A New RN in the MICU

Starting Out: A New RN In the MICU 5/1/04

1- What kinds of patients come into the MICU?

2- How do families interact with the MICU staff?

3- Who are the nursing staff in the MICU?

3-1- Who are the resource nurses? 3-2- Who is the nurse manager of the MICU? 3-3- Who is the Clinical Nurse Specialist? 3-4- How are the assignments made? 3-5- Who are the CCTs? 3-6- Who are the OAs? 3-7- Who are the USAs?

4- Who are the doctors in the MICU?

4-1- How are the physican teams organized?

5- What does Respiratory Therapy do in the MICU?

6- Who are the other staff in the unit?

7- What are the routines that we use in the MICU?

7-1- How do I manage my time during my shift? 7-2- How do I use the flow sheet to organize my time? 7-3- How should I give report?

8- What do I need to know about the monitors?

8-1- Should I believe everything the monitors tell me? 8-2- What can the monitor do? 8-3- How does the information get from the patient into the monitor? 8-4- How should I react to the alarms?

9- What are the different pumps used for in the unit?

9-1- What are microinfusion pumps?

10- What are all the lines going into these patients?

10-1- How does the line connect the patient to the monitor? 10-2- What are the inflated white bags for, that hang on the poles in the rooms? 10-3- Why do they use that stiff tubing for the transducers? 10-4- What should I worry about when using these lines? 10-5- How should I organize the lines?

11- What kinds of labs do we send on the ICU patients?

11-1- What do I do with the results?

12- What is the procedure for admitting a patient to the ICU?

12-1- Admitting from the OR? 12-2- What are “boarders”?

13- What do I need to know about giving