Tag: ICU

  • Moral Distress in the ICU: Can you avoid it?

    Moral Distress in the ICU: Can you avoid it?

    There is no doubt that working in the ICU can be a source of moral distress. I’ve been spending the last few months doing hospice home care and I’ve been thinking about going back to the hospital for various reasons. The last time I worked as a nurse in the ICU was the summer of…

  • Surprise! I love being a nurse again.

    Having trouble keeping up with my love-hate relationship with nursing? That’s okay, so am I. The good news is that I love it again. I’m almost halfway through my MICU contract and things are going surprisingly well. They didn’t quite start out that way. Here’s a synopsis: Week 1: In the weeds. All the time.…

  • Do ICU Nurses Really Have Autonomy?

    So today I have an interview at another great hospital in my city, the mental hospital. I’ve spent a lot of time there as a student and was convinced I wanted to do psych nursing. Somewhere along the way I was on monster.com and noticed that Nurse Anesthetists make 100K/year. I also noticed that you…

  • Sick as Snot (or Not)

    Last year I was talking to this doctor while I was still in nursing school and contemplating working in the MICU. “Those patients are sick as snot,” she said. I love that expression. It really paints a picture. I’m here to tell you, though, that it’s not entirely true. There is one night nurse in…

  • You want fries with that Atropine?

    I know there are a lot of nursing students out there, as well as new nurses. I think it’s important to let you know that things do get better, especially if you have any experience waiting tables. With that in mind, here is a follow-up to the worst day ever. Over the weekend I had…

  • God – 1, MICU – 0

    The hospital where I work – we’ll call it: GHOAT, “The Greatest Hospital Of All Time” (or so human resources would have us believe) – is often seen as the last stop for some patients. Other hospitals send their patients to my unit when they have run out of options. As a new grad, I…