New Grad Radio: Intensive Care & Emergency Nurse

Now that we've gone over the Modes & Settings, let's start talking about some of the most common alarms, what they mean, and what we could do about them as registered nurses.

There is one alarm in particular, Peak Pressure (High Airway Pressures), that has the potential to lead to an airway emergency. I outline a systematic approach to assess the situation; how to escalate, and how to overcome.

The key messag...

Welcome back to another episode of the New Grad Radio podcast!

Let's continue on with another episode on Mechanical Ventilation.

As I mention in the episode, there are two broad concepts when considering modes - do we have full control and not wanting the patient to breath for themselves; or is that the intention, to allow the patient to take spontaneous breaths, and even take all breaths for themselves?

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If you've had a look at the ventilator in action, you'll notice there are numbers that remain fixed, and that there are numbers that seem to change from breath to breath. This is because there are particular settings that we mandatorily 'set' for the ventilator to deliver to the patient; whilst then we monitor the section to see what the actual patient is doing/receiving.

As mentioned I cover the majority of the absolute ...

Welcome back to another episode of the New Grad Radio podcast.

This episode serves as the first of many to come, highlighting the foundational concepts of Mechanical Ventilation.

As I mention, I am not an expert. But I know what it's like to have started as a grad two years ago, having never seen a ventilator, nor a patient requiring mechanical ventilation. Over the last few years, I've worked in an ICU that has o...

Welcome back to Part 2 on a two-part segment on Blood Gases. In this episode I highlight a basic, systematic approach to analysing a blood gas, including a discussion on ‘normal’ values, a process of contacting the doctors, and speak on some nursing interventions.

As I mention in the episode, this is a topic you could cover for HOURS, but I really want to provide the absolute staples, so if you have never used a blood gas...

I am proud to be an intensive care nurse. I absolutely loved starting my career within this setting. However I can only imagine the apprehension of the clinicians who are currently being rapidly 'up-skilled', in order to provide assistance to intensive care unit's across Australia, as we brace during this time period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the period of a year, I was fortunate to have been eased, and guided into wh...

Welcome to the FINAL episode of the New Grad Radio podcast.

It has been an absolute privilege to document my journey with you all over the past two years. Thank you so very much for following my progress. You have experienced the nerves of starting; hearing what I struggled with, what I found exciting, difficult, and new. Each step of the way, you see what I was thinking at the time. I truly hope I was able to capture the ...

Welcome back to another episode of the New Grad Radio podcast! November 19th marks International Men’s Day. In celebration, I interview Luke Yokota. Luke is a third year RN, and a fellow ICU nurse. Luke is the driving force behind the ‘Men in Nursing’ campaign through the Australian College of Nursing (ACN). Luke has also recently been nominated for Queensland Young Australian of the Year awards. Luke is a passionate nurse, and top...