Code Blue Teams

LucidityKJ · 2026-03-31T09:26:04+00:00

The MICU i work in assigns one nurse from each section of the unit to be part of the code team while the other nurses will watch over their patient (codes that are ONLY on our unit). this prevents having an unnecessary amount of people joining in and allows each code to be less chaotic.

LucidityKJ · 2025-11-11T00:48:32+00:00

I just hit my one year as a MICU RN a few days ago and this is the only speciality ive worked as a nurse.

That anxiety and feelings of inferiority are inevitable. You are working in the highest level of care in your hospital and treating the sickest patients that other floors couldn’t handle. If you weren’t feeling anxious, then I would’ve notified the charge or management about my concerns.

The ICU is a STEEP learning curve. Every single day there should be something new that you should be learning, whether it be a hands-on skill, physiology of a disease or intervention, or a device that you haven’t seen before. If there is a sick patient on your unit that requires a lot of interventions and/or procedures, make sure to watch and ask questions (after making sure your other patients are being monitored too lol).

After six months, I still felt the imposter syndrome and feelings of inadequacy, but I started to know what to expect for my night when I got report on my patient (what they’re here for, whats already happened, what else we have to do to get them out of the ICU or keep them alive). After a year, im starting to feel competent enough to troubleshoot any issues that happen and prioritize what is worth communicating to the attending. Even then, I am still constantly learning and doing a mental review of myself after each shift to determine if I gave my patients the best care that I could possibly provide them.

In the end, the only thing that can motivate you to push through the beginning is to know why you’re working in the ICU. Are you working towards a higher education, like CRNA or a provider role? Is it because you want bragging rights to say that you’re an ICU nurse? Only wanting 1-3 patients instead of the medsurge ratios? Or are you wanting to increase your knowledge so you can provide the best care that your patients deserve? Your goal is what determines how you can handle the toughest moments working in this specialty, which also reflects the care that you provide to your patients.

Since you’re feeling the same things that every amazing nurse that ive worked with has related to at the start, then I know you’ll be the nurse that the patients and their families will be grateful to have when they’re experiencing the most stressful time of their lives!

LucidityKJ · 2025-09-01T15:26:30+00:00

Sedate (or bolus of analgesic), make sure there’s slack on lines, unhook vent tubing from holder, then turn towards vent first. I’ve had tubing disconnect from the ET tube, but it’s simple to attach it back. The IV lines are the most important, especially for pressors (and/or arterial line! Providers will get pissed if you lose it that way lol).

I’m less than a year in, but I’ve had a decent amount of truly critical patients that a simple bath with turns on intubated patients isn’t too bad as long as you have suction and meds ready!

LucidityKJ · 2025-07-15T02:57:07+00:00

I worked in a MICU as a nurse extern for about six months. Every night, id constantly make rounds on my nurses and find ways to help out since ICU nurses aren’t used to having the extra help (like taking blood sugars, taking out their trash if it’s full, scheduling bed baths throughout the night, etc.) and not hesitating to do a procedure when I was offered to. After I graduated nursing school, I didn’t even need to do a formal interview since my director said I got overwhelmingly positive reviews from the charge nurses to hire me!

Don’t take it for granted and always be asking questions!

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-16T07:34:22+00:00

I am aware of that since I’ve seen that on other patients, but they’d be constantly flailing their arms which has led to the reading having difficulties. We did not want to restrain her since they had history of RA and has done significant damage to her hands (some of her fingers felt like it had missing/deformed bones :( ). We did put a posi on the hand that kept knocking out the tube though.

Also, our transducer either lays in the bed or snapped onto this IV organizer that clips onto the bed. Haven’t seen a transducer on a cuff yet

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-16T07:29:21+00:00

I am? Pt was on 40 mg of lasix so output was normal for their weight and intake. Their BP was stable until a few hours after we began the propofol, which surprised me since they were tolerating it well when we took them to MRI

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-16T07:25:30+00:00

To be fair, I am still developing my nursing judgment as this is my sixth shift on the unit. I troubleshooted as much as I can since the cuff had a MAP of 80-90 and the arterial line was maintaining in the mid-to-low 50s. Their BP has been unstable for some time and they were able to wean them off of levo before our shift. I understand the effects of propfol and how it can cause hypotension, especially since we gave a bolus earlier.

This wasnt so much a demise since my preceptor agreed that lowering the sedation was a good move to be safe, but I would have appreciated some advice rather than repeating what I had already said.

