Question for those who did watch ER?

Absolutely not!!! That was a horrible,horrible show on a NICU!!!

Yeah I mean I kind of thought so too. I wanted to hear everyone else's opinion. Thanks

Oh, that show was just horrible! I have to say that they came closesr than I thought they would, though.

I know nothing about NICU other than it exists and Thank God someone knows how to do it. I guess they were right that primies go there after delivery, what did they get right and wrong?

yes....that's exactly what i was wondering. i am considering working nicu someday and just want to know more about daily life. is it always busy like that? do you have time to just take are of your patients without constantly running in circles doing procedures and running them to or and back? lol. i would assume it's always stressful and can be very sad, but didn't think it would be hectic like that all the time. another question: how much time do you spend suggesting to the families to go home and rest? is that something you usually say to the families or do the doctors tell them? i bet that would get old really fast. other than the obvious...too healthy of babies being shown...what else was unrealistic? just looking for more information. thanks! :)

No, Babynurse2B, it's not always that busy. Of course it CAN get like that, but there are also lots of times when you can just calmly give your pt care or talk with a family or even sometimes cuddle a big, term crybaby. That kind of busyness is usually when there's a sick admission or a baby trying to crash.

It's not very often that you have to rush a baby to the OR. The baby at the end that was dying because of the overwhelming NEC would not have been moving and kicking or looking at all healthy when he was given to parents to hold.

I don't find my workdays very stressful. Taking care of 2 preemies that are stable for the most part is far less stressful than running up and down the hallway taking care of 8 adult med-surg pts. Yuck.

Most families don't have to be told to go home and sleep. They usually fall into a routine of visiting every evening or every afternoon just in time to feed their baby and then leaving at a certain time or something. If their baby is in danger of dying overnight we can usually find some sort of room for them to stay in. And if we did have to tell the parents to go home and get some rest that would most likely be the nurses. The nurses usually know a lot more about the goings-on of situations than the doctors.

I didn't like how nasty the staff was to Abby and Neela. Obviously that's to add to drama of the show but it also gives the impression that NICU nurses are nasty princesses.

The ECMO thing was unrealisitic. It's never a just "oh, well okay then let's just try this" kind of decision.

The babies all looked too healthy and big. They should've gotten more pale, sick-looking mannequins and save the real babies for playing the parts of the ready-to-go-home babies.

They had big babies in isolettes... not very likely unless on phototherapy. They made reference to going to a 34-wk meconium delivery... mec deliveries are almost always term or post-term babies. They talked about a "term delivery" (I think it was the forceps one?) where it was a 35-weeker... that's not "term."

What really had me yelling at the TV was the LP on the big term baby at the end. No way! The baby was calm and looking around. LP's are among our most barbaric procedures IMHO and you have to squish the baby into a fetal position and hold it with all your strength while the baby fights you with all his might. And champagne taps are rare enough that I doubt a med student would do it.

There were other little things that I don't quite recall....

I missed some of it, but were'nt the putting that three day old term kid with the CCAM on prostiglandins???? Ummm, wouldn't his PDA be closed by now????

And the forcepts, the baby was out and it looked like they were pulling the kids head with them!

And what kinda of L&D doesn't call for a preeemie twin delivery? It seems like they did give them a heads up on anything there!

Very unrealistic! I shouldn't have watched. Curiosity killed the nurse!

I saw one of the most basic nursing procedures royally screwed up on this past ER, while Abby is in the NICU and is using her stethoscope to listen to a baby...do you think it may have helped if she actually had put the ear piece in her ear?? It wasn't...it was on the Pinna (sp?) area! Come on if they can't get that basic concept down...no telling how many other things were wrong....of course I still watch the show...it's my fave!

I like ER too but rarely get to watch TV anymore. The gripe I have about medical shows is the little inconsistencies I pick up on. Maybe I am too sensitive but it bugs me when TV nurses walk away from the bedside of a seizure pt and leave the rails down. Or the O2 tubing disappears under the pillow and is never seen again. Or the IV is taped so it appears that the angiocath is facing the wrong direction. Or the nurse is wearing high heels and spends all her time at the desk with the doctor. Thank God TV medical shows have come a long ways!

I didn't like how nasty the staff was to Abby and Neela. Obviously that's to add to drama of the show but it also gives the impression that NICU nurses are nasty princesses.

Did you ever notice that WHENEVER they go to another unit on ER, the nurses are nasty, lazy, etc. There was an episode (the one where Romano died) when Kovac and the new nurse were in the ICU and that lazy, ignorant ICU nurse wouldn't help with anything.

Also, found it funny how the Med. Students were telling the nurse(s) what needs to be done like they were experts.

I did bawl like crazy though when the parents were holding the dying "extremely healthy looking" baby.

As long as I watch to be entertained rather than informed.