Books to help prepare for ED Nursing

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hi everyone! Next week will be my first week working in the ED! I previously worked 2 years on a Med-Surg/Tele unit. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions of books to help me prepare? I've been reading through Critical Care Nursing Made Incredibly Easy.

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I'm a new grad who is going to start in the ED next month. Prior to this, I took an emergency nursing course in nursing school. I still have the text book for that class. It's called Sheehy's Emergency Nursing: Principles and Practices. That would probably be a good start. Also, if you haven't taken it already, take TNCC. It will really help you with trauma assessments and interventions.

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Specializes in ED, trauma.

Sheey's has a study guide as well, I used that book for everything, even though I am still a nursing student. (I rented the actual textbook, but the study guide book is super too!)

Talk to the department manager/supervisor of the department about what they think would be beneficial for their department. It will show initiative plus get you the most specific answers possible. Maybe they see a lot of pediatrics, or a lot of cardiac patients, or a lot of stroke patients, etc. It would be beneficial to brush up on the skills necessary for those patient populations most frequently seen in your ED!

Best of luck, hope to be in your shoes someday soon!

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You should buy this and always have it on you.

Learn to read EKG's and telemetry. There's a plethora of books/guides out there for EKG's. You absolutely must must MUST know your cardiac rhythms in ER.

Download Medscape and Epocrates for your phone. If you don't have a smartphone, get one. Those two apps, both free, will make your life a lot easier.

Watch how good nurses do things. If you don't understand what they're doing ask them. Never stop asking questions.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

If you have an ipad, iphone, etc. you can get some great lectures from iTunesU to keep and review whenever you want to refresh:

= UC Irvine has lectures on emergency medicine for almost everything you see coming through the doors. I believe they put out new lectures each week.

= East Tennessee State has a great ACLS lecture for refreshing your knowledge base.

Also, knowing your EKG rhythms and what to do about them is great so an online practice site I like is: ECG Simulator | SkillStat Learning - Fast, Fun and Effective!

Best part? It's free.

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Specializes in 2.

Hello. My name is Sachin. I have been a nurse 4 years now. So I am not a brand new nurse. I have done a lot of medical surgical nursing, a little bit of step down ICU in Texas. I want to enter the world of emergency nursing because I know i will be good at it. Does anyone know how to get started? Should I get my TNCC, CEN, NRP, and ATLS?

Thanks,

Sachin

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

Arrange a shadow experience. Apply for it. Worry about the rest later.

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