dewp_63

I am transferring from our hospital's MICU/SICU to it's ED at the end of the month, mostly for the challenge to learn something new (I've done "critical care" for 10 years now). Does anyone know of any online triage courses, or good references. Our...

"When I took my PALS class it was taught by the PICU nurses and when I went in for my megacode the instructor said, "OK Mrs. ER nurse lets see how you deal with this one." He made me run the megacode for at least 35-40 minutes and tried everything i...

I work in an emergency department that recently went to a department specific uniform policy. Our team members wear navy blue scrubs - you may wear a white shirt under a navy lab jacket or a navy top under a white jacket. We can wear hospital t-shi...

It's amazing when you start looking at the pH of many of the drugs we routinely give. Morphine has a pH of around 4.0, if I remember right. I have had several patients c/o pain with Toradol IV - I now routinely dilute EVERYTHING in at least 10 cc N...

I work in a 26 bed ER - 11 ER beds, 10 fast-track/clinic beds and 5 hold beds. We use Canadian Triage Assessment system (5 levels) for determining urgency and frequency of re-evaluation. We have really nice posters in triage with common complaints ...

Our hospital uses a "short form" registration, allowing labels and face sheets to be quickly generated and available before pt is triaged. This does not include financial info unless the patient has been to hospital before and the info is already in...

techs are invaluable in our triage in assisting with vital signs, getting ekg's on chest pain patients (all get an ekg in triage - regardless of the bed status in the department) and in taking patients back to rooms. they do not elicit information ...

We've been discussing the use of tPA in the ED for acute non-hemorrhagic stroke patients. I know that ACLS teaches this algorithm, but our MD's are hesitant to institute. Some of their hesitancy in the fact that the local neuro docs don't like it. ...

We have had TV's at most of our bedsides for about a year now - when we move into our new ED, all the beds will have TV's (including the 10 fast-track beds). Noise has rarely been a problem, and visitors at the bedside has really not been an issue (...

Thanks for all your wonderful information. :) The prevailing thought seems to be that it is the neuro docs who are initiating (and thereby taking on the legal liability). Like I said, we can't get neuro here to do burr holes on young ICH patients,...

Thanks for all your feedback. I don't doubt that the therapy can be advantageous for some patient groups, but we don't have a neurology floor in our hospital, and neuro coverage can be scanty. We have problems getting neuro docs to come to the ER t...

I work in a suburban hospital ER - we have 10 beds, 3 fast track beds and 2 hallway beds (just don't tell jchao!). We see 70-90 patients a day. Our nurse manager wants us to retriage/touch base with all patients in the waiting room every hour. We ...

Sorry to hear about your tough night. I work in a small (10-15 bed, depending on who you ask) ER, and understand your frustration. A lot of what goes on after you get to a bed is dependent on how the MD works. We have some that will order all kind...

I'm looking for information about standards ralated to manual wedging of PA caths and frequency of such. We are having a "war in our facility about frequency of wedging in absence of direct MD order. Some of the nurses feel that the PAWP should be ...

I've worked nights most of my nursing career - always by choice! I love the people who work nights, and my body just won't function at 6:45 in the morning unless I've been up all night! I've rarely had problems sleeping - can pretty much lay my hea...

It was explained to me that clear polish is allowed, because it allows everyone to see what your nails look like. With colored nail polish, you could have fungal infections, crud under your nails, etc. and no one would be the wiser... My gripe abou...

Our hospital also wants the nurse to escort the patient to the registration/cashier's area for "financial" checkout after the discharge paperwork is signed. We have increased our collection of debt - which may not directly impact my paycheck - but w...

I have recently moved to the ER after 10 years of ICU work. I just finally burned out... The major difference I see in ER work is the variety, as others have pointed out. I finally came to realize that there are only so many ways to take care of a...

our hospital is small also, and we have 24 hour pharmacy coverage only m-f. but - we do not keep kcl for infusion on the floors!!!!!!!!!! if we need an iv with k, we call the supervisor, who gets the bottle from pharmacy, watches us draw our dose (...

Congrats on standing your ground! It is so hard, especially as a student, to stand up to "authority". I once worked nights in an institution where the first words out of the day shift's mouths was "who got a bath?" - not "what kind of night did you...

I used to wear artificial nails, and believed all the hype/misinformation provided by the nail industry. But, I really didn't like how they left my natural nails (messed up for 6-8 months after I quit having them done), and use "press on" nails with...

i have just finished reading a lot of the posts about nursing pay... makes me depressed - and i thought i was doing good! the hospital system i work for doesn't give charge diff's or weekend diff's (unless you've already worked more than 16 hours w/...

Thanks Mikemw. I plan to check out this site on my next days off (I'm getting ready to work tonight and tomorrow night.) I did open up the first page and it looks good.

Thanks for your input. If I find anything out there, I'll be sure to pass it on. We sometimes have a 8-hour wait for "non-urgent" cases, with a percentage of them that "leave without being seen", (which, in my inexperience, may mean they didn't bel...

Thank you so much for your reply, Jena. Hopefully, I can take this information back to the unit, where maybe we'll be able to write an appropriate policy addressing this.