How does AFib RVR escalate into a life-threatening situation in just 30 minutes? Join host Sarah Lorenzini as she reflects on a perplexing case of sympathetic crashing acute pulmonary edema, also known as flash pulmonary edema. This patient’s rapid deterioration led to an emergency intubation that perplexed the rapid response team, but the patient's true condition became clear in hindsight. In this episode, Sarah walks us through the case, sharing the patient's presentation and medical history, ...
Dec 08, 2023•19 min
Host Sarah Lorenzini and Christian Guzman APRN are back to conclude this three-part heart failure series by examining the use of mechanical circulatory support for cardiogenic shock. This episode expands on the topics covered in previous parts, focusing on the application of mechanical circulatory support methods like the intra-aortic balloon pump, Impella, CentriMag, LVADs, and ECMO. Christian and Sarah review the risks and benefits of each device, when to use them, and the key factors that imp...
Dec 01, 2023•40 min
Building on last week’s introduction to heart failure, this episode explores the nuances in the medical management of cardiogenic shock. Host Sarah Lorenzini and Christian Guzman APRN continue this three-part heart failure series by completing the case study of a patient in cardiogenic shock, and breaking down key treatment concepts and strategies. They discuss goal-directed therapy to optimize heart function, with a specific focus on the vital aspects of contractility, afterload, and preload, a...
Nov 24, 2023•35 min
During a normal day gardening, an active woman in her 60s was suddenly struck with chest tightness. Thinking it was just an asthma attack, she tried to let the pain pass. What she didn’t realize was that she was having a full blown myocardial infarction, and this was only the beginning of her journey. In this episode, host Sarah Lorenzini is joined by her friend, Christian Guzman APRN, to discuss this patient story and the pathophysiology of heart failure. As they go through this case study, Chr...
Nov 17, 2023•44 min
Have you ever started a new and promising job, only to discover that it wasn’t the nurturing and supportive space you thought it was? In this episode, host Sarah Lorenzini, armed with nearly two decades of nursing experience in various departments and leadership roles, provides a guideline to spotting the red and green flags that can signal a healthy or hostile workplace. Sarah explores what makes a healthy work environment, beyond reputation and first impressions, as she does a deep dive into t...
Nov 10, 2023•21 min
You may already be familiar with the trauma triad… but in this episode, host Sarah Lorenzini is once again joined by her friend and critical care nurse and educator, Sarah Vance to break down a 4th component to trauma resuscitation. Last week, they discussed the treatment of a trauma patient with neuro and respiratory injuries, but today they’re getting into the “blood and guts” of trauma cases as Sarah Vance RN walks us through a multiple gunshot wound case study. Similar to last week’s patient...
Nov 03, 2023•24 min
If you hear “trauma” and immediately think of blood and guts, this episode with host Sarah Lorenzini’s friend, critical care nurse and educator Sarah Vance, will show you that there’s so much more to trauma cases. Because even localized injuries can affect the whole body, and issues can pile up and require conflicting treatments. That’s why trauma cases require an advanced level of assessment and critical thinking skills. During this episode, Sarah Vance RN tells the story of a patient who was a...
Oct 27, 2023•36 min
Every nurse knows the havoc chemotherapy wreaks on the body, but most nurses aren’t as knowledgeable on how to treat chemo reactions as, say, chemo or oncology nurses. Even host Sarah Lorenzini is slightly intimidated by unpredictable reactions from chemotherapy! That’s why this episode is centered around those super scary chemotherapy reactions and how to treat them. To help us dive further into this topic, Sarah is speaking with another rapid response nurse, Montana RN. He has a dramatic patie...
Oct 20, 2023•30 min
In this episode of Rapid Response RN , host Sarah Lorenzini is joined by Casey BSN, RN, CCRN-CMC, CFRN, CTRN, CEN, TCRN, CPEN, CNRN, NRP. And yes, you read her title right — Casey has a whopping eight certifications and is one of the few nurses with ALL five BCEN certifications. And she’s using her knowledge and skills to advocate for her patients and teach others. Today, Casey tells the story of a patient who came into the ER after a fall and was later diagnosed with a basilar skull fracture. C...
Oct 13, 2023•34 min
Intubation is a life-saving intervention, but it can also kill your patient! That’s why this follow-up episode to last week’s patient story is covering the process of intubation, what can go wrong and how nurses can mitigate risk factors to avoid bad outcomes like cardiac arrest. In part two of this intubation series, host Sarah Lorenzini details proper intubation preparation and the role of nurses during intubation. She walks through the entire process from assembling a team to what supplies an...
