Nursing Tales....

Warning...this is probably a boring post for most, but i find it fascinating, so i thought i would share. i figured at least abby would like it in preparation for her future nursing classes :)

So I guess i better be true to this blog and include some nursing stories. Remember a couple of months ago when i had the patient who had the ventricular assist device, well we have another patient on the unit who has a biventricular assist device. pretty much an artificial heart, the machine does the pumping for the heart, which the heart cannot do because it is so weak. this patient has this machine until a new heart becomes available. i'll tell you what, even though i was trained, i was still pretty nervous about this machine. it is scary to think that someone is being kept alive by this machine. any little mistake could cause "the heart" to stop beating. just a little scary. here is a fancy picture to show what happens. the machine vacuums blood out of the left ventricle and right atrium pulls in into the circle container, which then compresses the blood through another cannula to the aorta and pulmonary aotra. it is pretty crazy. the circle containers are attached to the huge machine, that looks like it is from the 80's. oh the wonders of technology and medicine....this can keep people alive for a long time.





instead of just one my patient has two. crazy huh.

here is a lesson in nursing...