ER overflow

[NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN]

I would like input. Did you ever work in a hospital where there were more patients than there were open rooms for them to go into? Right now, we place those patients in a hold area and treat them just like we would any bedded patient. The problem is staffing. We have no set hold area staff because census is so unpredictable. So we end up pulling nurses from all units to staff that area. Of course this is causing a problem because we end up working short. I'm even offering bonuses for nurses to to work the hold area. But they are just tired of it.

Maybe you have worked somewhere with a good system to staff overflow ER patients waiting for rooms.

[NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN]

(Not a nurse manager but...). We have a set of ED float nurses. They go to wherever it's the most needed at the time whether it is prompt care, emergency dept, holding, or overnight observation.

On nights like you describe, we put some pts up into the overnight observation area as holds for an inpatient bed with the float nurse(s). This is relatively new as we have only had these positions since last October or so, but it seems to be lessening a lot of the pressure of taking nurses from their main areas and we, as staff, are happier with it.