New grad ER links....

Don't forget this one:

ER 101 - Routes/Meds/Terms

I want to go into ER as a new grad, thanks for all the info...

i have amazing days and terrible days but i am LOVING being a new grad in the ER... i love it more than any of my clinical placements, and i am glad i followed my heart.

these links were all amazing and helped me to be more confident about my choice, as well as helped me survive my first month getting to know everyone on the floor...

my tips:

1) everyone says it but: ASK AS MANY QUESTIONS AS YOU HAVE. yes, you will be annoying, but most nurses will not hate you for it. they expect you to be annoying. even if it's something stupid and you realize you know the answer, you can just say "oh yeah, duh... thanks for reminding me!"... but it has made me learn SO MUCH.

2) be HUMBLE. no one wants a know-it-all on the floor... i have deep respect for all the nuses on my floor, and i realize that their years of experience are more important than any amount of school education ever... i think the nurses i work with realize how much a cherish what they teach me, from little tips to important concepts.

3) don't be fake... especially in the ER, nurses can smell BS from a mile away HA HA HA.

4) do things ONE AT A TIME... as you grow & learn you can cut corners, but make sure you focus on one order/one step at a time or you will get confused... trust me! even experienced nurses need to "take it down a notch" and just focus on one at a time sometimes. MOST people really can wait.

5) don't worry about not having that 'sense' to know when patients are crashing or are really sick. i did not think i could tell at all... but you will know it when you see it! and don't be afaid to have another nurse to peek at your pt if they look 'funny' or 'off'.

6) YOU WILL BE SLOWER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. but still try not to panic and rush.... that's how you make mistakes. you will become faster. it's frustrating... VERY frustrating sometimes (trying to get bloods and do an IV while your other patients need things, you feel like you will never catch up). but it will come.

7) don't be afraid of the docs. get used to talking to them sooner than later. they're just people! we are actually lucky in the ER, we don't have to worry about paging the docs, they are right there to just casually ask things. some will be nice, some won't... it's life. but it's for your patient, so it is your job. blushing won't kill you, ha ha.

8) take time to WASH YOUR HANDS, often. it's easy to skip this when you're so busy, and many nurses don't do it as often in the ER as other floors, but TRUST ME, get in the habit. my preceptor taught me to never touch a patient for ANYTHING without gloves on... except maybe taking tape or bandages off, that gets tricky.

9) try to meet everyone! from the unit clerk, to bedbooking, to the porters, EVERYONE is sooo important to know and communicate on the floor... even just learning where stuff is, non-nurse staff is able to help in a pinch, and it is nice to know their names!

10) you can do it if i can. no one feels like more of a spazzy nevous nuse than me, but i WANT to be good at it, and i feel like i AM going to be! i love to go home and look up stuff... the learning curve has been HUGE! but i feel lucky... i can't wait to be as smart as the other nurses on my floor.... even after a YEAR i can't imagine how much smarter i'll be... i feel like i have seen a little bit of everything!

Good advice I had questions about being a new grad in the ED but you pretty much answered them all in your testimonial.

As a new-to-the-ER nurse (previously exp'd in med/surg/peds, behavioral health, and corrections -- woohoo!), I'd like to share some links that I felt were very valuable, some are old bookmarks from nursing school and some are ones I've run across when wanting to review something or look something up to brush up on lab values, etc.

http://www.ccmtutorials.com/intro/whatis/index.htm
Critical Care medicine Tutorials -- yeah, it says Crit-care. No, you don't have to be a CCRN to utilize! There's tons of great info on Shock, Sepsis, Respiratory issues (Oxygen, PEEP, ventilation), etc. It's actually been around awhile and I think the person who created it forgot to complete it, but the stuff that IS there is wonderful.

http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/ecg/index.html
ECG / EKG learning center -- 12-step process, VERY thorough explanation of ECGs!

http://www.icufaqs.org/
Another ICU help-site but some great topics i.e. Labs, pacemakers, arrhythmias and EKGs, IVs, NG's, chest tubes, etc. LOTS of topics, all in word files for easy reading.

http://rnceus.com/abgs/abgmethod.html
Easy way to interpret Arterial Blood Gases (ABGs)! Also check out the home site, http://rnceus.com, for a lot of topics that they provide CEUs for -- the info is free (I believe) to view, the only way you have to pay is if you want to take the test to get the CEUs. Several useful subjects are covered.

Hope someone finds at least one of those helpful besides me!

-A

Thank you so very much for putting this thread together and all the subsequent posts! I will start in the ER in a week and am so nervous... yet excited too! The info in this thread is priceless. Thanks!

Thank you guys so much for your input. I am to the ED, but I am not a new nurse. I am a pediatric emergency room nurse (basically a newbie). I have been practicing pediatric nursing for 9+ years, and I just feel so lost at times. I would ask myself, am I going to retain all of this?? So I thank all of you for your advice and I welcome all advice as well.

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This thread is awesome! Thanks to everyone that put it together. I started out as a student intern in the ER during LVN school, started as an LVN this past April, and am working during RN school in the ER. It is a stressful place as a new grad, but good stress (if that is possible). I love working in the ER and yeah, I feel so annoying always asking questions - but I am learning so much and really enjoying what I do. It's nice to receive passed down info and encouragement as a new grad in the ER... I am so scared about finally graduating in two months from RN school and picking up more responsibility in the ER, but I look forward to it so much at the same time. Any words of wisdom are really appreciated. Congrats to any other new grads in the ER! Thanks again to everyone for all the information contained in these threads!
StudentNurseCali~

Thank you for all this valuable information