Working As A Weekend Night Icu Manager

The LifeVest is a defibrillator that is placed in a vest that patient is able to wear under his cloth. The vest helps save and individual in cardiac arrest. My patient was going to use this device because of his cardiac condition and due to his recent MI; these factors put him at a higher risk of cardiac arrest. It was amazing to watch how all the technology in the vest can save someone’s life. Watching my patient through his vest fitting and teaching was the highlight of the day. It was the first time that I

Julia, a registered nurse, has been run down all week making medication errors and recently one of her patient’s fell out of bed. Julia has eight patients assigned to her due to staffing shortage since the hospital decided to stop using LPNs. Julia is very overwhelmed and is unable to safely take care of her patients. Julia was required to report to her manager’s office the next morning due to her patient neglect and fall. The manager informed Julia the high nurse to patient ratio is not a problem as other floors and nurses are doing fine with it. Recently, I have seen this occur with in my own facility I work for. As of right now it is staffed with fifty percent locums or travel nurses, which leads to increased

First of all, in order to improve patient safety, staffing levels need to be appropriate. In this case, as the patient load increased, the staffing level did not. There was only one RN and on LPN on duty. As a proponent of acuity based staffing, I would have a system in place that allowed for staff to be assigned based on a patient acuity scoring system that would be implemented, that would staff the unit not only based on the number of patients but also for the care required. In this case we have a patient that requires constant monitoring, as well as another emergent respiratory distress patient. Had another nurse been assigned to the unit, Nurse J, who was trained in conscious sedation, would have been able to adhere to the existing policy and provide constant monitoring of Mr. B which most likely would have avoided the outcome presented in this scenario.

During my clinical rotation during my last semester of nursing school, I was able to work one on one with a BSN degree nurse named Judy in the ICU. Judy had three years of experience in the ICU setting. She had been a medical surgical nurse prior to her ICU transfer. The ICU at this hospital consisted of two associate degree level nurses and two BSN level nurses on my shift. I rotated three days in this particular ICU. I worked with Judy all three days of my rotation. I was excited about being placed with her for she seemed knowledgeable and skilled. We were given a male post trauma patient to work with all three days. This patient was a 30 year old male admitted for trauma related injuries and was considered unstable and was to be monitored in ICU. This patient had been involved in a motor vehicle accident and

There was additional backup staff present (including a respiratory therapist) that could have been called upon for help, yet they never were. The charge nurse or nurse supervisor could have stepped in at this point to provide additional help. A lack of present nursing staff and support can lead to unfavorable patient outcomes, as is the case with Mr. B. Additionally, the staff on duty could have lacked training regarding protocols or their training could have been out of date.

I remember my fingers leaving shallow depressions on her cold pale skin. As the Paramedics left the room, they sadly instructed us to say our goodbyes and that they would be back shortly. If I had known she was going die, I would have said more to my grandma when she kissed me on the cheek the previous day. Our large family sat in the living room crying as my grandma was placed in a large black bag before being taken away. That sorrowful morning I watched as the paramedics unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate my grandma. This frightful and gloomy experience would inspire me to one day save lives. After witnessing a patient code, working as patient care technician (PCT), and experiencing the sincere generosity of two physicians, I became certain that I wanted to be a doctor.

I stood with a look of wonderment as I watched the beehive of physicians, radiologists, nurses, and paramedics collaboratively save a man’s life. The scene initially appeared chaotic with scrubs flying around and doctors swarming all over, but in actuality the team was extremely single-minded—as if driven by instinct. I was amazed by the speed and conviction with which the attending doctor made his decisions; his training and experience was evident with every move. Seeing the tearful wife thank the doctor highlighted the impact of his work—his actions had saved a husband and a father. I left admiring both the competency of emergency physicians and their ability to touch lives in such a dramatic way. While my enjoyment of high school biology sparked my original inclination towards medicine, my first hand experiences in the hospital deepened my motivation and left me steadfast in my decision to become a doctor.

