I graduated in May and will be starting my first job as an ED nurse next week. I was wondering if any of you experienced ED nurses could share with me initial assessments that you have found to prove helpful over the years. I had the opportunity to shadow a RN before I accepted the position and he had a really good flow with his questions that he asked his patients. After 6 years in the ED, he made it look like it was as simple as putting on your pants in the morning.
Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated!
Reading all of these lovely responses to a new nurse is so encouraging! Some say that nurses eat their young...not in this case! Best of luck to our new grad...would love to have you in our ED! Just the fact that you are asking for help and trying to prepare says a lot.
Reading all of these lovely responses to a new nurse is so encouraging! Some say that nurses eat their young...not in this case! Best of luck to our new grad...would love to have you in our ED! Just the fact that you are asking for help and trying to prepare says a lot.
Just curious where are you new grads getting these er jobs??? Help!!!!!
I attended one of the few diploma programs that exist any longer. I worked in my hospital's Emergency Trauma Center for almost 2 years while in school, and was fortunate enough to be hired as an RN in that department.
I ask my questions in the same format using mnemonics like CIAMPEDS (Complaint, Immunizations/Isolation, Allergies, Medications, PMH/PSH/Parent's Perception, Events, Diet/Diapers, Safety/Smokers in home/Screenings), PQRST, or SAMPLE. My assessments usually follow an ABCs then head to toe (if necessary, not everyone needs a full assessment). When I first started, sticking to a set order helped me remember to ask everything and those mnemonics usually flow in a pretty good order for history taking.
This is aimed at residents in emergency departments, but I thought it had really good information too about how to summarize a patient case to the attending.
Just curious where are you new grads getting these er jobs??? Help!!!!!
I networked the heck out of my job. Talked to clinical instructors and professors to reach out to the manager for the job I ended up getting rather than just waiting to be contacted for a reference, joined and attended local ENA meetings, volunteered while job hunting with the Red Cross, etc.
Just curious where are you new grads getting these er jobs??? Help!!!!!
My Med Surg clinical instructor during my last semester of school is the Director of the ED at another somewhat local hospital. I worked my @ss off, took her up on the offer to come observe some of her RNs and when a position opened up, I applied and was very fortunate to get hired. Two of my classmates were hired too... which is really cool because we get to go through all of our orientation together.
But... let me say this. From April through the beginning of August when I was offered the job, I probably applied for at least 250 jobs. Nursing homes, home care, hospitals, doctors offices.... CNA, unit clerk, RN. You name the job and I applied for it. It was so completely frustrating to me. There were people that were in another section of our program and worked at the hospital where we did clinicals as CNAs. The one girl put ALL of her work on the student nurses (you wouldn't think they would do that to one of their own, right?). In fact, our last day of clinicals, she said to my classmate, "Oh, you guys are done for the semester? Now I'm going to have to actually work!". Guess what? She got hired as an RN. I worked 15 times harder than her, but because she had her foot in the door... she got a job.
All I can say is.... NETWORK!! Have friends from school gotten jobs? If so, are their employers hiring now? Could your friend pass your resume along for you? My girlfriend got a job and she was going to give them my resume to hopefully get an interview... but fortunately, I landed my dream job in the ED before then. Maybe reach out to clinical instructors and see if they could give you any leads?
Where are you located? I am outside of Philly. The market is downright viscious. Now, the company that I hired to write my resume accidentally sent it to the entire east coast instead of the tri state area. I couldn't believe the calls I was getting from Florida, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York State.... basically EVERYWHERE but the tri state area. If I didn't have kids, I would have considered relocating, but.... I digress.
Just keep pushing on... I truly believe everything happens for a reason. The right job for you just isn't out there yet. Good luck!!
How does one know who needs a full head-to-toe and who just needs a focused assessment? For, say, a hand laceration, I wouldn't really need to listen to heart and lung sounds. I guess it's just a judgement call, isn't it?
How does one know who needs a full head-to-toe and who just needs a focused assessment? For say, a hand laceration, I wouldn't really need to listen to heart and lung sounds. I guess it's just a judgement call, isn't it?[/quote']
If the lac came in with uncontrolled bleeding, I'd say you should focus on getting the bleeding under control first... but never think that you don't need to pay attention to other systems/body parts. You never know what freak things could happen in a situation, or what underlying conditions a person might have. Just because someone has a hand lac doesn't mean they can't have something else going on.
We had an ankle injury come in once who turned out to have ragingly high blood sugar. Known, non compliant diabetic. Ended up being a lot more than an X-ray and splint.
Wish I had so good contacts...NY is hard!!!
WineCountryRN
69 Posts
Reading all of these lovely responses to a new nurse is so encouraging! Some say that nurses eat their young...not in this case! Best of luck to our new grad...would love to have you in our ED! Just the fact that you are asking for help and trying to prepare says a lot.