I have been reading the emergency forums for a long time. I love reading, just because this is the area that I will be going into once I finish my BSN in May.
I just wanted to say "wow". In the 6 hours that I was there on Monday, I have 24 patients in my room, and the other nurses were running in their rooms too. I got 3 IV starts, 2 foleys, and lots of portable cxrays. I also had my first experience with a drug-seeking frequent flier.
She came in with mysterious chest pains. was "allergic" to all NSAIDS. Funny thing was, she only seemed to be in pain when I was walking by her. While I was in another room, she would talk, laugh, etc, but as soon as I would walk in, she would start moaning, and clutching her chest. Finally, the doc had me give her ativan... 30 minutes later she reported that pains were much worse, and had moved from being dull to sharp-stabing pains. So, i got to watch an EKG... which was perfectly normal. I told her that the doc would be back in soon, and she could talk to him about her meds. Then, she says "I dont want to talk to him, why dont you suggest that he give me that drug that starts an "M", that is the only thing that will work, but I cant remember the name of it". "You mean morphine?" I asked, "YES, that is only thing that ever works" she stated. Surely my FIRST thought with an M drug for this patient would have been methadone, but sure, morphine would make this patient happy too. I went to the doc with my concerns, who promptly discharged her... with a prescription for Ativan :)
So that was my first 6 hours... then I came home :)
I have 2 12 hour shifts this comming weekend again. I can't wait to see what I get into then :)
The best thing about it, my preceptor is WONDERFUL! This just makes me feel that much more confident that I made a good choice with accepting a job in the ER for after graduation. I just felt like I "belonged" there.
Thanks to everyone to encouraged me in this area :)
