Children's hospital ER tech

Pneumothorax, BSN, RN · Jan 6, 2012

..its more runny noses, sniffles, fevers ..sprinkled with some croup, RSV and sad stuff.

the biggest thing i think to remember is to remember the parents are there & to involve them in the care as much as possible, majes life so much easier and everyone is more comfortable :)

you'll be fine-- i say go for it!! :)

nursinghopeful1111 · Jan 6, 2012

Thanks!

What is your typical day like? Are you constantly on the go? Do you feel like its a really good learning environment?

Pneumothorax, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

We do hourly rounding, doing vitals, answer call lights, assist with procedures that the attending or resident is doing. obtain ekgs, insert indwelling catheters, or straight caths, d/c IV's, draw blood. stock rooms.

In traumas we hook the patient up to the monitor and basically are the right hand of the trauma nurse and get anything they need/ assist.

In a full arrest situation, you will be doing compressions or bagging.

In triage you will be running around like a chicken with its head cut off., and you wont stop til triage slows down lol.

There is downtime, but not much, this friday night it was non stop busy from 7p until about 2-3am. but i much rather the nights go like that, because Sat. it just plain dragged out! which was boring lol.

Its an excellent learning environment. Just keep in mind everything that you have learned in nursing school goes out the window. ER is a different world/mindset than floor nursing. lol...and the like wise, techniques you learn in ER, dont really sit well with nursing instructors lol

nursinghopeful1111 · Jan 9, 2012

Thanks for the reply!

Did you have a good orientation to the floor?

I'll only be second semester THIS semester and havent drawn blood or even inserted a cath on a patient (although Ive been checked off on caths) I feel like my first semester was almost pointless (which is why id like to get this job so i can LEARN something)

Pneumothorax, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

Yes, 6 weeks of orientation all hands on, i was put thru a class for blood draws so dont worry about not knowing how. youll probably get paid for all your education time.

ya, i feel like i havent done crap in clinicals compared to all that i do at work. meds are important but all the hands on care that we have in ED, we are essentially an extention of the nurse themselves...its great.