing you have witnessed or taken part of on the job?

    elthia replied to Solid Snake's topic in General Nursing

    Oozing infected diabetic ulcers from the buttocks to the ankles with black wet eschar, yellow slough and yellow-green pus, to both legs. The only good skin she had on her legs was on her kneecaps and...
  8. elthia

    Most disgusting thing you have witnessed or taken part of on the job?

    elthia replied to Solid Snake's topic in General Nursing

    This happened to me. One day I was at a restaurant and had a salad with tiny shrimp on it. Later that day I developed a terrible migraine with vomiting. Unable to get the smell of vomitus out of my...
  9. elthia

    Things you'd LOVE to be able to tell patients, and get away with it.

    elthia replied to AngelfireRN's topic in Patient, Colleague Relations

    I took care of a morbidly obese woman with a dx of borderline personality disorder. She had chronic cellulitis of both legs, had been bed bound for 5+ years, was severely histrionic, and just my luck...
  10. elthia

    What would you do in my situation? just looking for opinions.

    elthia replied to Nina2bRN's topic in General Nursing

    http://www.poison.org/prevent/battery.asp If anyone swallows a battery, this is what you should do: 1) Call the 24-hour National Button Battery Ingestion Hotline at 202-625-3333 IMMEDIATELY. Feel...
  11. elthia

    help cardiac nurses!

    elthia replied to RN75's topic in Patient Safety Issues

    :yeahthat: Normal procedure at my hospital is to hold the plavix and start the pt on a heparin gtt if anticoagulation is necessary to prevent coronary stents from occluding. However, holding the...
  12. elthia

    Changing PICC Dressings

    elthia replied to imanedrn's topic in Medical-Surgical

    http://www.statlock.com/products.html If you click the instructional poster pdf link to the Right, at the bottom of the poster it states the statlock needs to be changed q7
  13. elthia

    Things Patients Have Taught Me NOT To Do

    elthia replied to Trixxy's topic in Nursing Humor

    In many states, by law if a man is married to a woman at the time a child is born, then BY LAW he is the LEGAL father of the child, biology and DNA has nothing to do with it. Being the LEGAL father,...
  14. elthia

    kids and parents

    elthia replied to sister--*'s topic in General Nursing

    I had a 20 year old last week...I had to have her tylenol changed to elixer because she couldn't swallow pills...:banghead: If you are old enough to go off to college, drop out, total your car, get...
  15. elthia

    Co-worker hitting up the Dr.s for meds during shift?

    elthia replied to babiesX2's topic in General Nursing

    I don't ask the doctor's I work with for scripts. I have had one offer to write me a script for zofran, only because I was at work with a migraine and had had my head in a trashcan puking my guts out....
  16. elthia

    Migraines....Anyone else have 'em?

    elthia replied to AngelfireRN's topic in General Nursing

    must be something with the weather. I slept for 12-14 hours without meaning to. Always a bad sign with me, and woke up to a killer migraine. We've had horrible thunderstorms all day. Just glad I...
  17. elthia

    Peeves at work

    elthia replied to november17's topic in General Nursing

    1. lab techs that don't lower the bed after drawing blood. leaving the pt near the ceiling 2. cluttered rooms with overflowing trashcans. 3. consistently being pulled to another floor to charge...
  18. elthia

    Patients who are too lazy to open their own splenda packets

    elthia replied to FireStarterRN's topic in General Nursing

    The most annoying things to me is the 50-60 year old man who has perfect control over his arms and hands. He can cut up his own food, eat and drink from a cup no problem. But his wants his female...
  19. elthia

    Patients who are too lazy to open their own splenda packets

    elthia replied to FireStarterRN's topic in General Nursing

    We have those at work on all our floors. the call lights ring to the phones..programmable for each shift. I hate them, but at the same time some rare pt's realize you are busy when it rings over and...
  20. elthia

    Migraines....Anyone else have 'em?

    elthia replied to AngelfireRN's topic in General Nursing

    topamax has saved my life. I take it before I go to sleep. I'm also on celexa. My neurologist has me take an aleve with an axert when I feel a migraine coming on, it works, however axert does leave me...
  21. elthia

    You Know the patient is going bad when...

    elthia replied to Nurseboy1's topic in General Nursing

    When they are s/p cardiac cath, off bedrest. Ambulating fine, then say "I don't feel good". Turn pale, sweaty, fall backwards and lose bowel control. HR 20's...give me an amp of Atropine STAT!!! When...
  22. elthia

    Disturbance During Lunch/Break

    elthia replied to pagandeva2000's topic in General Nursing

    We aren't allowed to leave the hospital grounds for break if you work inpatient. We are also not allowed to tell pt's that "your nurse is at lunch." It's bad for our press gainey
  23. elthia

    IV Haldol?

    elthia replied to chenoaspirit's topic in Patient Medications

    haldol is not approved for IV administration, and can cause prolonged QT intervals, more so when given IV. Many of our cardiologists NEVER order haldol IV because of
  24. elthia

    Anyone ever seen a post-cath go AMA right off the table?

    elthia replied to merellis2009's topic in Cardiac

    I saw one go as soon as hemostasis was achieved...2 hours bedrest, and he was gone, didn't let the doors hit him on the backside before he was lighting up his cigarette. Wife was like, "it's ok, I...
  25. elthia

    Pulse ox reading on same hand during mechnical BP reading??

    elthia replied to kukukajoo's topic in General Nursing

    Too many important facts are coming up after the original post to support the story...it just sounds fishy to me. I just find it odd that the original post mentions nothing of missing lymph nodes and...