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Rapid Response RN — Health & Fitness
Rapid Response RN

Do you want to go from dreading emergencies to feeling confident and ready to jump into action to rescue your patient?
Well, this show will let you see emergencies unfold through the eyes of a Rapid Response Nurse. With real life stories from the frontlines of nursing, host Sarah Lorenzini MSN, RN, CCRN, CEN, a Rapid Response Nurse and educator, shares her experiences at rapid response events and breaks down the pathophysiology, pharmacology, and the important role the nurse plays during emergencies.

If you want to sharpen your assessment skills and learn how to think like a Rapid Response Nurse, then Sarah is here to share stories, tips, tricks, and mindsets that will prepare you to approach any emergency.

Every episode is packed full of exactly what you need to know to handle whatever crisis that could arise on your shift. It’s one thing to get the right answer on the test, but knowing how to detect when YOUR patient is declining and what to do when YOUR patient is crashing is what will make or break your day… and might just save your patient’s life.

Copyright: © Copyright 2025 Sarah Lorenzini

Latest Episodes:

69: Diuretic Induced Metabolic Alkalosis with Guest Annie RN Sep 08, 2023

Show notes

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 she was treated! Hint: today, we’re talking all about diuretic induced metabolic alkalosis.

To start off this episode, Annie recaps her patient’s story, walks us through the patient’s VBG results, and how they arrived at a diagnosis of metabolic alkalosis. Sarah then breaks down the pathophysiology of diuretic induced metabolic alkalosis, including what causes it at the cellular level and how to treat the condition. They specifically talk about contraction alkalosis, and how it’s possible for a patient to be both intravascularly dry but extravascularly still fluid volume overloaded.

Sarah and Annie also discuss the patient’s mild leukocytosis, the clinician’s decision to NOT prescribe antibiotics after a positive urinalysis, and their thoughts on antibiotic stewardship and critical thinking in diagnostics.

Listen to part two of this mystery series to find out how to treat metabolic alkalosis from diuretics, and find out if there’s anything you can do to look out for its symptoms!

Topics discussed in this episode:

How Annie’s patient presented and her initial treatment
The results of the patient's VBG
What can cause metabolic alkalosis and its symptoms
Intravascular vs extravascular fluid volume status
Contraction alkalosis and how to treat it
How Annie’s patient was treated
The right time to stop and start diuresis on a patient
Why the patient’s clinician declined to give antibiotics
The debate on sepsis mimics

Listen to Annie Fulton’s Up My Nursing Game Podcast: http://www.upmynursinggame.com/

Connect with Annie Fulton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upmynursinggame/

Mentioned in this episode:

Coming Soon! Rapid Response Academy: The Heart and Science of Caring for the Sick

Click here to learn more about the community that Sarah is building: https://www.rapidresponseandrescue.com/community

68: MYSTERY EPISODE With Guest Annie Fulton RN Sep 01, 2023

Show notes

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 Response RN Podcast guest, Annie Fulton, to unravel a patient case study of one of Annie’s patients, but we won’t be revealing the diagnosis just yet.

Sarah and Annie discuss why the patient was admitted to the hospital, Annie’s initial analysis of the patient, medications that were administered, the patient’s vital signs, and physical assessment findings, as well as when and why Annie became concerned for the patient and why she had ruled out sepsis from the diagnosis.

In this mystery episode, we won’t be giving away the actual diagnosis. Instead, for this week we will be leaving you all to try and guess what you think the diagnosis is, and we will reveal the answer in next week’s episode!

Tune in to hear about Annie’s patient, and be sure to check out next week’s episode for the diagnosis reveal!

Topics discussed in this episode:

A little bit about Annie and how her and Sarah met
What Annie’s patient was admitted for
Annie’s initial assessment of her patient
What caused Annie to realize something was wrong with her patient
The patient’s vital signs and how she was flagged for SIRS
Why Annie didn’t think the patient had sepsis

Listen to Annie Fulton’s Up My Nursing Game Podcast: http://www.upmynursinggame.com/

Connect with Annie Fulton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upmynursinggame/

67: Battling Nursing Burnout: Interview with Nurse Burnout Coach Janna Holterman Part 2 Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

“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 tasks and making sure patients are getting their medication on time. It’s easy to lose sight of that if you’ve been at it for a while, so reminding yourself to look for those special moments to create beauty in your job as a nurse, is crucial to avoiding burnout and staying fulfilled.

