I will be starting NS in the Fall and do not currently work in the healthcare industry so I am not sure what some of the lingo means in this forum. Can someone translate these words?
Med/surg unit - what kind of patients would you see in this unit?
Telemetry -
I know there was more but right now those are the only two I can think of. I see them so frequently on the boards but not real sure what they mean exactly. Most of the other units are self expanatory.
Personal digital assistant, aka Palm Pilot. It's an electronic pocket organizer. You've got a calendar on there, an address book for your contacts, games, and different programs are available for download. For example, I put my Neofax (NICU drug book) on mine so I don't have to worry about remembering to bring an extra book.
Thanks, Eric, for that explanation--I've heard of palm pilots but never knew what they were---I'm a little old-fashioned when it comes to these electronic gadgets!:)
Telemetry is continuous EKG monitoring. Electrodes are attached to the patient's chests and attached to a trasmitting box about the size of a transitor radio which the patient must carry with them at all times. This box transmits a continuous signal to a receiver that records the patients real time EKG on a screen. Someone is designated to watch the EKG tracings that are coming across the telemetry monitors at all times so an arrhythmia can be detected and treated immediately. All nurses who work on telemetry units must know how to read an EKG and determine what the various rhythms are.
Thanks for the explanation. I now realize that I was not hooked up to telemetry when I was in the Critical Care Unit. Instead, I was tethered to the monitor with a cable.
InfectionRN was making a very important point about the fact that "There is no such thing as a stupid question".
Let that little phrase stay in your head throughout your education and practice.
It will save you in times as complex as "should I/should I not call the doctor?"; to times when you simply can't understand what an ordered med is supposed to do.
I myself always call up the dictum, "I'd rather look stupid than be wrong".
ANY thinking nurse is a questioning one, and I'd want you on my staff, anytime.
Good luck in your nursing career, and welcome to the "floor"!
Of course not all telemetry is portable either. On our unit we mainly use portable telemetry (the box people can carry with them) but sometime we use what we call hardwire. It still enables us to see their heart rhythm on a monitor but it hooks up directly to a monitor in the patients room and has to be unhooked if the patient wants to move about freely. Putting them on hardwire allows us to monitor respirations on the same screen with their heart rhythm and only 3 elecrodes have to be attached to a patient as opposed to 5 that we hook up with the portable telemetry.
Also, not all units have someone designated to watch the monitors that show EKG tracings. My unit for example has 4 computer screens that displays everyones telemetry and it just depends at to who's at the desk at the time to see what's being displayed. If an arrhythmia occurs, the monior alarms and we check and see if it's something we need to be concerned about or not.
Some hospitals hire per diem staff to work day by day instead of scheduling a month or so in advance. So they'll ask per diem staff to fill holes in the schedule. You'll see PRN which is pretty much the same. PRN means "as needed."
Not always. I'm per diem and I schedule at month in advance. We chose our days that work with our life, not necessarily the schedule. If we're not needed we get cancelled. If not we fill in the holes in the hospital created by unfilled positions, vacations, or sick calls.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
transistor radio? do you realize that you just seriously dated yourself? i just know there are people right now thinking, "what's that?" say "about the size of a pda." it sounds more hip.
oops. i feel the wrath of the off-topic gods about to rain down on me.
ha! ha! ha! thanks for pointing out that i am becoming what i always disdained as a youngster--a old fogey! i do know what a pda is but still it's smaller than the telemetry boxes i was thinking of. when my mother was recently a patient on a telemetry unit, the box her electrodes was attached to had nicely rounded corners on it, unlike the ones we had 20 years ago, but it was still big. and, the unit didn't have enough gowns with the kangeroo pocket in the front for the box to go into so if someone decides to get up out of bed, the box has a place to ride along. now, i'll really outdate myself. i used to carry a handful of safety pins around in my pockets to pin those telemetry boxes to patients gowns all the time. most of our patient gowns didn't have the front pocket for the tele box in them either so we used to put the box in a rubber glove or wrap it in a washcloth and then pin these things to the fronts of their gowns. creative nursing at it's best!
Transistor radio? Do you realize that you just seriously dated yourself? I just know there are people right now thinking, "What's that?" Say "about the size of a PDA." It sounds more hip.
Oops. I feel the wrath of the off-topic gods about to rain down on me.
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If you didn't blink at the mention of "transistor radio" - in fact, if you PICTURED a purple one you had as a kid - does that mean you're OUT OF IT??
i do know what a pda is but still it's smaller than the telemetry boxes i was thinking of. when my mother was recently a patient on a telemetry unit, the box her electrodes was attached to had nicely rounded corners on it, unlike the ones we had 20 years ago, but it was still big. and, the unit didn't have enough gowns with the kangeroo pocket in the front for the box to go into so if someone decides to get up out of bed, the box has a place to ride along. now, i'll really outdate myself. i used to carry a handful of safety pins around in my pockets to pin those telemetry boxes to patients gowns all the time. most of our patient gowns didn't have the front pocket for the tele box in them either so we used to put the box in a rubber glove or wrap it in a washcloth and then pin these things to the fronts of their gowns. creative nursing at it's best!.thumb.gif.09f7460d3e1ff8d6732564d77b5465cb.gif){kind=avatar}
I just know there are people right now thinking, "What's that?" Say "about the size of a PDA." It sounds more hip. 
.thumb.jpg.6eeb2c01c27cfd151d706238b7f6d6b7.jpg){kind=small}
Midwest4me
1,007 Posts
Thanks, Eric, for that explanation--I've heard of palm pilots but never knew what they were---I'm a little old-fashioned when it comes to these electronic gadgets!:)