just another burning question......

Speculating · Jan 29, 2004

Originally posted by MAGIK GIRL
:p
just wondering if some of you other er nurses wondered this as well. why is it that no one ever considers er nursing critical care? even on this bb we are only under specialty nursing. burn and transporting nursing is considered critical care but we are not.

what's up with that? i have taken care of lines, drips, vents and ventriculostomys. and some of them were boarders so they were mine all night!

any thoughts? :cool:

I've got a big beef with this one. There are numerous days in the ER that I'v not only taken care of my normal case but end up taken care of ICU pts as well can be a little trenious but certainly doable and by no means have I ever lost a PT let. I think myself it may be quite easy to work in ICU. You see in ER not only do I have to figure out what is wrong enguage in numerous tests then stablize them to go to ICU where they get one-two-three pts. Something seems unfare. Er normal gets a pt dropped on the steps with no HX. In fact the first day in the ER I received a DIC pt. I had to dump thirty units of blood into in 2 hours. The second pt laid his professional drag racing bike into a rail at 200mph. HE was a little anoyed when I cut his leathers off. So how eve ptants this stuff take it down a notch we all work to gether

athomas91 · Jan 29, 2004

i am mixed on this one...although an ER nurse for my entire carerr - i agree that we are critical care in nature...however after also working in a CVICU i have done alot that the er never does...so there IS a difference trust me... who cares what they classify us as anyway - we know what we do and what we are capable of...as does every other nurse who has ever floated to the ed...know what i mean??

Speculating · Jan 29, 2004

Originally posted by athomas91
i am mixed on this one...although an ER nurse for my entire carerr - i agree that we are critical care in nature...however after also working in a CVICU i have done alot that the er never does...so there IS a difference trust me... who cares what they classify us as anyway - we know what we do and what we are capable of...as does every other nurse who has ever floated to the ed...know what i mean??

I Working in the ER I do very much consider myself critical care. I do take offence that I take two hours figuring out what's wrong with the PT from head to to that's been dropped off at my door not ICU's they get helicoptered to me with little to no hx. Then I stablize them send them to ICU where they get all the glory thanks and critical pay. I've had a few ICU nurses in my ER that I'm sure are very good nurses but freeze when they the stuff we have to do. When's the last time you cracked a chest in the ICU.

athomas91 · Jan 29, 2004

i think you should read my post more carefully....I AM AN ER NURSE!!!!!!!!

and i cracked a chest quite often in the CVICU thank you - more than in the ER.

that is not the point - i don't know of any ICU nurse who makes more than an ER nurse...and i surely don't know of any ICU nurse who "gets the glory" - pretty much they are looked at by er nurses as having something up their butt on a daily basis....my point is who cares what other people think.....

just for effect...how often do you do art lines, cvp monitors, swan caths....how often do you have to titrate/stop/start 6 different cardioactive titrateable drugs...we don't do that THAT often...

yeah, i think that ER nurses are the most capable and well trained nurses around....but there are things that ICU/CVICU nurses do that we don't....This is an ER nurse telling you this - not an ICU nurse...i did learn alot when i did a stint in CVICU....

MAGIK GIRL · Jan 29, 2004

Originally posted by athomas91
i am mixed on this one...although an ER nurse for my entire carerr - i agree that we are critical care in nature...however after also working in a CVICU i have done alot that the er never does...so there IS a difference trust me... who cares what they classify us as anyway - we know what we do and what we are capable of...as does every other nurse who has ever floated to the ed...know what i mean??

i understand where you are coming from and no offence taken from this chic, but look at the bb where is says critical care. i am sure that you have done different things in the cvicu but i am also sure that you did not do the same things as a burn nurse, or a transport nurse. that is all i am saying. the er deserves it's props!

love ya at:kiss

harry Krishna · Jan 30, 2004

cracking chests is overrated anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

call me critical care or not I really don't care.

ER is its own specialty. Not to sound like we are better than other nurses, but we have to know so much more (considering the overall picture) from peds-trauma,-geri-ortho-GI-GU-psych-

GYN-OB- pulmonary-vents-derm-substance abuse-I.D.-forensics-cardio-neuro-hem-oc.....etc. etc. etc.

I respect all nurses and what they do, but I truly enjoy being a "jack of all trades"

HK

PS: Props go out to any nurses working in a rural area where you do just about everything too!!!!!

athomas91 · Jan 30, 2004

thanks magik....and HK...i agree completely and i think that is mostly what my origional post said...who cares what others think...we know we are the cream of the crop....

and those rural nurses are hard core man!!

veetach · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by athomas91

that is not the point - i don't know of any ICU nurse who makes more than an ER nurse...and i surely don't know of any ICU nurse who "gets the glory" - pretty much they are looked at by er nurses as having something up their butt on a daily basis....my point is who cares what other people think....

Hahahahaaa. I thought I was the only one who thought that ICU nurses have something up their butt. LOLOL...pretty much on a daily basis.

that just struck me as funny, thanks for the smile. :)

back to the question, I have no answer. In our hospital it is the ER nurses who run to the codes everywhere (including the ICU or CCU) yet we arent considered critical care nurses. We dont get the glowing press ganeys because we are the first stop where the bad stuff happens, and we dont let the famiies come in and observe, I guess.

We all know that we have to wear two and sometimes more hats in the Ed, should that just be an expected part of our job or should we be demanding more credit?? what do you guys think??

athomas91 · Jan 30, 2004

i see it as one of our little hidden glories.....sometimes others notice and sometimes they don't...but we ALWAYS see it in each other....

veetach · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by athomas91
i see it as one of our little hidden glories.....sometimes others notice and sometimes they don't...but we ALWAYS see it in each other....

Amen! Thank you! :)

fab4fan · Jan 30, 2004

I have no idea why people don't think of the ED as critical care. It's not just about slapping on bandaids.

We held ICU pts all the time. Funny how it was OK for me to have 2 ICU pts plus an additional 3-4 ED pts. Let anyone try to tell me that wasn't critical care!