prioritizing in the ER

[nycClara]

so this is my last week of orientation and I'm off on my own next week. I still don't feel ready, and was denied more request for training. To keep up I know something has to give. I'm ok w.maintaining speed when new pts come through the door. work them up, pass out meds, keep an eye out on the more acute ones but when i start out the shift with a pt load of 8 that includes 5-6 admitted pts who are waiting for beds in other depts that have have a never ending list of meds due in 2 hrs, getting their meds, requesting it from pharmacy, and passing them out takes forever to the point where I have trouble documenting, and taking on new pts. (and there's ALWAYS new ones. sometimes it gets to a pt load of 12-17 all at once) i have the worse urge to forget the relatively stable admits and hold off on the admitted meds which means they either get their daily meds at the very end or not at all. if they crapped out due to not being able to get their daily cardiac meds or seizure meds or me being inattentive i would feel awful but I need to keep up with my workload.....

[sofiamcclain]

Very unsafe! We have 4:1 ratio. You have to talk to your er director or don .also check your department policy and standards

[Racer15, BSN, RN]

Holy cow, I'm in orientation in the ED and we have a maximum patient load of 4, I couldn't handle 12.