-MNC_RN-

Background: - I work in staff development and am the primary educator for two units. One is a specialty care unit, the other is its associated ICU. I am also the lead instructor for our hospital's critical care entry program. Naturally, I keep a...

Hmmm. Good point. I never thought of that (obviously). I can see how that would be the sticky spot... I definitely don't think I was wrong in trying to retain a good nurse.

My questions are: As nurses, do you think there would be any interest in this type of training for you? Yes. Do you have any difficulties or feel frustrated when you communicate with non-native English speakers? Yes. ...which is why there are many n...

Generally speaking, dialysis catheters are used for nothing else. There are always exceptions. My big question would be if he was admitted to your facility and dialysis was DCd, why leave in the line? It's a route for infection and a risk if pulled...

Yeah. That one bugs me. There's actually a reason we only take care of one to two patients and it's not because we're lazy. Instead of posting the link, I have copied what I once wrote in another post:

I don't think one can tell after 5 weeks. If you're doing things that are unsafe: problem If you're not doing the work: problem Learning slower: not a problem. The first few weeks of ICU orientation are just getting your feet wet. The next several a...

We dealt with something similar in our Trauma-neuro ICU. In our case it was decided by joint committee (physicians and nurses) to have specially trained charge RNs irrigate ventriculostomies toward the patient (we have always been able to flush them...

My first experience? I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously. I was an NA in my first job orienting to an oncology floor. My first day there, a nurse, knowing I was new, asked if I would like to help her with some post-mortem care. I did... and coul...

Some random thoughts of mine on the matter: 1. Nurses don't constantly deal with death. I've been in the field for 11 years and, from what I can remember, I've only had 8 of my patients die. And that's working in critical care and trauma. I've ce...

First born, no alcoholism, male, son of a nurse. Who knows, if you crunch the numbers enough, maybe the social worker is right. Like the statistic that a disproportionate number of medical/nursing personnel are left-handed.

In many cases you're exactly right. And in many cases, that's the point. Verbalizing what we already do--verbalizing a theory--organizes a skill/task/thinking so that it can be repeated and analyzed in a methodical manner. Consider Shoe Tying Theory...

Bingo. No, nurses at the bedside don't sit around chatting theory. They do, however, use P&Ps to guide their care. Theory and research lead to change and improvement in practice. Without theory, we would still be... - Painting besores with mola...

I lead a critical care orientation course that has been very successful over the last 8 years or so. We have a lot of variety in learning... simulation, online, case studies, etc. We do, of course, have some lectures. In enjoy teaching and do it v...

I would say yes, with some cautions. I used to work with a woman--a nurse--who was a patient educator and she was blind. Not partially, or "almost", but blind. She had a guide dog who was well known around the hospital, had one of those cool braill...

I don't lie about it... really doesn't matter anyway. The docs that I see pesonally I all work with anyway. I find it helps, since we can cut to the chase about all sorts of stuff. I've never been in a situation that I was unfamiliar with or neede...

Sounds pretty typical. In fact, my wife's undergrad grading scale (non-nursing...music, actually) was 92%+ was an A. It's becoming more and more common in colleges/universities, period.

Very true. Even more reason to have cracker jack advertising for nursing.

I would say yes and no. Nursing programs tend--tend--to be offered by not-for-profit institutions although, yes, that is changing (UoP comes to mind). Wheras MA and tech programs tend to be offered by for-profit schools. How does that matter? Tho...

There's a thread covering a lot of this topic here. I certainly don't mind answering it again but, frankly, I don't want to do all that typing. Check it out, though, it may answer quite a few questions.

EtCO2 values are looked at in relation to PaCO2 values. Remember that all numbers in critical care must have a second number or observation to validate the first. In the case of EtCO2, what matters is how it reflects the PaCO2. Take, for example, a...

The folks to answer this one would be our UK contingent. I had always thought that pinned-to-your-top nursing watches were the norm across The Pond. I always thought them a bit odd, myself. I feel naked without my wristwatch.

Glad to be of service!

To be honest, it doesn't sound too bad. I always raise my eyebrows when I get a "Fair" since I am so used to seeing "Excellent" and "Very Good". This is not to brag, but rather to say that when I do get a "Fair", I think back at the day and see wha...

get that girl a neuro check stat! i would agree with standardizing. after all, with the increase in worker mobility, it will only make things easier.

Code, to (v): 1. a patient stops life-sustaining activity; cardiac or respiratory arrest 2. to engage in life-saving activity; CPR, rescue breathing, ACLS protocol Code (n): An alert to notify a life-saving team of a critical situation ("Code Blue...