Oct 06, 2023•34 min
Patients get intubated in every department of the hospital… not just the ICU. So it’s important that every nurse know the signs and symptoms of when it’s time to intubate. Our host Sarah Lorenzini, has been asked the same type of questions about intubation multiple times this week, so we felt it was necessary to address them. Sarah’s extensive knowledge and experience in critical care and rapid response situations has prepared her to be able to provide expertise and insights on this topic, which...
Sep 29, 2023•16 min
September is Sepsis Awareness Month, so host Sarah Lorenzini is throwing it back to one of the earliest Rapid Response RN podcast episodes with guest Yesha APRN. This episode tells the story of a patient with sepsis, and it’s one of Sarah’s favorite episodes because it exemplifies all of the classic signs and symptoms of sepsis as well as the important role the nurse plays in caring for septic patients. Last week, you learned about fluid resuscitation and the potential harm of fluid overload in ...
Sep 22, 2023•39 min
Often when a patient’s blood pressure has dropped, we administer fluids without truly knowing the exact reason for the change. Does the patient have low volume, were they vasodilating, or is their heart not squeezing effectively? Fluid resuscitation is not always the answer, but there’s no clear guideline to assess patients without advanced tools that take time and specialists. Enter the FloPatch from Flosonics, an innovative device that quickly measures blood flow in real time. Fluids can cause...
Sep 15, 2023•37 min
We often are looking for an acidosis when patients present with lethargy but what about when it’s an alkalosis!? In last week’s episode with Annie Fulton RN of the “Up My Nursing Game” podcast, she and host Sarah Lorenzini presented a patient story but left the diagnosis a mystery. You heard why Annie’s patient was admitted and her initial assessment, what caused her to think something more was going on, and why she ruled out sepsis as a diagnosis. Now, find out what her diagnosis was and how sh...
Sep 08, 2023•27 min
Can you guess what was causing this patient’s unexpected symptoms? This episode is a little different from the rest, thanks to you, our listeners, for submitting your suggestions and ideas for how these episodes should go, because we are all ears! One of our listeners suggested we do a mystery episode (thanks Shannon!), and we thought it was brilliant! So, on today’s episode, our host Sarah Lorenzini invites back, podcast host of Up My Nursing Game, registered nurse, friend, and former Rapid Res...
Sep 01, 2023•14 min
“If you look for the bad, you’ll always find it. If you look for the good, you’ll always find it.” - Sarah’s grandmother In the second part of our two part series on nursing burnout, our host Sarah Lorenzini continues her conversation with Nurse Burnout Coach Janna Holterman, where they discuss how to reframe your mindset as a nurse to deal with burnout. We go to nursing school because we want to help people who are suffering and provide care on a heart centered level, not just by fulfilling tas...
Aug 25, 2023•18 min
Nurses are trained to put their patients first, and that oftentimes results in forgoing their own needs. Skipping out on fundamental needs like sleeping and eating healthy meals lead nurses to feel emotionally and physically exhausted, eventually leading to burnout and loss of love for the job. Nurses spend so much time advocating for patients but forget that it’s equally as important to advocate for themselves. As today’s guest will remind you, “what you resist persists.” Even if you have the a...
Aug 18, 2023•27 min
Welcome to part two of our series on benzodiazepines where we will be discussing the other side of benzodiazepines: the challenges of withdrawal. As healthcare providers, you are taught that benzodiazepines are in fact safe, but our host Sarah Lorenzini wants to offer a different perspective. Do we really need to be administering benzodiazepines as freely as we are taught in school? Of course for life or death situations it is a no brainer, but what about those moments when your patient is just ...
Aug 15, 2023•13 min
In part one of the two part series on benzodiazepines, our host Sarah Lorenzini presents us with a case study about how she treated a benzodiazepine overdose during her time working as an ER Nurse. She walks us through the state her patient was in when she arrived at the hospital and the steps she took when assessing the patient and how to treat her, as well as her thought process along the way. Benzodiazepine overdoses are a little tricky. All the pieces of the puzzle matter, so having good det...
Aug 04, 2023•11 min
One facet of nursing that we don’t learn much about in nursing school is organ donation. It’s such a rewarding experience to help give a person back their life, as you’ll hear from our host and today’s guest. In this episode, Sarah is speaking with Nurse Sean, organ procurement nurse and host of the “Nurse Dose Podcast.” He goes over the process of organ donation from start to finish, including procuring organs from a patient who is brain dead and also from donors after cardiac death (DCD). Toge...
