I get it, we on the floor don't see what you see- gunshots, knife cuts, fights, rape victims. But you chose that. Nursing is a wide, varied profession and ER is just a piece of it. So you work with firefighters, paramedics, police. Okay. But you're not a firefighter, paramedic or a police officer. You're a nurse. When you call the floor for report and we say we're too busy right now, we'll call you back, please don't call your boss, or the House Supervisor, and tell them we refused report. Again, I get it. Nobody is as busy as you. But we may have had our hands deep in poop, or in the middle of a dressing change, or with a doctor, or administering chemotherapy. Or we may be already getting report from the offgoing shift. And yes, another nurse is just as busy and can't take the report I would rather get first hand anyway. When we get report from you for a hip fracture patient and you say the BP is 191/92 and she has a history of hypertension, please don't get offended if I ask if you've covered the blood pressure. I know she's being admitted with a hip fracture and not for hypertension. But hypertension is something we're aware of, because it is also bad. If you send the patient up without covering the BP, by the time she's moved from gurney to bed that BP has spiked to over 200 and I have a possible stroke to add to that fracture. Will it kill you to walk over to your MD, the one with whom you enjoy a closer relationship, and ask for some Vasotec? And while you're at it, could you not forget some pain meds before you send the patient to the floor? You see, I have to call the admitting MD, that very MD your doctor just spoke with to admit the patient, and wait until he calls back, before I can give any medications. That can and does take hours. Meanwhile I have an increasingly uncomfortable, unstable patient and a family who is getting very concerned that this new nurse can't help their mother.
I'm sorry for the long post, but I just read another Megalomaniac ER blog slamming floor nurses as stupid and lazy, refusing report, fighting with ER because they're uncomfortable taking unstable patients ER wants to move because they need the beds. There is more than just you, ER.
ER Nurses' tears cure cancer. Too bad we never cry.
ER nurses can count to infinity - twice.
An ER nurse sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled nursing ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, the ER nurse roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month.
When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for ER nurses.
ER nurses built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot, an ER nurse met all three bullets with his sweet aviator sunglasses, deflecting them. JFK's head exploded out of sheer amazement.
They once made a ER nurse toilet paper, but it wouldn't take sh!t from anybody.
A blind man once stepped on an ER nurse's shoe. The ER nurse replied, "Don't you know who am? I'm an ER nurse!" The mere mention of being an ER nurse cured this man's blindness. Sadly the first, last, and only thing this man ever saw, was a fatal roundhouse delivered by the ER nurse.
I love the count to infinity one. May I borrow that? I am one of those catty ER nurse hating unit nurses and all, but I'll give it back.
I love the count to infinity one. May I borrow that? I am one of those catty ER nurse hating unit nurses and all, but I'll give it back.
I guess you can borrow it, considering I found it whilst browsing the net during my shift, in between surfing ebay and shopping on Amazon in search of those cute little buttons to put in my Crocs.
I'll flame you. Your teeth are crooked. In fact, you'd fit right in with the ED nurses, the one's with missing teeth from being assaulted.
Sorry, I meant to address the general flaming going on in this thread (there is a lot of flaming that goes on in allnurses), not you specifically. I should have said so. My bad:redbeathe:redbeathe
Your flame was funny. Of all the things you could flame about my appearance to you chose one thing that I still have that's pretty nice: my teeth!
I guess you can borrow it, considering I found it whilst browsing the net during my shift, in between surfing ebay and shopping on Amazon in search of those cute little buttons to put in my Crocs.
Really? I sometimes browsed this site on those rare night shifts where it was smooth sailing.
OMG. Need another disclaimer:
"The above is not to say night shift is easy or night shift nurses just browse the internet............................................."
Sorry, I meant to address the general flaming going on in this thread (there is a lot of flaming that goes on in allnurses), not you specifically. I should have said so. My bad:redbeathe:redbeathe
Your flame was funny. Of all the things you could flame about my appearance to you chose one thing that I still have that's pretty nice: my teeth!
