ESI question

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Oct 28, 2017

I would also have made her a 1. If I am unsure that they will survive from triage chair to trauma room, they get a 1. I don't 1 for severe pain, or for febrile neutropenia, though some folks suggest it would be appropriate. Just life threatening issues.

If your preceptor saw her daily with the same symptoms, and knows her BP is usually low, I'm sure she could easily be a 2. Knowing the diagnosis, I'd call her a 2 after the fact.

Sometimes I triage, and then watch after triage to see if the tremors, anxiety, and moaning continue in the waiting room. Running in from the parking lot causes diaphoresis and tachycardia. If there's a full waiting room, I want those that are very sick to get in ahead of those that have intermittent symptoms. But if you do that as a triage nurse, you can NEVER EVER forget to recheck them.

Guest219794 · Oct 29, 2017

Had a pt present to ED... young female with a hx of splenic artery aneurism that had appointment to operate in one week with sudden onset of sharp, tearing abdominal pain that radiated to her back. HR 150 and BP 90/45. Diaphoretic and tachypneic. I triaged her as an ESI-2 because she is here all the time." She ended up dying. My charge nurse chastised me, claiming that with a confirmed mechanism for shock, textbook symptoms of shock, and a clear need for life saving interventions, she should have been a 1, despite frequent flyer status. Was I wrong to put her as a 2?

I rearranged it a bit.

Let's say that was a test question for CEN, or even to get a job. Anybody here going for ESI 2? The fact that a given ER uses certain practices does not change a patient's ESI category.

Had the PT died, would the CN con back and changed your ESI 1 to a @?