Archive for June, 2009

Rescue 911

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

I was on night shift the other day. We had a very busy shift. There were a lot of babies wanted to come out in my shift. One of the patients was brought by the Rescue 911 team. The patient’s baby decided to come out at home. The placenta did not come out yet. She was endorsed to me with Intavenous fluid (IVF) inserted. According to the team the baby was already out when they reached to their house. They clamped and cut the cord. The baby had no problems. We waited for the placenta to come. It was out after 5 minutes. Everything was settled. The patient and her baby was discharged few hours after.

Vitamin A needs for one-year-old

Friday, June 19th, 2009

At 12 months, the child’s color vision is still maturing. So as he moves from milk to table food, make sure that he gets the right amount of Vitamin A. Make sure that the food gives the child the proper nutrition for child’s growing needs. So that your baby can view his world in full Technicolor. For perfect vision, your one-year-old needs 4 times more vitamin A than you.

MY TIRED FEET

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Today, I got my feet tired again. My eight hours of duty requires me to be on my feet all day walking around from patient to another patient, back and forth. Literally there are days that I can’t even sit even in 2 minutes. My poor feet have no choice but to walk around as much. But sometimes, I do not feel them while I am still caring for patients. I usually feel the pain after my shift. I just have to elevate them. I will go to a foot spa for a great massage sometimes. It did help with cramps or strains in my feet. It is really important to pamper our feet and take care of them.

Exercise as a diagnostic tool

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Did you know about this? Exercise not only boosts fitness and wards off disease, it should also help you feel better. If it doesn’t , pay attention to your symptoms. The rigors of a work out function as a whole-body stress test that can reveal an array of serious medical conditions that might otherwise go undiagnosed and untreated.
For example, the headaches that plagued a 57-year-old man shortly after the start of vigorous physical activity actually signalled the presence of blocked coronary arteries. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, a professional journal, described this and an assortment of other case histories of exercise-induced red flags:
• Fatigue and poor athletic performance: a possible sign of anemia.
• A noticeable drop in speed and nimbleness: Parkinson’s disease.
• Abdominal cramping and diarrhea: inflammation of the colon.
• A severe headache or incoherence: a brain tumor.
• Repeated bouts of tendinitis: hypothyroidism.
Granted, many workout-related aches, pains, and other ailments stem from nothing more than an over ambitious attempt to cram a week’s worth of exercise into a single session at the gym. But any symptom that’s unusual, intense, or persistent merits prompt medical attention. Exercise may be intended to promote health, but don’t ignore its ability to uncover illness.

CNA’s role

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

As nurses we need to know the CNAs role and the scope of their responsibilities. They are a big part in our team. CNAs have instinct we, nurses, rely on them as our ears and hands but they can’t make Nursing diagnosis. They do not solve patient’s problems, not evaluate the patient, not provide health counselling, not do sterile invasive procedures, no medicine administration those are nurses’ responsibilities. They can do NGT tube feedings, can put oxygen on but can’t turn the oxygen on.

CVP Monitoring

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Nurses should know what are our responsibilities with regards to CVP Monitoring. We should be knowledgeable enough about the procedure.

A catheter is inserted to the right atrium of the heart to determine fluid balance. The normal functioning of the heart, all the fluids that come to the heart is pump out from the heart. If it does not happen you’ll have Congestive Heart Failure. We try to figure out how the heart handles the volume of blood coming in.
The measuring point of the CVP is in the right atrium. What you should do is level up the right atrium with the manometer. Make sure that the manometer is the same level with the right atrium. Use a lever to balance it out.

NCLEX Q – CVP pt if the head of the bed is adjusted you have to adjust the manometer otherwise you will get a false reading.
Normal CVP reading 5-10 cm H20. More than 10cm is indicative of overload. Less than 5cm patient is dry or dehydrated.
Always check the lever of the manometer. Check the insertion site of the catheter for bleeding and other complication like pneumothorax or hemothorax. Signs and symptoms is shortness of breath.