This is what Sarah and Janna discuss in today’s episode to hopefully provide some insight for those who are experiencing burnout or are almost there. Being aware of burnout and how to deal with it is important, not only for you as a nurse to provide the best care possible, but for your own health, longevity, and overall quality of life.

So tune in for a discussion on how to find the beauty in nursing again so you can be the much needed light in a dark room.

Topics discussed in this episode:

How to balance being passive vs. taking a stance
Practicing feeling neutral
The need for nurses to see their patient get better
Importance of looking for the beauty in nursing
The difference between a life coach, therapist, counselor, and fitness trainer
What Janna has to say to nurses who are burnt out

Learn more about Nurse Janna and her burnout coaching services on her website! www.jannaholterman.com

Connect with Nurse Janna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jannaholtermancoaching/

66: Who is Advocating For You? Interview with Nurse Burnout Coach Janna Holterman Part 1 Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

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 ability to push your own needs to the side, they will always catch up with you, whether it’s in the form of an emotional breakdown or apathy towards other parts of your life.

Host Sarah Lorenzini is speaking with Nurse Burnout Coach Janna Holterman in a special two-part series! In this first episode, Janna shares her personal experience with burnout, the symptoms of burnout, and how she helps clients address them.

Janna and Sarah go over tools for overcoming burnout, and how to recognize you’re experiencing burnout and not just normal stress.

If you’re in search of the “perfect” nursing job, stop looking now because there isn’t one. However, YOU have the power to love nursing again and leave work with enough energy to live a happy, healthy life.

Tune in now to learn how to get started!

Topics discussed in this episode:

Janna’s nursing career and experiences with burnout
How she dealt with her own burnout and became a coach
Stress versus burnout
Signs of burnout
How to decide when it’s time to leave a job
The first step to fighting burnout
4 tools for burnout recovery and healing

Learn more about Nurse Janna and her burnout coaching services on her website! www.jannaholterman.com

Connect with Nurse Janna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jannaholtermancoaching/

65: Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: Severe Symptoms That Make Coming Off Benzos So Difficult Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

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 anxious and can’t calm down? Are there other ways to calm your patient down without giving them medication?

These are the questions Sarah wants to explore in the second part of this series, as well as how severe benzodiazepine withdrawal can be. Sarah presents an example of a patient who was going through benzodiazepine withdrawal and how the symptoms were so severe it almost looked like the patient was experiencing a heart attack.

Learn more about benzodiazepines and how you can play an important role in preventing benzodiazepine dependance.

Tune in for this and more!

Topics discussed in this episode:

The signs and symptoms Sarah’s patient was experiencing
How Sarah concluded the patient was in benzo withdrawal
Mild, moderate, and severe benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms
Sarah’s change of perspective on benzodiazepines
How someone is weaned off of benzodiazepines
What to do if your patient is prescribed benzodiazepines
Alternative interventions to treat an anxious patient

64: Benzodiazepine Overdose: Recognition and Treatment When It's an Emergency Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

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 detective skills and asking the right questions to get a full picture is crucial to treating the patient effectively, which is what Sarah wants to share in today’s episode.

In this episode, you will hear which questions Sarah asked in order to understand the patient’s situation and medical history, as well as the critical thinking required at each step to give you a better idea of how the pieces of the puzzle are found and how they’re put together. You will also hear what type of treatment works for benzodiazepine overdose and what doesn’t, and much more!

You don’t want to miss this one!

