[Djuna]

Kia Ora

Congratulations on your move to ED. I worked in Medical at Rotorua Hospital for a little while and also did Agency there. I hope you'll enjoy ED.

My advice is to learn to laugh because without a sense of humour ED can drive you insane. And choose an RN who is up to date in her practice and learn from her/him, they are invaluable resources.

~D

[MIA-RN]

Having made the switch myself from M/S to ER, the best thing (and hardest thing) I had to learn was to keep the pace up. On M/S you have a whole shift that you can plan for. In the ER you have a couple hours, max. Do what you need to do as soon as you know you have to do it, or barring that, as soon as you can. You don't know from minute to minute sometimes if you are going to get swamped.
And never leave without offering to help the coworkers who are staying later than you.

[cccnurse]

All of the above advise and more...

Take care of the ones with breathing troubles first, then chest pain or bleeding, you'll have to assess which one of those is worse. Put the rash X's 2 weeks in the waiting room, they may itch for a while but it's fun to watch on the security monitors.

Go buy a big bag of marbles...
Every time you learn something new, throw out a marble.
Every time a drunk or drug addict wants pain meds, throw out a marble.
Every time you get called a ***** throw out a marble.
Every time you get written up by the ancillary staff for wanting them to do their job and actually care for the patient, throw out a marble.

When you look in your bag and find that you have lost all your marbles.... Laugh hystericly so people think you need a mental health eval, and welcome yourself to our club.

[johnnrachel]

Originally Posted by JBudd

Be willing to admit when you don't know the med, treatment, procedure etc.

Be ready to act quickly, get used to assessing fast.

Welcome to the wild wierd whacky wonderful world of ER.

This pretty much sums it all up. The best advice a very experienced charge nurse gave me on my last day prior to going to my true love ER<<<< was: Remember its going to take time!!!!!! I know this sounds stupid now, however 1 year later I keep repeating that phrase in my head still!!! Good Luck and Welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[whitman]

Hey there how long ago was all that, iv'e been on medical inbetween babies for the last 10yrs, also neat to hear from across the ditch.!!

[loricatus]

The ONE best piece of advise I can add to all the other great ones already given is: Always follow your gut instinct.
Be it, asking a question, second guessing an order or a doc, getting an EKG on a patient, telling another nurse you need help, checking a med, etc. Never allow yourself to become too busy where you don't allow your gut feeling to take over and protect you or the patient.

[lillarn]

1. the more hostile the patient, the sweeter you should be. a patient can't maintain hatefulness for long in the face of real kindness. works every time.

2. the hideously bad attitudes of the poverty-stricken patients reflect a fine line between rage and humiliation. respect the fact that many people have no education and really don't know how to act. their parents and schools forgot to issue them the bootstraps they are supposed to use to elevate their station in life.

3. even frequent fliers can dissect aortic aneurysms. assume nothing.

4. you can never have too many pillows.

[UtErRnEmt]

don't tick off the ems crews. they can make your life he** and bring every pt they pick up to your er.

practice stretching out your bladder for the time where you don't get to pee for the entire shift.

learn to appreciate pizza and other foods you can eat quickly and while standing up.

most of the er nurses i work with are overbearing and can be abrasive. don't take what they say personally

enjoy the periods where you get to sit down and NEVER EVER say the
q word.

most important bring your sense of humor

[bigjim]

My best advice? Never date a girl whose father called her "Princess"

[Anagray]

Most things aren't what they seem to be . Here are some examples of what may be :
anxiety = MI, fall in the nursing home = urosepsis, etc.

Remain positive even when thing are bad - the shift will end!

ER nurses are a great bunch of people, love them and they will love you back.

congrats~