Jennifer, RN

Jennifer, RN has 11 years experience and specializes in ER, telemetry.

Latest Activity

1. What supplies do you carry on you?

   Jennifer, RN replied to Nire83's topic in Emergency

   As a floor nurse, I carried a lot of crap with me. As an ER nurse, I have downsized, now carry stethoscope, roll of tape, trauma scissors (if I haven't lost them), carpuject (the zofran sticks, really) and maybe a flush or two.

2. NRB & COPD your input please

   Jennifer, RN replied to crb613's topic in Emergency

   I would place the patient on a NRB at 15L/min, page doctor, respiratory for bipap, call critical alert (which gets lab, xray and extra hands to the room), and get someone to bring crash cart with intubation supplies to have nearby, just in case. The...

3. Trauma roon in your ED... who gets it?

   Jennifer, RN replied to A&OxNone's topic in Emergency

   We have 2 trauma rooms. At the beginning of each shift, a trauma nurse is assigned to one of the 2 rooms. She also has 4-5 other rooms assigned. We work on teams though. A team consists of 2 nurses and 1 tech. When a trauma comes in, the other t...

4. What is your WORST ER story?

   Jennifer, RN replied to NurseMaybeBaby's topic in Emergency

   The worst thing I have seen is a woman came in by medics, 38 weeks pregnant, hypertensive 140s/90s, headache, n/v, proceeded to rapidly become more hypertensive and coded within 5 minutes of being in the ER. We were unable to get her back, emergency...

5. Questions about ENPC?

   Jennifer, RN replied to hiddencatRN's topic in Emergency

   I personally found ENPC quite valuable as an ER nurse in triaging and recognizing sick versus not sick peds patients. PALS teaches basics in resusitation of pediatric patients, but the key (unless pediatric code coming in) is to recognize signs of ...

6. Critical care drips

   Jennifer, RN replied to kc87t's topic in Emergency

   This is my favorite IV drug book by far. It is located on every PICIS in our ED and I have a copy of my own in my locker, just in case the others disappear. It is not pocket sized, but such a good reference for compatibilities, rates of administrat...

7. Trauma Room Staffing (not ratios...)

   Jennifer, RN replied to beepeadoo's topic in Emergency

   I work in a Level 2 trauma center with 2 trauma rooms, 1 designated as a pediatric room (but still able to take adult trauma as well). We have 1 nurse assigned to 1 room and another nurse assigned to the other room. On the arrival of a trauma, the ...

8. Why I'm sick of the ED

   Jennifer, RN replied to RoyalNurse's topic in Emergency

   I have a love/hate relationship with the ER. I have learned to do things as fast and safely as I can, whether that means the discharge or calling report waits, so be it. If the charge nurse, or whoever needs the bed that bad, they can get off thei...

9. Pediatric death kits

   Jennifer, RN posted a topic in Emergency

   Does your ER have some kind of kit for pediatric deaths, with stuff in it like hand print kits, hand molds, lockets for hair, etc...? What exactly does it have in it? How does your hospital handle pediatric deaths? Our ER doesn't get a lot of them...

10. Administering Narcs and nurse liability

    Jennifer, RN replied to Jennifer, RN's topic in Emergency

    this is kind of what concerns me. Monitoring patients receiving narcs is a no-brainer for nursing practice in the ER, or at least should be.

11. Administering Narcs and nurse liability

    Jennifer, RN replied to Jennifer, RN's topic in Emergency

    The patient in question was getting 2mg Dilaudid IM at a time, but got 5 doses, totaling 10mg over about a 2.5 hr period. The patient was narcotic dependent, so her tolerance was high, I'm sure. She was properly monitored by her primary nurse. Just ...

12. Administering Narcs and nurse liability

    Jennifer, RN posted a topic in Emergency

    So, after a co-worker expressed concerns about one of our ER doctors prescribing high doses of Dilaudid to a patient with chronic abd pain with frequent visits as well as a couple of past visits for polypharmacy drug overdose, I started wondering wha...

13. Hyperkalemia and order of meds

    Jennifer, RN replied to RoyalNurse's topic in Emergency

    I agree. Highest K+ I have seen is 8.6. Pt was weak and bradycardic 30 and 40's. As soon as I gave the Calcium Gluc, she immediately went up to heart rate 70's. I always give D50 before insulin as well.

14. Are ER nurses burnt out or just uncaring??

    Jennifer, RN replied to futurenurseheather's topic in Emergency

    Where I work, if you come in on a backboard with a c-collar on, it is standard practice to take the patient off the backboard immediately even before a physician is present and leave the c-collar on. Unless they are a trauma or are complaining of se...

15. How do you triage? How do you assign levels?

    Jennifer, RN replied to RhiaRN75's topic in Emergency

    Agree with this except I would probably bump the SO2 up to 95% for kids, since they really should be in the upper 90's. As a triage nurse, you have to look at your patient and make quick assessments, based on initial vital signs as well as how th...