JoshuaAdamsRN

Ok, here's the deal. I was mocked by my new colleagues for having sissy trauma shears the other day. Truthfully, they were good once but have gone so dull that they could barely cut a bubba lady's panties and corset. So where could I order some fre...

Hi Ethel, I am clinical head nurse in the emergency department, so although I wouldn't be able to answer most of your SICU-specific questions, I am able to speak to overall hospital attributes. Our surgical ICU is a 30 bed, multidisciplinary critical...

I did work in the NICU for a while...now I am back in the ER. Send me a private message.

I don't know if anyone has ever been in this situation, but I'm looking for advice. Before I found out my wife was pregnant, I pursued a transfer opportunity in my hospital and went from being an RN in emergency to working in the NICU. Monday morning...

So after working two years in the same ER, I feel as though I'm finally reaching burn-out. I've worked every variation of shifts - all day light, all night turn, weekend only - and nothing seems to make any difference. My coworkers, for the most pa...

I was just wondering if anyone has ever taken the Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse Training Program that JeffSTAT offers in Philadelphia. And does anyone know of other programs such as this elsewhere in Pennsylvania? Cheers, Josh in Pittsburgh

Hi Sid, I graduated from West Penn in 2005. It was a difficult program, but extremely worthwile. I really feel like it prepared me well clinically. The instructors take the time to get to know you, help you grow and learn. If you have any specifi...

I didn't live there but a number of classmates did. In general, I think it provided less distraction for them than living elsewhere. I was lucky to find a house two blocks from the hospital. The one thing to keep in mind though is that the buildin...

Hey there, Just wanted to say hi and good luck with your interview. Hershey is an interesting place to live. While we're not urban here, we're certainly not completely rural either. You'll find that there are a lot of apartment complexes and townh...

It sounds like you just need to get a clearer idea of what the advanced nursing protocols are for your department and what's expected of you as a nurse. If the doctor signed the order, I think you could rightly expect that he or she follows up on th...

I know it's not on your list of places to live, but I thought I'd do a little recruiting for our department anyway. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, PA is the teaching hospital of the Penn State University College of Medicine. The hospital has 50...

So I had a pretty tense situation last night I was wondering if anyone else has ever encountered. Four week old infant, vomiting the past twelve hours, comes in pretty hypovolemic. Three attempts at vascular access by experienced ER nurses unsuccess...

Hey, I saw your post over on the emergency nursing board. Just wanted to stick my head out there and say hi. You're from my old neck of the woods. Which hospital are you working at?

Our department is getting embroidered scrub tops for the nurses, ED techs, and secretaries.

This is just my opinion, but it doesn't hurt to take the course now and then maybe instead of waiting the two years before you take the refresher, take it again next year. A whole lot more will make sense. The "new" PALS goes into a lot more than j...

This is similar to the first camp I worked at, which was huge (~1200 campers per 12 day session). We had 1 RN, who had "office hours" during the day (like 8 am-5:30 pm), but then she was available by pager the rest of the time. The staff who worked...

At my first ER, the med room was definitely the place to vent. Now I work in a facility where the med station is at the nurses' station, right around the corner from where many of our hall patients lie. So the dirty utility room is where the prover...

Prioritization is key. Know what you would call the doctor for in terms of abnormal labs, what to do yourself, and what to delegate to an unlicensed assistant.

The Epi-Pen is included in the BLS protocols of many states so that even EMTs can give it without a doctor's order upon recognizing signs/symptoms of anaphylaxis. The 2 camps I have worked at have had Epi-Pens in locked cabinet accessible only to th...

Just out of curiosity, what part of PA are you from?

I don't know of any loan "buybacks", but certainly West Penn Allegheny offers sign on bonuses to new grads. Mine was $10,000 over three years at West Penn, but that was awhile ago and they may have increased it.

Get PALS before TNCC. In many places, PALS is a prerequisite to getting hired in an emergency department, but TNCC is optional (or if required, can be taken within the first year of employment). And don't be discouraged if you feel like you don't r...

I had to laugh at the end of your post. That's the remark I make every time there's a difficulty patient. "Well, there goes our Press Gainey score for the month..."

Emergency Nursing Core Curriculum put out by the ENA. It's very comprehensive, lists conditions, assessment findings, nursing interventions, and helps you anticipate what tests/treatments will be ordered. $62.60 on Amazon but worth all of that.

I find it extremely insulting when I'm told the nurse is at lunch and no one else is capable of taking report. I've been in an ER for 3+ years now and I can count the number of uninterrupted lunches I've had on one hand. True, it's where I chose to...