Holds in the ER

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

How common are holds in your ER? At my previous job we would maybe hold patients for a couple of hours at most but now where I currently work it seems like we are ALWAYS holding! Some patients are there for a day or two. At times I feel like I'm an inpatient nurse rather than an ER nurse and there's a reason why I left inpatient! The floors don't send staff down to help with holds. Our ER then becomes waaaaay overcrowded.

[Blaquechinadoll]

Very common at my level 1 trauma center. The other level 1 trauma center has a 1/3 of our ability, so we're almost always on diversion.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

We have holds on occasion and it depends on the chance of getting a bed whether we get a hold nurse. We try to put a hospital bed in the room instead of a stretcher when we know they're going to be with us for more than a few hours.

It's difficult to have a hold pt and give them the attention they need while turning over your er pt assignment repeatedly.

What kind of ER do you work in? I work in a level II so it seems like holds in level II/level Is are more common but I could be wrong! And I absolutely agree with your last comment, especially if you get a really sick ER patient coming to you. That happened to me recently and I was tied up in that room for at least a few hours...my other patients (who were admission holds) were basically just left on the back burner :/

[Dragonnurse1, ASN, RN]

We are a Level ll and often had holds usually for less than 24 hours but there were times when we had patients for 2 to 3 days. It was not fun as on days a nurse came from the floor but on nights we had to cover them. It is hard enough on patients to get sleep upstairs at night but when they are in the ER - wow no sleep at all. I had it easier though because I was on nights I only had to check vitals and get AM meds and breakfast trays.