RonRN18

This has been a problem for us. On adults, our choices are generally non-rebreather mask, BiPAP or intubation. On small children/infants with severe respiratory distress due to bronchiolitis, we are trying a Neo-Tee for setting a PEEP and a Neotech RAM cannula as a step to try to try to minimize the need for intubation. It is somewhat of a hokie replacement, but I'm told it helps. We got the equipment in mid-spring and I've not had an opportunity to try it, although while we were talking about what we would do, I ran several calls where I would have tried it had I had the equipment.

I have been contemplating becoming a nurse practitioner for a LONG time. My initial interest in becoming a nurse practitioner was from my years as an emergency department nurse; I worked with emergency physicians that fostered autonomy, which bordered on practicing medicine without a license. I loved that aspect but wanted to do so with legal autonomy as opposed to a physician playing a bit loose with the rules. For the past 12 years, I've been a critical care transport nurse, where we have standing orders with a wide latitude of options before speaking with a physician... at least our standing orders are "on paper" as opposed to a physician telling us "he has our back". Back when I was looking at NP programs in the past, there was only one emergency nurse practitioner program I was aware of but it appears more exist now. I found that Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama has a Doctorate of Nursing Practice program that prepares students to be not only a Family Nurse Practitioner but also an Emergency Nurse Practitioner, which appears to be just what I have thought I needed. At this point, I am wanting to know more about the program. I've requested more information about the program but it looks like they offer a part-time program where the majority is online with four campus visits during the slightly over four year program. I'm sure all the information I receive will "sing the praises" of their program but I'm hoping someone in this forum has experience with their program to give me an alternate view of the program.

When I first changed my major to nursing, I always wanted to be an ER nurse. I "spent some time in the trenches", doing home-care, SNF, sub-acute, Med/Surg, Peds, mental health, ICU and Peds ICU prior to getting to the ER. I started in 2000 in the ER and LOVED it from the get-go. When I first got in the ER, nearly all of the ER nurses were well-experienced in multiple areas. It was difficult to get into the ER at first, but then they started taking new grads and things started going down hill. I really didn't enjoy being the charge nurse in the ER, but I liked having a "new grad" (less than 2 years as a nurse) being the charge nurse over me even worse. I had a hard time respecting their "authority". As many of the senior nurses left, it seem to lose the fun that I had. I became the lead preceptor for new nurses coming to the ER, but it just wasn't as much fun. As I started to have more of a personal life (my first 9 years in nursing I had ZERO personal life... work WAS my personal life.) I ended up getting married and moving a couple hours away. I now work full-time as a critical care transport nurse... and LOVING it. For example, today, I spent the first 10 hours of my day giving impromptu lectures to my 2 EMT partners that are wanting to go to nursing school. The two I worked with today don't normally do CCT, and they were both quite curious as to what some of the equipment we carry is for. I explained each and in some cases broke into math session or patho/physiology "lectures". I found it quite fun because they wanted to learn. I still get the occasional exciting call, but there is a lot of down time that we can do many other things. Somedays, especially if I'm working with a couple female EMTs, we go shopping. Many days we hang out in bookstores or coffee shops. During my 8+ months of full-time work, I've come across many emergency scenes, even though we aren't technically a response unit. Just last week, we came across a vehicle accident that had just occurred and we pulled an unconscious person out of a burning car. That was pretty exciting. I'd probably get burned out of it if that is ALL I was doing at work. Probably the majority of my transports are quite short (5.4 miles for our "bread & butter" call... a "stable" patient with a femoral artery sheath in-place). My biggest fear when I started CCT was dealing with ventillator calls... in the hospital, I'd always dealt with RTs that didn't like us messing with "their" vents, and now I was the one and only person to deal with the vent. After much discussions with a co-worker and some self-studying, I now feel pretty comfortable with vented patients. All-in-all, it was a great move going to CCT from the ER... I still like the ER, but I'm in a better mental state-of-health now.