Party safely

[Bethedr]

I read so many post on here and I do not get on this site very often and I usually create a new username every time I get on here. I am in a tpapn program with Texas.
however I have different views then some others for sure and I’m ok with that. I have different views on Things like dieing, the board time frame for dealing with licenses, my views on how nurses should be treated when applying at jobs, and also including how the general appearance of a nurse should be ( considered hygiene is maintained however I do not expect a miss or mr galaxy including health) I learned all that can change in an instance. I am still learning things about myself personally and I just want to get back to nursing so I can continue a wonderful career and also pursue education in other fields.

I only like to check on here periodically with anything that I would like to share about or talk with however I have just got my life back going with nursing after a decade. And it was well worth it. I hope others are able to find their way and continue on in this life’s journey. I am just an average normal person. Best holiday wishes and party safely

[KyBeagle, ASN]

happygr8ful & Spanked are absolutely correct. I’m a long, longterm ED nurse. I guarantee it makes our blood boil to see LTC facilities send pt’s to the ED for minor issues. You mentioned cardiac arrest- that one would definitely be correct (NOT a minor issue) unless it’s a Hospice patient. Our local Hospice office does a great job keeping their pts out of the ED. Even if they’re in a Hospice SNF bed, the Hospice RN prefers to come out & assess the pt before sending them to the ED. In 27 years, I’ve seen ONE Hospice pt that was a code. They wanted chest compressions only. No intubation or defibrillator.

Sure, a cough COULD mean pneumonia- or it could be a URI best treated with OTC meds & saline nebs. Unless the pt had low O2 sats & junky lungs, your best bet would be contacting the MD at the LTC during the day & get orders for a CXR. If you sent that person to the ED & they were admitted, their chances of contacting an infection drastically increase.

If a LTC facility sends a pt to the ED & refuses to take them back, then we contact the ombudsman. This is patient dumping and it’s something that we don’t take lightly (the LTC facility shouldn’t take it lightly either)!

If we see a nursing home sending pts to the ED for minor issues, and there isn’t a problem with them taking their patients back, then we generally meet with their administrators. The meeting consists of ED management, ED case managers & SWs, and the SNF administrators. We will present specific patient examples & work through them, trying to determine why their staff felt that this necessitated an ED visit. With one of the nursing homes, they did discover that it was just one particular nurse that was sending all their “non-urgent” patients to the ED. Not sure what ever happened. They had said that they would do additional education with that nurse & the problem did stop.