Stacey Kast, RN, BSN

Stacey Kast, RN, BSN is a frequent contributor to RN Journal with 4 articles published to date.

Contact by email: click here.

Electroconvulsive Therapy in Pediatrics

Electroconvulsive Therapy in Pediatrics

Tags: adolescents Electroconvulsive Therapy pediatrics performance

The use of ECT for the pediatric population requires significant application of professional ethics in order for the process to be smooth and successful. Experts who administer ECT on psychiatric patients ought to consider the right of the patient to choose the type of treatment they want after being equipped with all the pros and cons related to the process.

Read More →
Medical Equipment

Medical Equipment

Tags: equipment oxygen PACU Post Anesthesia Care Unit T&R Transport and Relief

This article is about receiving a patient postop who required oxygen. The respiratory therapist had disconnected the oxygen and placed onto the beside portable O2 tank to administer a nebulizer treatment. After nebulizer treatment was completed the oxygen was not moved back to the wall and tank went empty. The patients oxygen dropped.

Read More →
Receiving another patient helped save my other patient...

Receiving another patient helped save my other patient...

Tags: elderly experiences nursing nursing experiences PACU

I started my day in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). I work the 7a-7p shift. It was just another routine day. I received an 84yr old female patient Mrs. R from the Main Operating Room (OR) who had undergone a Left Shoulder Replacement. Mrs. R received an interscalene block for pain in the OR and had general anesthesia. Since she was elderly and was not having good tidal volumes at the end of the case anesthesia decided to keep her on the ventilator a bit longer until she woke up more...

Read More →
Spinal Block versus Epidural Block

Spinal Block versus Epidural Block

Tags: anesthesia Epidural epidural vs spinal block Regional anesthesia Spinal Block spinal block vs epidural

Spinal anesthesia, also called spinal analgesia, sub-arachnoid block (SAB) or intrathecal, is a form of regional anesthesia involving an injection of a local anesthetic into the cerebral spinal fluid with a fine needle. The term epidural is often short for epidural anesthesia, a form of regional anesthesia involving injection of drugs through a catheter placed into the epidural space. The injection can cause both a loss of sensation (anesthesia) and a loss of pain (analgesia), by blocking the transmission of signals through nerves in or near the spinal cord.

Read More →
Get Published for Free
RN's, Nursing Students, Educators & Health Care Professionals: Submit your article, story, or research paper to be considered for publishing. Over 40,000 readers per month. It's free and always has been since we started in 2001.