Malinda Taylor

• This is primarily where I spent my time 17 of my 19 years.
• Its a Level IV NICU unit. The unit houses 48 private rooms. The RN to patient ratio is 1:2 and occasionally with very sick patients it can be 1:1. I have been certified to provide dialysis but it has expired. The unit does provide ECMO along with dialysis. We also occasionally do surgery at the bedside and frequently recover patients from surgery at the bedside when they return intubated.
• In the ICU we also depend on our assessment
• Diagnosis- prioritize the problems, prioritize the medication administration, which patient to start with. Who needs care first.
• Planning- start action plans for the day and throughout the stay, prioritization of the problems, and an action plan.
• Next, I would explain what the plan is and tell the family what I am doing at each step; and how that is helping to work toward our goal to getting our patient better and ultimately home!
• At the end of each date we would evaluate how well the goals were met and how the patient did. If they were better or worse or the same. And adjust our goal depending on those results.

This is on the Pulmonary Unit.

• Where I used my assessment skills to learn what was going on with my patients.
• I also used my diagnosis skills to triage which patients to see first. So I had to plan a lot we had between 2-6 or so patients. We had admissions and discharges.
• Once I triaged my patients I could implement my care and decide what they need and Medications scheduled
• Then Document everything what I saw signs and symptoms. What care I provided and how they tolerated the treatment.
• Notify team members of any changes in the assessment findings the team members need to be aware of including whether or not the current treatment seems to be working or not.