Peds Place

Taking It All to Heart

2009-11-25T13:03:00Z

We have a new girl who just finished orientation in the NICU. She's good, really good, and has the potential to be great. She's handled most situations so far with calm and grace, and no one has a doubt she will be a great therapist. Last night, we had a very busy night, one that made the veterans sweat. We were all crazy busy as one thing after another went wrong. Our new girl (we'll call her Molly) kicked butt with the rest of us. We were so proud of her ability to keep herself afloat with minimal...(read more)

Happy Respiratory Care Week!

2009-10-28T17:53:00Z

Respiratory Care Week is the time of year when we get honored for all we contribute to the world of health care. In our pediatric hospital, we tend to have a fun week. From a brownie sundae night, to a smoothie pitch-in, and a Hawaiian themed luau, we celebrated the week in style last year. On Monday, we had a chili cook-off that rivals those in Texas for the strength of the competition. We also get a gift every year from the department for Respiratory Care Week, and we get featured in the employee...(read more)

Is a Flu Shot in Your Future?

2009-10-21T18:54:00Z

As the leaves turn and the weather gets chilly, in Peds we're usually gearing up for RSV season. This year, RSV is sitting on the back burner as we instead gear up for flu season, which promises to be much worse than RSV. There's also a new threat, H1N1, which has people in a tizzy. Here in Indianapolis, our health department has placed strict boundaries on all hospitals in an attempt to limit the spread of the seasonal flu and H1N1 this season. The only allowed hospital visitors are parents, spouses,...(read more)

Time to Confess My Bad Habit: Smoking

2009-10-15T12:00:00Z

I have a confession to make. I know this will make some people label me as the lowest of the low, but I have to spill the beans. I was a smoker for 14 years. I started at 14, just one of those rebellious things. When some of my friends eventually gave up the habit by 15 or 16, I stuck with it. At one point, I was up to two or three packs a day during one long summer. We would just all hang out and chain smoke all day and then get up and do it again the next day. My parents knew (my father was none...(read more)

Handling Coworkers' Bad Moods

2009-09-21T13:42:00Z

Going to work, I notice a lot of people sharing. We share a laugh, share lunches, and share good news. These are wonderful ways of sharing. The downside of a share-friendly environment is the sharing of bad moods. I used to work with a girl that I'll call Britney. Britney could be a great person to work with, or she could be hands down the worst. It really depended on what mood she was in. She never stayed with the mood she came in with either. Her moods shifted faster than the National Debt. People...(read more)

Some Surprises with Cough Syrup

2009-08-21T16:09:00Z

There's been a lot going on lately, not all of which applies to my job (as ironic as that is). Let me tell you about it. I had a random cough for two weeks after coming home from King's Island. I didn't feel sick or anything, just a wretched cough that made people wonder how many packs I smoked a day. I went to work on the 14th day, thinking things would be fine. I started feeling crummier and crummier and barely made it through the night. Something was definitely up. Even though I was doing my best...(read more)

Lasting Bonds

2009-07-16T12:00:00Z

This Independence Day my husband and I decided to go and watch the fireworks downtown. They had been canceled on July 4 due to rain, but it worked out for me, as it was my holiday to work. On July 5, we set out for the parking garage at my work. It's one of the best views around. I was excited at the prospect of seeing friends from work and getting to introduce my wonderful husband. I just didn't know how special it would truly be. We parked and started walking toward the top of the garage. Within...(read more)

July Is the Cruelest Month

2009-07-02T13:13:00Z

July is legendary around here. That's when we get the new docs, the greenest of the green. July 1 is the subject of many moans and groans, and I swear that we all go on full alert. July puts us on our edgiest behavior, and makes us more likely to argue and snap than any other time of the year. This July, I have figured out an action plan to guide our new docs through the process. Maybe we'll all be better for it. We are all like puzzle pieces. If you lose one piece, you can't finish the puzzle. We...(read more)

This Is a Drama-Free Zone

2009-06-23T17:18:00Z

I remember hanging out with my mom when I was growing up as she watched her soaps. There was an endless amount of intrigue and drama as every character dated everyone else and got amnesia and then drove off a steep embankment only to be resurrected again in a year or so. I never did figure out how those same plotlines would work on every show across the board. The one that fascinated me the most was "General Hospital." Didn't those people have better things to do than create drama in their place...(read more)

When Is It Too Much?

2009-06-15T21:29:00Z

Where I work, we have a standard of family-centered care. We allow parents to help as much as they would like to as we take care of the babies. The question is: When is it too much? Most of our families are good examples of what family-centered care should be, but there are some that fall into two other groups. Either the parents are not involved at all and don't do anything, or they assume way too much of the responsibility. We had a family that was the epitome of the "way too much" group. They...(read more)

RTs vs. RNs: A True Story

2009-06-02T16:16:00Z

So how do you handle it when there's that one nurse that takes the whole mile when you offer her an inch? We have one in particular that is the queen of taking more than you can give and then wanting more. We were having maybe the craziest night ever when she decided that even though I was insanely busy, I was her personal RT. Never mind that my room was more than enough. Never mind that the RT she did have was in the middle of a retaping bonanza. Never mind that she has a terrible opinion about...(read more)

A Tale of Two Oscillators

2009-05-18T19:16:00Z

Earlier this year, I had two very different oscillator experiences. The difference between PICU and NICU can be amazing. I work both but have a preference for (and more experience in) NICU. I worked New Year's in NICU and had two oscillators. Both were stable, chronic kids that had just figured out that they liked high frequency and decided to stick with it. They were both on normal-ish settings for NICU, MAPs of 18-20 and Delta P's in the low to mid 30s with a hertz of 8. It was status quo, and...(read more)

A Special Facebook Friend Request

2009-05-05T18:25:00Z

The other day I received friend request on Facebook. I had no idea who he was, and I'm always wary of the random requests that pop up. I sent back a guarded but polite reply: ‘Hi, I was just wondering how I know you. Thanks!" The response sent my mind running. "You do not know me," the person replied. "I read the note you wrote about caring for babies as an RT and communicating with their families. I am an RT student in N.C. I was researching the 70/70 theory for an exam that I had today when I came...(read more)

How Many RTs Does It Take?

2009-04-21T12:51:00Z

I am happy to say that I have five days off. They are so earned after last night. I'm pretty sure that we may have had the craziest night I have ever seen. We had seven RTs in NICU, and we could tell at shift change that it wouldn't be enough. Now that's when you know its going to be crazy! We started a jet at shift change and then started another 45 minutes later in the same room. There were then mass retapings, occupying all but two of us. Did I mention they sent us another person? Thank heavens...(read more)

Knowing Too Much

2009-04-07T17:44:00Z

A close friend of mine is expecting. She also works in neo/peds, so what should be a happy occasion, is a time of nerves. We know too much. Things like alveolar capillary dysplasia and Cornelia de Lange syndrome are floating through her head. I can't say I know how it feels. I've never had children, but I was a wreck when my sister was pregnant with both of my nieces. I truly don't think I could breathe easily until she hit 36 weeks in either pregnancy and I knew all fingers, toes and heart chambers...(read more)