#nurse knowledge

[secondyearnurse]

My First Code Blue

It wasn't even my patient, but I heard it over the intercom and went in to see if I could help. I ended up doing a round of compressions before the Rapid Response nurse took over and they started pushing epi and vasopressin. I don't know much about the patient other than that he was pretty sick; cancer with mets to the liver, failing kidneys... He aspirated on his vomit and his sats dropped super low. They ended up intubating him after they got a pulse and pushed him off to ICU. It's sad to see patients code, but I think the worst part was hearing the patient's wife's prayers in the background. "Please let him come back, please let him come back." Today is a day I don't think I'll forget.

[secondyearnurse]

6 Months!

Yay! I’ve made it through the first six months of my first nursing job. Here’s a few things I’ve learned; take them as you will:

-Ask for help if you need it. Don’t waste your time and everyone else’s trying to figure out something that can be figured out in two seconds by asking a question.

-Be kind to everyone you meet. This should be obvious, but it’s harder to do than you think; a lot of people are tired, or scared, or just rude in general. But a little act of kindness can go a long way.

-Don’t be afraid to make friends. I, as an extremely shy person, have a hard time doing this but have really been trying to push myself to be better about this. Let me tell you, it’s worth it.

-If you have never done a procedure before, get help and do it with someone who has. Did I say something like this already? Cuz it’s super important.

-Refresh. Go to your education classes. Read through your textbooks to refresh your mind on things.