veronica butterfly ADN, RN

Wow, sounds like all of you are perfect nurses, have perfect shifts, perfect staffing, perfect policies on overtime... Of course, it's not good nursing to leave someone lying in poop or to pass on a sh*tty job to oncoming staff, but everyone is rai...

I've been Med/Surg for 6 years and change my plan of attack daily and depending on the patients. Every day on Med/Surg is so different and I really rely on my intuition. This last weekend I had two heavy pts and two "easy" pts. I knew the nursing ...

12 hour day shifts are KILLER! (I just got home from one!). Day shifts are invaluable for experience and learning though, I hope you try and hang in there for awhile. It will get better, I promise!!

Hang in there, Bonnie! Med/Surg days feel crazy to everyone and it sounds completely normal how you're feeling. Keep in touch with your manager about how she thinks you're doing, or if you had a preceptor, can you get support from them or have them...

I use vertical columns, 4 to a page, double-sided so 8 total. The vertical makes sense to me... I have Room _____ Pt Name_________ age_________Doc________ Admit date_____ Code_______ Dx_____________ allergies____ PMH________________ BS times/ins...

When doing a weekly dressing change to a port that is being continuously infused, do you change the huber needle? Our procedure says we are supposed to, but none of our nurses concur. Are we just squeamish and none of us like poking a new needle in...

Be sure to use the resources around you, respiratory therapy, charge nurse, and your coworkers. If you are having a gut feeling that someone isn't doing well, have someone come and take a look at your pt. When I was a new nurse, I thought I had to ...

I saw this show too. She talked about how depressed she was and at times she didn't have much desire to keep living. She is on public assistance and the medications make her feel sick, she doesn't have much stamina or energy. And she put her boyfr...

Hello! I am a med/surg nurse and a mom to a 14 year profoundly developmentally delayed boy who has intractable seizures (lennox gaustalt). He is not able to walk, but can sit up. Spends much of his day on a very padded futon on the floor or in his...

I think you've got to trust your gut. Is there one area that appeals to you? or that you understand more? If you don't feel any 'pulling' yet, maybe you need to stay put where you are until something tugs at you. I've been med/surg for 4 years. ...

Our Med/Surg floor at a regional medical center has always had telemetry patients. When I first starting working there 4 yrs ago, the RN was not involved really. We had these pts with heart monitors and we had no idea what it meant. The ICU huc/tech...

For pain... Dilaudid, morphine, percoset, toradol for GI... protonix, prilosec, pepcid B/P...atenolol, HCTZ for nausea.... zofran, inapsine, phenergan insulins.... glargine, regular, novolog Good Luck!!

At your facilities, do you always need a doctor's order to be able to draw blood from picc lines or portacaths? We do at mine, and often when someone is admitted to the hospital, that order is overlooked. This poor pt who has a picc or a port then e...

Yes we take the cap off and draw out blood with a luer lock syringe that fits perfectly on the picc hub.

Depending on what is going on, I adjust my 'technique'... I usually start gently, but if I am working on getting clots or sludge out, I usually have to irrigate a little more aggressively. If the need to irrigate is there, you probably have to work a...

Are there any areas you are particularly interested in? Otherwise, telemetry/cardiac units, oncology, or emergency department if they will take interns. Those would be departments where you'd see a fair amount of variety.

Our main general surgeon always wants us to give the sub-q heparin... She is smart as a whip and wonderful doc, however, I always document that I spoke to her and she wants the heparin given. ALWAYS makes me nervous...

What is the thought that normal saline would cause sediment or crystallization when it is completely isotonic? It's the same as body fluid salinity.

Wow, not sure about the billing, that's a great question. And no, we do not have doctors on the floor on evenings and nights. We just have to page them... I am union too, that's also a good point. I am hopeful that our hospital will do more inpt c...

I work at a small hospital on a med/surg unit that takes all sorts of patients. We have an outpatient Cancer Center attached to the hospital and we occasionally get their patients overnight for dehydration, n & v, or blood transfusions. We also...

One of my first patients after I came off orientation as a new RN. "fractured penis" No bones you say? That's what I said. Guess this guy woke up with his morning maleness and rolled over on it, busted the main blood vessel in it. Ouch.

For me, a 2 year degree at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Metro State is on the same campus, it's sort of a working adult college and they offer a nice BSN program that you can transition to easily. Great town! Normandale Community Co...

Thank you, that info does help!

Do any of you administer chemotherapy on your general med/surg floor? My hospital is hoping to certify some of us so that we can start giving chemo. But from what very little I've learned so far, it seems like it won't be safe to do in such a crazy...

Thanks for your replies. I think it can be done but everybody has to be really sharp and on the ball, which IS difficult on med/surg. We have so many new grads (I was 2 years ago), and it takes you awhile until you can notice all the details that n...