Topics discussed in this episode:

The state the patient arrived to the ER and Sarah’s initial assessment
Questions Sarah asked the patient’s roommate
How working in medicine requires being an investigator and counselor
How Flumazenil works and why it was not administered
A list of the signs and symptoms of a benzodiazepine overdose
Tips on how to treat a benzodiazepine overdose

63: The Science and Heart of Organ Donation: An Exclusive Interview With Sean, an Organ Procurement Nurse Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

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). Together they discuss the procedures that optimize organs for procurement and transplant, and how they’re allocated.

Nurse Sean has a ton of knowledge about this not so well known aspect of Nursing. By the end of this interview you’ll know how long organs can be preserved after procurement, the best way to approach a family about organ donation, and MORE. Plus, he’s debunking myths about what makes a good candidate for organ donation, and what misconceptions families may need to be educated on.

Tune in to find out what the role of an organ procurement nurse really is, and hear Nurse Sean’s top tips for patient advocacy and approaching families!

Topics discussed in this episode:

What led Nurse Sean into nursing and the transplant ICU
The process of getting a person ready for organ donation
How organs are allocated and teams coordinated
What causes the “dry run”
Procurement of organs in brain dead patients vs DCD patients
The important role of nurses in organ donation
Memorable experiences with organ donation from Sean and Sara
What nurses should know about organ donation
Educating families on the organ donation experience
How to (not) bring up organ donation to your patient/their family
What honor walks mean to patients, families and staff
How to be a patient advocate for organ donation

Connect with Nurse Sean at www.nursedose.org!

Listen to Sean’s podcast, "Nurse Dose Podcast", on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4M47ev6YzUfXrpuPvSzZQn?si=77327f23e05d4ff9

Check out his Etsy for device cheat sheets and ICU resources: www.etsy.com/shop/nursedosepodcast

62: Resuscitation Leadership: Beyond the ABCs of CODE BLUE Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

“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, especially those just starting out. However, you don’t necessarily need years of experience under your belt to be a great leader in a code situation, which is what Sarah wants to share with you all today!

In this episode, you will hear a detailed example of what a good leader in a resuscitation situation embodies, what their role is, what tasks are needed, the level of importance of each task, and how to delegate tasks, as well as how to debrief your team.

This information is invaluable to anyone who is in healthcare, even if you are still in nursing school or just starting your nursing career and you don’t necessarily think of yourself as a leader, this episode is still for you!

Tune in for this and more!

Topics discussed in this episode:

The last thing you should be doing as a leader
Rescuer one, two, three method
Less crucial, yet important tasks that need to be assigned
Closed loop communication and why it is important
Why you should think out loud as a leader
The importance of giving kudos even in an emergency situation
Debriefing as a priority and how to do it
How to lead a moment of silence (or honor) after an unsuccessful code
Using your sympathetic nervous system to your advantage

61: Infective Endocarditis Part 2: Understanding Valvular Damage, Embolic Sequelae, and Clinical Manifestations Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

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 for when you’ve diagnosed infective endocarditis.

You’ll also learn the areas of the body that can be affected by endocarditis, the diagnostic criteria, and what conditions can predispose a patient to infective endocarditis. Sarah covers the critical role that nurses can play in treating these at-risk patients and how education and compassion can make the biggest difference in the patient’s long term outcome.

Make sure you’re prepared to recognize the signs and symptoms of infective endocarditis and tune into this episode now!

Topics discussed in this episode:

What predisposes a patient to infective endocarditis
Why and how bacteria starts to form
What happens after bacteria has invaded the body
How endocarditis can lead to dysrhythmias
The formation of mobile septic emboli and their danger
How infective endocarditis presents in a patient
Common symptoms of infective endocarditis
How the diagnosis of infective endocarditis is made
The two treatment options for infective endocarditis
The Nurse’s role in caring for this patient population

60: Infective Endocarditis: From Invasion to Destruction Jul 07, 2023

Show notes

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 case by explaining how bacteria or fungus grows inside the cardiac muscle, how infective endocarditis presents itself in patients, and the different diagnostic criteria for endocarditis.

Topics discussed in this episode:

Clayton’s concern over a patient’s drop in blood pressure
Steps Sarah took to assess the patient
What they found after calling for an expedited echo for the patient
What is infective endocarditis?
Introduction into infective endocarditis

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