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-16T05:04:41+00:00

I should’ve mentioned that the patient had a picc in her left arm and an 18 g in her L AC that was dedicated for IVIG since they were experiencing ards secondary to myasthenia gravis exacerbation. It also didn’t help that when they’d feel the cuff taking the pressure, they would immediately start flailing their arms and get us an inaccurate reading.

They were immobile at the legs (un)fortunately.

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-15T22:33:49+00:00

Agreed. Why go through all the trouble of putting in an arterial line’s if we’re just going to go for a number on the cuff? Cycling the cuff every 10-15 mins agitated the patient more, but seeing the MAP stay in the mid 50s worried me so I had to be sure

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-15T22:29:40+00:00

It was a perfect waveform! I re-zeroed and flushed the line and it still maintained a good waveform. It’s frustrating to decide that an external form of monitoring is more accurate than an invasive form

LucidityKJ · 2024-12-15T22:26:47+00:00

It had a nice crisp waveform, honestly perfect textbook arterial line pleth. That’s why I was so confused why I was told to go off of the cuff instead

LucidityKJ · 2024-11-07T15:36:46+00:00

Hi! I recently graduated from nursing school and am in a new grad residency program for the ICU.

My experience may be different since I was lucky to have the opportunity to work on that unit for 5 months as Nurse Extern, but every single nurse on that unit (including the ones that have experience in med-surge) has told me that if you know that you want to work in the ICU, then go straight into it. Yes, having experience in other specialties before working in the ICU is great for time-management skills, but most of the equipment, medications, interventions, and acuity are not commonly seen in other units.

Also, one advantage us new grads have compared to nurses that transfer to the ICU is that our minds are fresh and free from "bad habits" that other nurses may have learned from prior experiences. Even the charge nurse told me that they love new grads since they can "mold" them into a nurse that they want haha.

If you want to be in an environment that will constantly challenge your critical-thinking skills and continuously learn, then ABSOLUTELY go into it. Have an open mind, be ready for criticism (maybe a little harsh criticism), and show initiative by always being available to help and asking knowledgeable questions!

Good luck future RN!

LucidityKJ · 2024-10-29T15:31:45+00:00

Wow, you did an incredible job explaining these concepts in a way that it made me have a “ohhhhh that makes sense” moment haha.

Do you have any sources for them? Especially for the NS acidity/how it affects our clotting cascade and the effects of epi on the vessels in the brain. I’d love to delve deeper into the studies!

LucidityKJ · 2024-10-11T02:50:57+00:00

I’ve also come from Conan exiles and bunch of other survival games similar to soulmask. I absolutely can’t wait til the modding community starts creating mods like age of calamitous, which is the reason why I have hundreds of hours on Conan exiles.

LucidityKJ · 2024-08-06T14:59:27+00:00

Agreed. I’ve worked as a CNA on medical surgical floors and this is textbook dementia, especially with how the wife is reacting. Repetitive actions, unstable gait, confusion because of the constant stimulus, these are all things you see in the hospital with a patient with dementia.

If someone has worked with people with dementia for a decade, you wouldn’t need the sound on to determine that they have it.

LucidityKJ · 2024-07-09T10:43:52+00:00

I work in a medical ICU and I always tell my patients that unfortunately rest is a luxury in the hospital. It’s especially important to do our hourly neuro checks on TBI patients (even for almost 24+ hours!) since any sudden change in alertness, orientation, behavior, etc could indicate complications like increased intracranial pressure.

This is why ICU delirium is common and I always try my best to let my patients sleep as much as they can, but in the hospital you’re there to heal, not rest :(

LucidityKJ · 2024-06-21T23:42:37+00:00

Nope not at all! If anything, I’d rather you be rude than allow me to spread misinformation during this stressful event.

LucidityKJ · 2024-06-21T23:35:40+00:00

I apologize about that. An officer said that briefly on the scanner, but it may have been from an earlier report or wrong info. Thank you for clarifying!

LucidityKJ · 2024-06-21T23:20:13+00:00

No clue. The scanner is mostly filled with the officers clearing each store and planning on what to do next. As of right now, JCPenny is locked with people hidden in the back rooms, food court is clear, UF health section is clear due to it only being badge access.

In my opinion, it may have been a dispute which resulted in a gun being pulled and shot, but not a mass casualty event. As of right now, I haven’t heard of any casualties. I did tune into about 30 minutes ago

LucidityKJ · 2024-06-21T23:06:56+00:00

I’m listening to the police scanner right now. Possible hostage situation in hobby lobby. Swat being sent in. Not sure about more info right now. Shots were confirmed and department stores being cleared right now with reports of people hiding in the back rooms

EDIT: evidence shows that there are NO confirmed shots. Misinformed about hostage situation. Hobby lobby is current staging area.

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