Vented Patient Should A Minimal Experienced Nurse Be Caring For A Vented Patient?

Specialties MICU

Published

Hi everyone, I've been a travel nurse for less than year, and an RN for 4 with minimal experience with vented patients. My patient the other night coded while on the vent and the patient is alive , but should a nurse with minimal experience with vents be caring for a patient with on a vent.

Specializes in ICU.
Bear in mind we are working in different systems in the UK we don't have RT's or CNA's in ICU so the RN does everything for that patient.

idk, in my icu we do all the vent management for the post op hearts. the only time we use rts is if we need assistance bag suctioning or something. but shoot i would love to be 1:1 nursing for any vented patient

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.
Bear in mind we are working in different systems in the UK we don't have RT's or CNA's in ICU so the RN does everything for that patient.

We don't have CNAs or anything else either.....RN does all the work in ICU and I almost always have 2 patients that are vented. The ONLY time we have 1:1 assignment is if pt is on CVVH or with an open chest or a heart we just admitted (we recover hearts, they don't go through PACU where I work). Just sharing my experience :)

Anyways, to the OP. My first day off orientation I had a pt who was on a high frequency ventilator. Vent are not hard to learn and how else to learn them except to work with vented patient? Patients code off and on the vent and I'd rather have a patient code that was on a vent because they are WAY easier to bag!

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Specializes in CTICU.
i find that just hilarious. unless the patient is fresh out the OR from open heart surgery or on a fresh VAD, CRRT (which we still pair sometimes), or an open chest that is unstable they are never 1:1. having a vented patient should never be 1:1 in my eyes unless they are so unstable you are constantly titrating drips. :chuckle

Part of the great thing about these boards is that we get to hear about nursing practice around the world. Calling another poster's experience "hilarious" and being so obviously rude is not really called for.

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Specializes in ICU.
i find that just hilarious. unless the patient is fresh out the OR from open heart surgery or on a fresh VAD, CRRT (which we still pair sometimes), or an open chest that is unstable they are never 1:1. having a vented patient should never be 1:1 in my eyes unless they are so unstable you are constantly titrating drips. :chuckle

The only time we don't do 1:1 care is if the patient is a level 2 (HDU) and then we double up.

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Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.

about the 1:1 for vented patients in uk and australia; isn't it true that the requirements for proving need for chemical and physical restraints much more stringent? all of our vented patients are restrained and many will be sedated as well. i thought i read here that restraints aren't common overseas, which would make it necessary for patients to be 1:1 IMHO

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Specializes in CTICU.

Yes, in Australia you must generally get NOK consent for restraint, and renew it every 24-48 hrs.

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Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.
I wish all my patients were intubated all the time.

Me too!!

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Specializes in ICU.

My thought is that if an RN is not comfortable with caring for a vented pt then they probably shouldn't be traveling. With all the dynamics and conflict that can arise between a staff RN and a traveler doing the same job (or less if they don't care of vented pts) but making 2X's the money, travelers therefore should be more than competent in this area. That being said no RN is ever finished learning...

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Specializes in thoracic, cardiology, ICU.

Where i work most of our patients are 1:1. The patients that are doubled are almost never vented, very stable and usually just waiting for a bed in the stepdown unit. Even a stable vented patient is pretty busy because chances are we'll shoot for extubation and that can make for a busy shift in itself between monitoring, and collaborating with the team.

Our first day in on orientation, we are started with stable vented patients. I'm nearing the end of my orientation, and while the vents are definitely intimidating at first, learn the basic settings and you're golden. I think the alarms freaked me out the most haha i'd just stare at the thing trying to figure out what it was telling me, but it didn't take long to learn how to trouble shoot it.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
My thought is that if an RN is not comfortable with caring for a vented pt then they probably shouldn't be traveling. With all the dynamics and conflict that can arise between a staff RN and a traveler doing the same job (or less if they don't care of vented pts) but making 2X's the money, travelers therefore should be more than competent in this area. That being said no RN is ever finished learning...

You stated that travelers make 2x more than staff. That is so far from the truth it ain't funny. In many instances, staff make way more than travelers. (Off topic)

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Specializes in ICU.
You stated that travelers make 2x more than staff. That is so far from the truth it ain't funny. In many instances, staff make way more than travelers. (Off topic)

I think we can only speak from the seat of our own experience. I made a generalized statement from my working market here in Oklahoma. In MY hospital in MY ICU travelers make more an hour when you compare apples to apples.

You have to consider a common denominator. If I work 72 hours a pay period or 135 hours a pay period thats a BIG SWING. If I compare a heavy over time check with a traveler who only put in 30hrs last pay period and PTO'd the rest of it I will make more...

I haven't traveled, maybe you have and you know more than I do. But it is my understanding in every conversation I have had with many core staff, PRN staff, float pool people and travelers that working with travel co. makes you more money.

It def allows you to negotiate and be in control of you work/business model.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I think we can only speak from the seat of our own experience. I made a generalized statement from my working market here in Oklahoma. In MY hospital in MY ICU travelers make more an hour when you compare apples to apples.

You have to consider a common denominator. If I work 72 hours a pay period or 135 hours a pay period thats a BIG SWING. If I compare a heavy over time check with a traveler who only put in 30hrs last pay period and PTO'd the rest of it I will make more...

I haven't traveled, maybe you have and you know more than I do. But it is my understanding in every conversation I have had with many core staff, PRN staff, float pool people and travelers that working with travel co. makes you more money.

It def allows you to negotiate and be in control of you work/business model.

Unfortunately, you're not comparing apples to apples. Even when I traveled in the south, which is terrible for its pay for staff, I wasn't making anywhere near 2x the amount of staff and again, I had nowhere near the advantages of what they had, time off, sick time, retirement.

Yes, you can make good money as a traveler..if you do it right, I'm not saying you can't. The point is the 2x thingie is really a misconception. You did hit upon one of the important things about traveling: it puts you in control of your career. That and being able to see different parts of the country is a big plus. There is a lot more to traveling than you might think. I could go on and on but I ain't gonna bore you. If you'd like more info, I'd be happy to share my experiences.

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