What do I mean obsession? Well, the stuff that interests you the most with nursing, the stuff that you are compulsive about, etc.
My nursing obsession are bowel movements. My patients better be gettin' rid of the brown stuff or I will be questioning it all day! During patient teaching, regardless of the subject, I ALWAYS talk about the importance of fibre.
Side note: the inspiration of this thread stems from this big bowl of strawberry All-Bran I'm eating.
1. vital signs - I always chart them at least every hour (with the exception of temperature unless they are running a temp, then I do start charting temps every hour until the temp has decreased)
2. I manage my drips obsessively
3. meds - I am very careful when giving meds even if it is only a Colace
4. my ETTs and vents - I check them carefully every hour - the ETT to make sure it is securely in place and the vent to make sure that no one has played with the settings without telling me (interns do this all.the.time!)
5. labs - I look over them laboriously to make sure I haven't missed anything
6. urine output
Everything else is small fries in my very humble opinion.
Discharge teaching. Nothing worse than getting ready to discharge a baby who has been in the unit for weeks and no teaching on the chart. I know they do it. but its not written.
Documenting. We chart by exception and do so much by checking little boxes that people seem to forget how document an exception. I usually get in report about the nasty IV that went bad or why the baby suddenly got a CBG but there is no support in the chart.
Developmental care for our older babies. 38-40 weekers don't want to sleep all day and all night. Don't throw Sweetease at them for agitation. That's not what its for. Learn to calm the baby. NICU is for term babies as well as premies.
besides the obvious, allnurses.com, i love starting iv's and i'm very good at it. i was called the iv geru when working on the floor.
i am passionate about patient education. i believe patients are greatly calmed by knowing exactly what to expect. i repeat my spil about ct contrast 25 x a day but never mind. i wanted to make up brochures to be passed out by the doctor when the ct is ordered but it was poo-poed by admin.
patients come in without a clue. most common misconceptions are "i'm claustraphobic "or "i need to take off my metal right"?
Specializes in Cardiovascular OR / Cardiac Cath Lab.
1) HANDWASHING!! I am totally anal-retentive about hand hygiene and nag my staff and family about it all the time. Hmmm........could it be a coincidence that I'm almost never ill?
Me too!!!!!!!! i wash my hands a LOT. Ever since those Microbiology lectures in nursing school (which got me paranoid.. heehee.. ), handwashing became my obsession.. I nag other people about it too, especially my family. I start telling them about the importance of proper handwashing, how it prevents diseases (insert a number of scary diseases here), etc, etc. My little brother and most of my cousins now have memorized my "handwashing mantra".. :chuckle
......i am passionate about patient education. i believe patients are greatly calmed by knowing exactly what to expect. i repeat my spil about ct contrast 25 x a day but never mind. i wanted to make up brochures to be passed out by the doctor when the ct is ordered but it was poo-poed by admin.
patients come in without a clue. most common misconceptions are "i'm claustraphobic "or "i need to take off my metal right"?
as a patient i love your type of medical professional. i do a lot of research before anything. but some things you can't find full info on. also docs explaining results fully not this "close to normal" *coming very close to swearing but just stopping in time* stuff that i got from one of my docs until i asked what she meant by that.
pinksugar
243 Posts
1. vital signs - I always chart them at least every hour (with the exception of temperature unless they are running a temp, then I do start charting temps every hour until the temp has decreased)
2. I manage my drips obsessively
3. meds - I am very careful when giving meds even if it is only a Colace
4. my ETTs and vents - I check them carefully every hour - the ETT to make sure it is securely in place and the vent to make sure that no one has played with the settings without telling me (interns do this all.the.time!
)
5. labs - I look over them laboriously to make sure I haven't missed anything
6. urine output
Everything else is small fries in my very humble opinion.