Is three months into being an ED Nurse too soon for Resus bay?

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 7, 2016

What is resus bay?

Emuhawk000 · Mar 7, 2016

In our emergency Department we have area's for Category one patients, such as Resuscitation which has two beds and is fully stocked for any major life threatening emergency. Another for Cardiac patients (Cat 2), Acute beds for Cat 3 and cat 4 patients, another area for quick assess and sort such as fractures and an overnight area for patients needing repeated blood tests, ECG's etc but who are stable. We get rotated through these areas as experience and training increase.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Mar 7, 2016

I was in my reus room and the trauma bay within 4 weeks of orientation with a preceptor; I also received education on Advanced Life Support (PALS), which helped with protocols.

When changing specialties, one can be reduced to being a novice, because it is a new specialty.

Have you gone through a orientation process? Do you have a staff educator to help with information?

ED Nurse, RN · Mar 7, 2016

What did your orientation consist of? You are not a novice nurse so you should be able to handle a critical pt- like a STEMI, intubation, cardiac arrest, etc. You should not be doing traumas- my hospital requires one year on the floor and then you apply to do trauma and your peers who are advanced in trauma resus decide if you are a fit. The ED is a learn in the fly place- you learn by doing and watching. If you feel like you can't handle a critical pt you need to speak with your manager and educator.

Trauma Columnist · Mar 7, 2016

Are you in the US? I'm gathering not as we do not refer to trauma bays as "resus" bays.

Can I move this thread for you? Which country? Thanks

MedicFireRN · Mar 7, 2016

Are you in the US? I'm gathering not as we do not refer to trauma bays as "resus" bays.
Can I move this thread for you? Which country? Thanks

As weird as this is, I also had never heard of them referred to as Resus beds until I moved to the deep Southeast. Many of the hospitals in this area refer to them as resus bays. IDK if that's abnormal to this area or not but I remember thinking about how weird it was when I moved (from the mideastern US).

Christy1019, ASN, RN · Mar 9, 2016

Are you in the US? I'm gathering not as we do not refer to trauma bays as "resus" bays.
Can I move this thread for you? Which country? Thanks

When I worked in detroit we had "resus rooms" and cat 1, 2, 3, and 4 areas just like the OP described.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Mar 9, 2016

My last hospital we had the resus room and then the trauma bay, and prior to that my level 1 called the trauma bay the resus bay because we'd also put strokes and codes there.

every facility is different. You have experience, so the adult emergent cases should be manageable. Usually you aren't alone. There's often too much help. The same will happen with peds. I've never become as proficient as I want with peds and I'm 3 1/2 years in the ER. The reality is if you have pals and review it, with your team mates it should go ok, and only practice will make you better.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2016

Thread has been moved to our Emergency Nursing forum.

bgxyrnf, MSN, RN · Mar 11, 2016

My experience has been that you're never 'ready' until you've been doing it for awhile. If you have been oriented and know your trauma protocols and your role in them then you need to just jump in.

Even having gone through the novice-to-expert transition, I found working as the trauma nurse in a new facility to be a challenge. It wasn't that I didn't know how to do the nursing part but simply that I didn't know what was expected of me nor where to find things, nor even who the various team members were.

If they're throwing you into it, jump with both feet. Few good things come by shying away from challenges and opportunities.