Jul 28, 2023•44 min
“Leadership is not a title. Leadership is influence.” Our host Sarah Lorenzini wants to highlight a question that nurses are regularly asking her to answer on the Rapid Response Podcast: how can we be better leaders during resuscitation where a fast coordinated effort is necessary? Knowing your place as a leader, knowing how to delegate and communicate, as well as having the ability to channel your inevitable fight or flight response into peak performance, may feel daunting to a lot of nurses, e...
Jul 21, 2023•18 min
Last week, Sarah shared the story of a patient who was finally diagnosed with infective endocarditis after presenting with several symptoms, including fever, tachypnea, chest pain, hypotension and more. In this episode, she’ll further explain how the patient was diagnosed and the pathophysiology of this type of infection. Sarah goes over how septic emboli form, and the clinical manifestations that result when they travel in the body as well as the risks and signs of valvular damage to look out f...
Jul 14, 2023•20 min
In part one of this two part series, our host Sarah Lorenzini shares a story about a patient she was called to see who was under the care of nurse Clayton, a trusted colleague and previous Rapid Response Podcast guest, after he saw a drop in the patient’s blood pressure and had a gut feeling something wasn’t right. Sarah walks us through her assessment and how the team came to the conclusion that this patient had infective endocarditis. In part two of this series, Sarah will elaborate on this ca...
Jul 07, 2023•11 min
Our nursing professors cautioned us about the risk of not using proper technique when removing central lines, their warnings sometimes seeming dramatic and unlikely. That’s why this previously released interview with Nurse Marissa is such an important story, because sometimes those rare cases DO happen! In this episode, Marissa tells the story of a patient that was admitted for her mental status, lethargy and hyperkalemia. She seemed to improve but then became unresponsive, and the rapid respons...
Jun 23, 2023•24 min
When we speak about narcotic overdoses, the first thing we think about is the administration of Narcan or Naloxone. However, our host Sarah Lorenzini shares how that shouldn’t always be the first thing we reach for. Sarah wants to share why Narcan is her absolute last resort, and why she tries to avoid administering it at all cost. Narcan, or Naloxone, is used to counteract the effects of opioids in the system and while it may help the patient breathe faster, it also blocks the effects of the na...
Jun 16, 2023•17 min
Nurses are trained to treat and save lives, but hospice nurses focus on a different set of skills. As host Sarah says in this episode as she speaks with Hadley Vlahos, RN, “fixing isn’t the only great thing we can do as nurses.” In this episode and her new book, The In-Between, Hadley shares what it’s like to care for patients that are dying and what she’s learned from their end of life wisdom. She offers insight into what to expect as a patient is passing, what type of vernacular to use with gr...
Jun 09, 2023•35 min
The American Association of Critical Care Nurses hosts an annual conference called NTI. Sarah and her team were able to attend NTI 2023 and they’re all recapping their experiences at the 4-day event in the episode! Sarah is joined by her team, Walker, Elisabeth, and Ashley, as well as special guest, ICU Nurse Sarah. They recorded each night to share the key takeaways from each day of the conference, from the wonderful people they met and inspirational speakers to the educational lessons in their...
Jun 02, 2023•41 min
Arterial Blood Gas interpretation is tricky if you aren’t regularly looking at them, and a lot of the information out there makes it really confusing. In today’s episode, you will hear a palatable explanation on what you need to know when looking at ABGs, how the kidneys and lungs work together to maintain pH balance, and examples that will help you wrap your head around all of it. If you have been looking for a simple explanation of ABGs, this is definitely the episode for you. So be sure to tu...
May 26, 2023•13 min
Concluding this two-part series on acute respiratory distress syndrome, Sarah and Christian Guzman APRN focus on the treatment options of ARDS and how you can make a difference in the outcome of ARDS patients. They cover the pros and cons of deep sedation, early paralysis, inhaled vasodilators, steroids and more. You’ll also learn about the rationale for prone position therapy and ECMO. Topics discussed in this episode: Pharmacological interventions for ARDS Pros and Cons to sedation and paralyt...
May 19, 2023•34 min
Sarah is welcoming back Christian Guzman APRN on the show for a two-part series on acute respiratory distress syndrome, otherwise known as ARDS. Don’t know how to properly diagnose ARDS, or treat it without further damaging the lungs? This episode will answer your questions! Christian shares the case of a patient who presented with abnormal symptoms for his age, and how they reached an ARDS diagnosis. ARDS is a secondary diagnosis, so you’ll also hear how to differentiate between ARDS and other ...
May 12, 2023•45 min
