ER nurses bringing pts to the floor soiled

[garn12]

at my hospital this is becoming a norm. im wondering is this a common unethical practice seen alot by nurses elsewhere? i find it really disrespectful and inconsiderate to floor nurses.

[CrossCountryRN2008]

Plus how disrespectful to the patient

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

There's probably a lot more going on than you realize- did the patient soil himself during transport? Was the patient in a hallway bed where there was no privacy for cleaning? What is the patient load in the ER- are they insanely backed up and need to make room to get that critical MI or trauma patient in? Don't get me wrong, patients should be cleaned ASAP, but it's not always possible to get everything done before the patient needs to be moved.

[garn12]

i can see your point but the situation begins to seem unfair when it happens alot to nurses on different units. it appears sketchy when the pt arrives to the unit with bundles of blankets as a way to confine the smell. i just dont like getting report on a patient and then they arrive with a pleasant surprise while moving them from the stretcher to a clean bed. Sometimes these pts are in the ER for hours and you can tell old poop and old urine

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I've seen this routinely... patients who were in the ER for HOURS and come to the floor with stool and period blood all up their backs because no one bothered to even check them. It was also typical for STAT meds that were ordered at 6PM to have not been given before the patient arrived to the floor at 10PM... like a patient came in seizing and bolus doses of AEDs were ordered and not given. Fortunately I don't work in the hospital anymore.

[RainMom]

Simply being soiled doesn't bother me much....unless they are still in their street clothes/pajamas.

Or they are my female hip fx coming up with no order for a foley.

[DedHedRN]

I would be concerned about this only for the pt sake. Its not normal to sit around in ones own urine and feces, and I am sure they must feel absolutely horrible about it. Maybe your hospital needs to look into having aides in the ER if this is happening often. I would bring this up with quality each time it happens right when it happens.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

Our ER sends patients to us soiled all the time. They are seldom put in a gown~ almost always arrive in their street clothes, soiled. They do as little as humanly possible, and they get away with it. Complaining or talking to someone about it has amounted to zero influence. Plus, the ER has nursing assistants, while we in the ICU do not!

[Emergent, RN]

That's a drag. I'm an ER nurse. We've been told to put all admits in a gown before sending upstairs.

Sometimes it's insanely busy. But sometimes my coworkers are sitting around, the ER is dead, and they still act indignant that the floor won't take pts quickly. Some ER nurses are not sympathetic to the plight of the busy floor nurses.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

I've seen this routinely... patients who were in the ER for HOURS and come to the floor with stool and period blood all up their backs because no one bothered to even check them. It was also typical for STAT meds that were ordered at 6PM to have not been given before the patient arrived to the floor at 10PM... like a patient came in seizing and bolus doses of AEDs were ordered and not given. Fortunately I don't work in the hospital anymore.

That is just awful...

[TU RN, DNP, CRNA]

At my hospital it's not patients coming up soiled, but all the AC IV sites. The patients have other sites, but the AC is an easy stick to send the person up and fill the bed again. There's no way every patient has an MI or stroke behind them. No offense to the ED RNs or anything, I might even want to work there some day, but whatever is perpetrating this quick-fix, gets-the-job-done mentality needs to stop. "Oh the floor nurses have all the time in the world they'll figure a new IV out when this AC site infiltrates 30 minutes post placement."

[Emergent, RN]

At my hospital it's not patients coming up soiled, but all the AC IV sites. The patients have other sites, but the AC is an easy stick to send the person up and fill the bed again. There's no way every patient has an MI or stroke behind them. No offense to the ED RNs or anything, I might even want to work there some day, but whatever is perpetrating this quick-fix, gets-the-job-done mentality needs to stop. "Oh the floor nurses have all the time in the world they'll figure a new IV out when this AC site infiltrates 30 minutes post placement."

A good number of pts arriving in the ER are dehydrated, making them a harder start than a pt who's been admitted. Just keep that in mind before passing judgement. And, we try to get labs with our starts, much easier from a larger vessel.