Double Dunker

I'm probably just annoyed because this hits entirely too close to home...but to talk in your introduction about having a house fire or losing a loved one and then in your article talk about your car overheating or your iPhone becoming outdated, is ra...

I guess I'm not seeing what the big deal is. You have to use hand sanitizer between patients anyway. It's just gloves. I know a lot of nurses that use gloves when giving all meds, regardless of isolation status. Many patients prefer it. I put on...

What are you interested in? If you want to circulate, you should take that job. In my city, it's hard to get into the OR, and the residency programs won't take you if you have more than 2 years of experience in any area of nursing. And don't under...

I'm a float nurse, and as such don't accumulate PTO despite being full time and benefitted. But the pay is awesome.

I once had a family member who was related to the patient by marriage, who also happened to be the chief of surgery at our sister hospital. Said chief told me he wanted me to put in an order for a bunch of labs. Nope. That's not how this works.

Aren't most of the hospital employees required to have BLS certification? If so, the assumption would be those staff members in the room at the time of arrest would begin CPR, so it is important to know. My facility doesn't use armbands, or anythin...

My hospital is always short on patient care techs at night. My hospital also has unit secretaries at night, but I don't know how common that is.

Search for heparin errors in the NICU. Lots of devastating errors to read about.

We are seeing a lot more creative pain management plans because of the nation wide shortage of narcs, and because the DEA is cutting the production of prescription narcs.

Do you have a unit educator you ask about charting?

It seems no matter where I am (I float between floors and hospitals) thete's always animosity between day and night shifts. It's unfortunate many can't see that each shift has its own unique stressors. I wonder if you see it more due to working mid...

This isn't really what you asked, but rather a medication lesson learned the hard way! If a patient is receiving meds through a g-tube or NG tube, make sure it's okay to crush the med or open the capsule. Dilute with plenty of warm water! (One pla...

I would have told the family member the patient indicated she was finished with her meal. She has no food restrictions (or outline what restrictions she did have) so feel free to offer her something.

Interestingly enough, my facility is studying whether these IV starts are more likely to infiltrate than other types. Apparently the ICU nurses were noticing a trend and so now we chart which type of IV start kit we use (some floors have alternative...

Anybody ever heard of this? I'm wondering how it's legal - whose prescribing the toradol and the "zolfran"? Mojo Hydration

I have some experience with the Nexiva. No, you can not float the catheter in with saline. I hate them.

Yep, us too. If the patient is unable to get up and get his own drink, then he's on a fluid restriction, tough cookies. If the doctor wants to lift the fluid restriction, then she can. But I can't. If the doctor had already put in the order for th...

We had a form to fill out to document a 2 person skin assessment had actually been done on admission and documented in the chart. It did actually help to make sure this was getting done so we weren't artificially dinged for "hospital aquired" press...

One of my preteen daughters used to come home from school yelling at the top of her lungs at her brother, knowing full well I was sleeping, all while complaining all I ever did was sleep all day. So I actually did just that. I made sure she didn't ...

I started off in med-surg and have since been trained in postpartum once I went to our float pool. You absolutely are NOT over reacting. The patients are completely different! I know how lost I felt going the opposite direction, and I had 3 weeks ...

Some women still menstruate when pregnant. If it was a planned csection, she wouldn't have had any contractions to push it out. Or did she insert it after the csection d/t the bleeding?

I don't understand why so many are giving the OP such a hard time. Anyone who has worked med-surg for any length of time has cared for many of these types of patients and knows how exhausting they can be, especially with Q1 hour pain meds. Being fr...

This is absolutely true. Some SNFs I'd recommend in a heartbeat based on how their patients present upon admission. Others, as soon as you hear a patient is coming from them, you know their skin is going to be a hot mess.

Someone recently updated the labels in our nutrition room. The saltine crackers were right next to the "chicken broff".

I think it can be both boring and challenging. Some days it is super tasky and list checking. But if your patient's condition is constantly deteriorating, your brain will be tired from all the assessing, evaluating, and advocating you do in a short ...