Let me tell you a little secret–nursing students LOVE mnemonics. There would be absolutely no way to store all of the information we need to know without them. You’ve got the basics like “ADPIE” (which is the nursing process: assessment, diagnosis, planning, intervention, and evaluation) and “OLDCARTS” (the attributes of a symptom: onset, location, duration, characteristics, aggravating factors, relieving factors, timing, and severity). Some others I’ve picked up so far are “Nancy Reagan, RN” (how to draw up a mixed insulin dose–air into NPH, air into Regular, draw up Regular, then draw up NPH); “LAB RAT” (left atrium: biscuspid; right atrium: tricuspid–which I always used to mix up!); and there are about gillion different ones for cranial nerves. I like “Olympic Opium Occupies Troubled Triathletes After Finishing Vegas Gambling Vacations Still High”–olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear/acoustic, glossopharyngeal, vagus, spinal accessory, and hypoglossal. Tonight, I learned a new one to add to the list–VEAL CHOP–which relates to fetal heart rate.
Variable decels => Cord compression (usually a change in mother’s position helps)
Early decels => Head compression (decels mirror the contractions; this is not a sign of fetal problems)
Accelerations => O2 (baby is well oxygenated–this is good)
Late decels => Placental utero insufficiency (this is bad and means there is decreased perfusion of blood/oxygen/nutrients to the baby). You’ll also hear/see this called “uteroplacental insufficiency,” but VEAL CHOU just doesn’t have the same ring to it does it?
And that’s our lesson for today folks. It’s only the first lecture but so far I think I’m really going to like this class. My professor is really on the ball and I actually didn’t mind that she kept us until the last minute of class because the material was interesting and I felt like I was actually learning something–like the stages of labor (not to be confused with the phases which all occur during the 1st stage) and the 5 P’s (powers, passage, passenger, psyche, and position). I think I’m almost ready to catch a baby–clinical starts on Saturday! 🙂
The Dog Ate My Care Plan... 