NPs in EM?

Specialties NP

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Hi everyone, I hope you guys can answer some of my questions. I'm currently in an accel. BSN program and will be done in Sept. I eventually want to go to grad. school. I looked into emergency medicine and want to know if they use NPs in that area? I've seen PAs but not sure about NPs. If they do use NPs in the EM, what specity of NPs would that be? Family NP?

Thanks.

Specializes in ACNP-BC.

Hi. I'm an adult acute/critical care NP student and I'm going to be starting my first NP clinical rotation in a small community hospital's emergency dept. Any advice from ER NPs about how I can prepare for my clinical? I already bought books/pocket guides on radiology 101, a small pharmacopeia (excuse my bad spelling!) book, a differential diagnosis book, and an ER pocket guide. I also have a PDA. But are there any tips you may have for me? I'm excited and nervous to start my NP clinicals!!! :)

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Hi christvs, as you probably know, I am not an ER NP, however, I am an ACNP graduate and was an ER nurse while in school. In addition, I also did an ER rotation during my NP program. We all know that ER can be challenging because patients come with complaints involving a variety of body systems. You will be asked to see an elderly resident of a nursing home who fell from the bed, then, a middle-aged male with chest pain, and the next time it will be a young woman with pelvic discomfort and gyn complaints. I think you did your homework by purchasing some ER pocket guides and PDA programs because you have to make timely decisions or you will be stuck with a large number of patients that have no determined disposition (i.e., admission to hospital vs discharge home with follow-up). Regardless of which book or PDA program you purchased, they will come in handy. At the time, I used the 5-minute ER consult and ePocrates and they suited me fine but there are probably better ones around. Your particular ER rotation might be different than the one I had but I found the T-System in this particular ER very helpful. I am familiar with them as a former ER nurse and was allowed to use them as a student. They are basically pre-printed H&P's that correspond to a variety of chief complaints. Each one has questions directing you to investigate further a specific patient presentation. They are a huge time-saver! I also did a lot of EKG reading, female pelvic exams, and suturing of lacerations. Not being good at chest radiograph interpretation at the time, I consulted with the ER radiologist a lot. If this seems like the same scenario you will be facing, I suggest you brush up on those particular things.

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Specializes in ER, critical care.

It has been quite a while.... whew!!

I work ER... FNP certified. What is expected is widely variable from place to place. I work a rural ER and am the double coverage. I am expected to be able to see you if you have a chest wall deformity or a runny nose and whatever lies between.

That doesn't mean consultation isn't readily available, it is. But I can't just punt and run when the going gets tough. There are days however when punting would make for a much easier day.

I chose this ER specifically because there is no fast track. I didn't want to get shoved into that small of a box.

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Specializes in Pulmonology/Critical Care, Internal Med.

Thats a good question are there acute care NP programs that include the entire lifespan............Or i guess a better question is.....Does ACNP teach you anything more/better for ER work that a FNP doesn't teach you??? Would it be better to get your Ped Acute Care NP or your FNP as a second option??? Any NP's out there like to answer this?

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Specializes in ER, critical care.
Thats a good question are there acute care NP programs that include the entire lifespan............Or i guess a better question is.....Does ACNP teach you anything more/better for ER work that a FNP doesn't teach you??? Would it be better to get your Ped Acute Care NP or your FNP as a second option??? Any NP's out there like to answer this?

I think FNP is the better ER option. If I was an ACNP I would go for the FNP as a second. As an FNP working in ER, I am thinking of getting ACNP for potential move into a hospital service kind of role. Just thinking about it right now. Might not even be necessary. But I do love being a perpetual student.

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Specializes in ER, ICU/CVR.

The University of South Alabama has an Emergency Nurse Practitioner program.

http://www.southalabama.edu/nursing/enp.html

Check them out.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
Thats a good question are there acute care NP programs that include the entire lifespan............Or i guess a better question is.....Does ACNP teach you anything more/better for ER work that a FNP doesn't teach you??? Would it be better to get your Ped Acute Care NP or your FNP as a second option??? Any NP's out there like to answer this?

I don't know about an ACNP for the entire lifespan, but I did come across some for Peds. ACPNP is available at UCSF, UTA, UAB, Vanderbilt, Rush, and I'm sure others as well! But, this would probably put an emergency NP in the opposite position lol! Maybe an ACNP could get an ACPNP certificate for ER work.

Littlemamakt

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