ER the T.V. Show

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello,

I know most healthcare people are not very fond of E.R., but I ws just wondering if anybody watched the last episode. The lady from "Sex and the Cityy" was a guest star. She played a stroke victim.

I really thought that it showed the difference between the nurse and the doctor during that episode. Even though the doctor spoke to the patient, it was the nurse who seemed to be able to "read" the stroke victim's mind, even though the pateint couldn't say a word.

Would anyone agree with that assesment? (Or do most of you think it was way off base?)

It was my understanding that Malik was an LVN. I know it isn't a big difference. I remember one episode when all of the nurses were on strike or calling off sick and he couldn't do something because he was "just an LVN"

Whats an LVN? I heard of LPN but not LVN.

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Isn't LPN and LVN a regional difference? Just asking...

I still think ER is a good show.... It will probably come to an end soon though

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LPN = Practical Nurse

LVN = Vocational Nurse

Which all equals the same thing........Just some states call them LVN's and some call them LPN's.

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I don't watch TV much any more, so can't say I caught the show. I am all for shows the portray the medical profession as just that the medical PROFESSION! I am SOOOO tired of shows in which the doctor is sleeping with his nurse/receptionist/patient, or the nurse sleeping with the resident/coworker/patient or the storylines that make us all out to be catty, drug abusing, lazy, and/or fraudulant.

I am just glad to hear that there is a show out there that is making us out to be competent, caring professionals that are doing our best in trying situations!

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LPN = Practical Nurse

LVN = Vocational Nurse

Which all equals the same thing........Just some states call them LVN's and some call them LPN's.

Thanks for clarifying that :)

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Yep.. Malik is an LPN... and a damn good one....

Remember when they were all the nurses were threatening to walk out & had a sick out or something.... and one of the doc's asked Malik why he didn't call in ... he said "I am an LPN, it doesn't get any cheaper than me" ... or somthing like that....

What about Neela Rascotra?? and Frank??? And why does Chuney have so few lines?? :angryfire

They are playing the first episode of "ER" on TNT right now.....It seems so, "retro"....

Do you guys know that Frank was in the very first episode??? And he was playing the same character, a Chicago police officer....

Personally if I had a hottie like Kovac running around my house, work would be the last thing on my mind...lol...Sam won't go med school...lol :p

OOOOH thank you. I thought I was in the twilight zone yesterday a.m. I just got satelite direct TV. All of the station numbers are different. I tuned in to what I thought was TNT. As I watched the show for a few minutes I just didn't understand what was happening. It seemed as if the feed was coming in from Planet Neptune and I had been taken back in time. Alas, I didn't burn anymore brain cells on trying to figure out what was happening. I just turned it off. Thanks. Your post cleared the mini-mystery that was floating in the arachnid spaces of my mind. :chuckle

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California and Texas call us LVNs. As far as I know they are the only two states that do this.

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Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I actually got tears in my eyes when he was given the OK to leave with that injured girl. I am not sure a doc would have fought that hard. That whole episode was pretty good. I never watched ER when he was on, so I'm not familar with his character at all. I did get the sense from the show that he was involved with Neela?

As far as House goes, I LOVE that show. The one a few weeks ago when he quit using his vicodin for a week was really fantastic. Even though the show can be pretty farfetched sometimes, I still love watching it. He's really "out there" sometimes and I wonder if a doc in reality would be given the opportunity to take the chances he does. I have to remember what day it's on though because I forget about every other week to catch it. But probably just as well...shouldn't I be working in my care plans or something??? LOL.

Melanie :p

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I was curious about the pt's abrupt "cure" after the procedure too. I mean even if they removed the clot, that area had been anoxic for what at least 6-8 HOURS!!! But all in all I think the episode was very well done, and I agree with whoever said it would be somewhat beneficial to show to nursing students and CNA's and even some of us full fledged nurses as a reminder to treat the pt.

As a neuro nurse I was very excited to see this episode of ER. The new MERCI Procedure is an amazing new opportunity for stroke victims. I know that it may have seemed very tvish for her to recover so quickly but alot of the patients in the MERCI trials who suffered from paralysis recovered fully while still on the table in radiology. As opposed to tPa we have an 8 hour window with the MERCI procedure, which means more victims can be helped.

At first I was very put off about how the nurse and doctor were represented in this show...with how they seemed to talk over the patient. But I had to remeber that this show was being created from the patients point of view...so even the patient's comment about "she's only the nurse" made sense to me when I looked at it that way. I think that this not only gives us the opportunity to remember how to "connect" with our patients but also to sell ourselves to them as nurses.

We have to remeber that patients don't have as much knowledge about us nurses as they do about doctors...case in point all of the medical shows on tv focus on doctors. They know that we are the ones that are there to give them what they need when they need it, they just don't know that we play an important role in their overall care.

Sorry for the ranting... :deadhorse

Gina

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Thank you for responding about this procedure, where is this being used? I am always glad to learn something. And WHY does it work so well? I mean like I said in my previous post just b/c you remove the clot wouldn't the tissue already be dead from lack of O2?

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, Neuro ICU, Trauma ICU,.

THEY KILLED OFF DR GREEN??!! I knew there was a reason I quit watching. Glad I missed that episode!

I used to love ER until they killed off dr. green.......THen that was it for me......
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Thank you for responding about this procedure, where is this being used? I am always glad to learn something. And WHY does it work so well? I mean like I said in my previous post just b/c you remove the clot wouldn't the tissue already be dead from lack of O2?

I know that it is being used at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT; they were contacted about the procedure for the ER episode. There are a few other hospitals using it but don't know particulars. I believe that it just recently (within months I believe) finished Phase II trials and received approval by the FDA.

As to why does it work...really no one knows how long the brain can go without oxygen so there is no real rule of thumb on that. You have to remember the pathophysiology of an ischemic stroke when you think about this procedure. With an ischemic stroke you have the immediate area of damage, then you have damage to the surrounding brain tissue due to edema, this edema doesn't really start for 24-48 hours after a stroke so using the MERCI procedure at 8 hours would be well within that time frame.

Most of the treatments that we do for stroke victims ie. not treating high blood pressure, increasing cerbral blood flow by putting the patient on NS IVF and keeping the head of the bed down, and also using supplemental O2 help to maintain or increase oxygen supply to the brain. That is why immediate treatment is so vital.

Don't know if any of this helped or not.

Gina

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