Oh. Maybe we have different ideas of flaming. I just think there are some exposed nerves being stepped on causing people to mistake their emotions for................having something to say (do I need another disclaimer here?), but not flaming.
IMO Flaming = Posting with the single intent of harassing/embarrassing/arguing with another poster. It usually is done in such a way as to make the other poster feel belittled and tries to make them think their input is not wanted. Often done to "run" someone away from the site/board.
Now, I play video games, and I go to this site, GameFaqs. You wanna see some flaming? Go there, to the "MLB The Show" board. Woooooooo. Those "failure to launch" boys living in their mother's basement think they own the board, and protect it very closely. Don't ever go there and be critical of the game or say you like it's competitor more.........................YOU WILL SEE SOME FLAMING. Shoot, I'm arrogant and often obnoxious and even I tread lightly there.
In every field, there is a heirarchy of cool. Being on the SWAT team is more cool than being a traffic cop. Being a tax attorney is less cool than being a trial lawyer. Being more or less cool doesn't make you any more or less valuable.
So- ER nurses are more cool than floor nurses. It's just the way it is. Flight nurses are more cool than ER nurses, and floor nurses are more cool than LTC nurses. ICU nurses? I am not sure if they are cool at all, but they are smarter than anybody else- just ask them.
Anyhow, the epitomy of cool is to act cool. It's not cool to make somebody else feel uncool.
On a day like yesterday (which was only slightly more intense than a typical Monday ... just saying) -- when the number of patients currently being treated in my ER was 12 patients over capacity even when counting the hallway areas used so frequently that they have "room number" designations -- and NOT COUNTING the 22 in the waiting room and NOT COUNTING the inbound cardiac arrest whose arrival was imminent ...
any inpatient unit in the world would say, "we can't take that patient right now."
In the ER we do not have that option. Ever. We have no choice but to figure out something, make it work somehow, some way.
On a day like yesterday (which was only slightly more intense than a typical Monday ... just saying) -- when the number of patients currently being treated in my ER was 12 patients over capacity even when counting the hallway areas used so frequently that they have "room number" designations -- and NOT COUNTING the 22 in the waiting room and NOT COUNTING the inbound cardiac arrest whose arrival was imminent ...
any inpatient unit in the world would say, "we can't take that patient right now."
In the ER we do not have that option. Ever. We have no choice but to figure out something, make it work somehow, some way.
And that makes the ER cooler. Period.
Yeah. M/S nursing seems so much............................chase granny around the bed in circles telling her to lay down, at least some nights it does.
I want to go into the ER, but no way I'm doing it at my current facility. I just..............want more autonomy. A bigger problem to solve than, oh.................granny's tea doesn't have the right hint of cream the way she likes it.
Hmmmmm................I'm on vacation. Maybe time to start applying.
Any way of telling what my pt. ratios will be before I apply? (kidding, kidding).
The NCLEX triage questions were bad enough for me.
You know what though, this is one thing our ED got right (IMO, insert same disclaimer from before for the exposed nerves). They have a male doing triage a lot. Too many assaults on the prior girl (who, unfortunately, quit) who did triage most of the time. Now there is a guy who............well, is like I described myself above (very big, deep voice).
The mothers with sick kids don't act any differently, but the drug seekers tend to be a little less..........in your face. According to him anyway.
ah, I think it's all in who you are and how people perceive you, whether you're a big male like you or a woman of average size and voice like me. Drug seekers and other annoyances alike know when I mean business and could give a rat's a@@ about the BS complaint. No one has even attempted to assault me, so I guess it's about your preparation too. I don't let anyone get close enough, my personal space is a big deal to me, as well as watching for signs someone might be agitated or getting READY to be agitated.... most know these signs if they've been doing this for a while.
Big and strong has everything to do with your demeanor and attitude, not your physical stature (or lack thereof) and gender. That's a common misconception. Don't misjudge strength of body or character. I may not look so strong - because you can't see my muscles through my scrubs, but watch out!!! I can MOAB a patient better than our security people. Don't misjudge me, or better yet, it's better when the out of control ones do, then they don't see me coming...
Guest219794
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