Pghfoxfan1

I believe that we do require ICU experience but, I feel that almost all of EP is learned on the job. I'm also an EP nurse and I can tell you that after 17 years of working in an open heart ICU, I was lost in EP.

You should always care about VT even when someone is paced. Granted there are some VTs which do not affect the blood pressure as much as others (RVOT VT), most will cause some bit of hypotension, causing dizziness, syncope and possible callapse. Yo...

I have worked in the EP lab since 2002. I had worked 17 years in an open heart ICU before that. The reason I mention that is because, I felt so dumb when I started working in EP! For the first 20 years of my nursing career, I prevented people from...

ALmost always trained on the job. PCU is a great start.

You may be able to rent a room in someone's house till you can get on your feet

Listen, we are all nurses here. And we KNOW that MANY of the patients in the hospital don't need to be there. For starter, all patients that CAN be discharged SHOULD be, and be sent home early enough that they can also protect themselves. Heck, it...

Remember a few things. You are there to do your best to help the patient...but, don't blame yourself, sometimes people die. Sometimes families can be a pain in the butt but, think of what they are feeling and going through with their loved one in ...

Placing a magnet over a pacer will make it pace asynchronously. (While placing a magnet over an ICD will ONLY turn off tachy therapies and do NOTHING to pacing) If prior to the code blue, the patient's pacer had "failure to sense", placing a magnet o...

Bi V pacing can help increase EF but not always instantly. The IABP is a great tool. Not all hospitals have the Impella . I agree with Dobutrex for it's inotropic properties. Epi will vaso constrict increasing after load. Primacor Ntg and Nipri...

Any "seasoned" nurses remember doing Endocardio viability ratios "EVR's" back in the "olden days" to wean IABPs? Oh, the good old days...

I worked with an LPN in an open heart ICU. We had to do her IV meds, but she did everything else. BTW, some of the best nurses I ever worked with were LPNs. And the best nurses I ever worked with were LPNs before becoming RNs.

Been a nurse 35 years. I have always thought that touch was very very important. That is the reason I learned Reiki. I am now a Reiki Master. I also believe that essential oils have their place in medicine. I am only beginning to learn and unde...

Great post! Thank you! I also want to say that 0 silk is used when you want to hold something in place forever, for example a pacemaker/ICD tied to the chest muscle, and it's leads. You wouldn't want these sutures to absorb/disappear in time because ...

I work in an EP lab where we place ICD's and Pacemakers. I would like to know from an OR nurse what we need to document. I think we OVER document. Of course we document, in room times, supplies and procedures, "Time out". What I don't know is do ...

When I saw what the OR documents (hardly anything), I questioned that we are documenting way too much.

I do too! Why do nurses do this? Are we covering our asses?

A little too much pressure could have been put around your carotids. I agree with Vagal response

Our CTICU has the Beacon award and now our hospital is trying for Magnet. I always say, we already DO great work, now it is time to write it all down to make it "official". I have a friend who left one Magnet hospital and would only take another jo...

They are rarely used anymore in our CTICU.

Where I work, the CRNA's refuse to witness Anesthesia Consents. Where is it written where this is not allowed?

I work in an EP lab where we place ICD's and Pacemakers. I would like to know what we need to document. I think we OVER document. Of course we document, in room times, supplies and procedures, "Time out". What I don't know is, do we have to document ...

What are nurses allowed to do with fluoroscopy? I was told only an RT or someone certified in, could operate fluoro. Can an RN pan, move RAO and LAO? Does a RT have to be in the lab on IR or Cath Lab or EP Lab. I have seen all RN labs, and wonde...