From A&E to ER!! Help!!

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Specializes in a&e.

Hi all, I am an a&e nurse with over 10 years experience thinking of relocating to the states. I have just looked at the nclex and skills checklist from ogp and panicked!! Is it really that different? How? Any advice??:uhoh3:

In what way are we American nurses different? What do you do in an A&E that is different from our ERs?:confused:

I'm just guessing here, but I think she's concerned more about the different drugs etc and the sort of injuries you treat as regularly in some hospitals that we see once in a while, eg gsw's (although we've been getting tons of them in london lately!).

I think I'd be worried about the difference too, but my advice is do as much studying as you can on the drugs and dosages and I think you'll be fine with your experience :)

Specializes in a&e.

That was my main concern, the drugs. How does it work with the insurance aspect? Call me nieve (spelt wrong!) but the impression given is that noone gets treated unless they have insurance? Is this right?

That was my main concern, the drugs. How does it work with the insurance aspect? Call me nieve (spelt wrong!) but the impression given is that noone gets treated unless they have insurance? Is this right?

jane, this is a common misconception outside of the US.

It is ABSOLOUTELY NOT TRUE!

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/emtala/default.asp

In 1986 there became a law Emergency medical treatment and Active Labour Act. Anyone who presents for medical eval must recieve an appropriate medical evaluation, treatment, etc. This is not a medical eval from a triage RN, but by an ED physician- and it must include appropriate lab tests etc. So we kinda have to treat everyone. EMTALA refers to anyone found as well 200 feet from your facility. It is also know as the Anti-patient dumping law.

It is hard for the uninsured to get regular physician office care with no money, but no problem in the ED, which is why our ED's are now soooo overcrowded with toothaches, sore throats, and backaches...

Sorry,if I went off a bit, I spent some time overseas and I got tired of being attacked for having a health care system that only treats the uninsured.

err, that last line should say only treats the insured. Sorry, yeah?

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

As KatieBell said, we treat everyone!

I'm doing a paper on people seeking primary care stuff in the ER, and I've been looking at articles about A&E studies, comparing them to US ED studies. It seems like your A&Es don't have quite as much trauma focus;(never having been there, this is only my opinion from the articles!); one study mentions putting GPs in the ERs, to take care of folks who don't the ER type specialists, as a means of relieving the overcrowding (sort of a clinic to one side), whereas the US mostly tries clinics nearby, or "fast track" areas in hospital with either an NP or MD in it (but still ED board certified).

Little off topic, sorry!

We have several courses that will help, ACLS, TNCC etc. TNCC & ENPC are the trauma related ones (Trauma Nurse Core Curriculum, Emergency Nurse Pediatric Course), which also cover drugs. If you have a chance to take any of them before the NCLEX, it might help. The text books mention the courses as available internationally, are they commonly available where you are?

Good luck!

Specializes in a&e.

Thanks for the info. We also have NPs in the department. We also have TNCC, ATLS, ACLS, PALS etc.. So maybe not that different after all!!!:)

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