I would like to give you some insight as to the daily operation of a major Emergency Department in this city. Not unlike many other “ER’s” the nursing staff is tasked with the triage or assessment of patients in order to sort by priority. The nurse is then tasked with maintaining flow of the department and ensuring the timely care and physician evaluation of patients. This requires clinical nursing judgement and expertise which is tested constantly. To explain this plainly, nurses are faced with a meat grinder which cannot stop. There may be twenty patients in the lobby with ambulances lining up. The room nurses are trying to

My charge nurse informed me that my assignment was to care for an increased intracranial pressure new admission. The gentleman was in his early thirties and he came in thought the hospital emergency department after wrecking his motorcycle. This patient was immediately transferred up to my intensive care unit and had family present. I went into the room to get report and my patient’s father constantly interrupted the dayshift nurse. He frantically asked what was happening, if there was any hope of survival, and if he should have his son’s care transferred to another hospital. This was all the overwhelming information that happened in the first five minutes of the first portion of my simulation. The second portion of my simulation was on advanced cardiac life support. Though completing the critical care simulation, I learned a major strength and weakness I have as a senior nursing student.

“I felt I had to” answered a nurse when asked why she went back to help, and a man whose friend was shot said his “first thoughts were for his friend”.

The purpose of this journal is to reflect on my experience and skills gained during my clinical placement at Ben Taub Hospital. On my first clinical day, I was excited and nervous at the same time. My first placement was in the PREOP/PACU area. I was assigned to help a patient who had been in the PACU area going on 2 days. Normally, once the patient comes from surgery they are only in the PACU area for a short period of time before they are discharged home or given a bed in another area of the hospital. This particular patient still had not received an assignment for a bed. The physicians would make their rounds to come check on him daily. The patient was a 28-year-old Hispanic male, non-English speaking, he had a hemicolectomy. He had a NG tube, urinary Foley catheter, and a wound vac. My preceptor had just clocked in and she needed to check on the patient’s vitals and notes from the previous nurse. Once she introduced me to the patient and explained while I was there, she then asked me to check his vitals. (Vital signs indicate the body’s ability to regulate body temperature, maintain blood flow, and oxygenate body tissues. Vital signs are important indicators of a client’s overall health status (Hogan, 2014). I froze for a quick second. I have practiced taking vitals numerous of times and I knew I could do it correctly. I started with the temperature first, when I was quickly corrected on a major mistake I had made by my preceptor. I HAD FORGOT TO WASH MY HANDS and PUT

My job as a patient transporter at a level one trauma center allows me to work the overnight shift. Night shift consists of five people taking on multiple assignments such as transporting patients, refilling oxygen tanks, and cleaning equipment. Day shift consists of about thirty employees who each take on one assignment for the day. During the day, there is a constant stream of transporters available for picking up patients. This differs from night shift in which there is only one person to take pages for patient transports. Once I was trained and needed no supervision, I was assigned the emergency department pager which allows me to communicate with staff on patients who need to be transported to other hospital units. One night began slowly,

1. The system has a good structure design.2. Warm air makes patients feel warm and stop shivering.3. The system cannot cause burns and water leaks around electrical equipment are not a problem, as they are with water-circulating blankets.4. The disposable blankets eliminate the potential for cross-contamination among patients.5. The system

It was an unpleasantly early morning in the hospital waiting room. Nurses buzzed around, busy attending to their patients while a faint beeping sound could be heard in the background. I was starting my second shift of the day at the hospital, just finishing working a shift in the dark, grimy morgue. Groggy, I sat down at my desk to begin another four hours of labor. My position was to assure that the paper work was properly completed and that all patients were attended too. While being a supervising nurse was a great responsibility, it left time to day dream.

Have you ever encountered a tragic moment and saved someone’s life? All of a sudden I was the only one that could help because everyone else was in shock. The bravest moment of my life that surprised me was giving CPR to a man in a restaurant.