Critical Care Rotation So Far...

I have been in my critical care rotation only two weeks now but I have seen and done so much! I was really looking forward to this rotation...the care plans not so much:-(. Our theory teacher this semester is huge on going all the way down to the cellular level on all of our patient's labs that are abnormal and how their meds work...it takes a million years but it really makes you learn the stuff! I feel like a real nurse now and that I can actually help save some one's life! So anyways here is a breakdown of all the fun stuff I've seen/done:

*Five IVs just in the ED (ER...apparently it's no longer cool to call it an emergency "room" because it is not a single room but an entire emergency "department", LOL!)

*Foley catheter

*Push fast acting heart meds to pull someone out of SVTs (supraventricular tachycardia)

*Seeing many patients on vents

*Patients with trachs (hole cut into their throat with a tube inserted)

*Watching a patient, who had major neurosurgery, intubated

*Helping (and by helping I mean holding fat out of the way so the Dr could see :-) ) the Dr put in an A-line or arterial line (kind of like an IV but it's much bigger and goes into the artery)...he tried a few times in the radial artery and again in the femoral with no luck

*Central line dressing change (sterile procedure where you clean and re-dress a large IV like line that was going into the jugular vein)

*Going to MRI with patient who had softball size tumor removed...softball size hole now left

*Watching a patient try to wake up after having neurosurgery....cough reflex comes back while still on the vent, rapid eye movement, moving arms and legs...and best of all the family getting so excited!

I am hoping I will get to see/help with a code this semester (not that I want any one to go into cardiac arrest) but...I think that would really prepare me for anything that comes my way. I have noticed that I am less and less nervous went it comes to my skills...something I could have never imagined four semesters ago! Well anyways...that's what I've been up to the last couple of weeks! The pick above is what an ICU patient can look like...not all are hooked up to every machine made but it's possible.