Joe B1

The fact that Payment of funds for services provided is being based on something so entirely subjective is obviously a political decision, not one based on any logical reason. I think it should be tied to real, measurable results. Probably never ha...

I've been asked to prep the groin exactly once in 21 years and fortunately I had the time to do it because the cath lab team was running late and I was caught up with all the i's and t's done. I think it depends on who has the most time to do the pr...

From an ER doc entering the room on an EMS code blue pt: "Yep, he sure is dead." After which he turned and calmly walked out of the room.

I can't say I'm wild about that sort of process. It's been tried a few places I've worked and it works about as long as it takes to fill up all your beds. There also ends up being a lot of musical beds when you have pts taken to the fast track that...

I'm not saying that I'm giving up, I'm saying that we need strategies for how to deal with the inevitable. I think that as long as you have people with control over access to drugs that people want, people will find ways to get them. I'm sooo with...

Hi QueensNurseNC and welcome to ER nursing! It looks like you're coming into this with the right attitude and putting your head into the science of ER nursing. I'll agree with what many of the other posters have already said. They're giving good ad...

I've seen all kinds of personalities in the ED. You'll just have to always keep in mind that the ED is a fluid environment and your priorities can often shift on a moment by moment basis.

NurseGloria, I don't blame the victims, but the truth is they're not all victims. Education can help to an extent. Prohibition has never been effective and usually results in illegal trafficking, theft, murder, abuse and imprisonment. People wil...

I've been dealing with this problem for over 20 years in different ED's and it only seems to worsen by the year. I'm beginning to think that it's not a problem we have but a predicament we're in. The difference here is that problems can be solved, ...

Why is it so hard to understand? They don't want to understand it. There are too many salaries that depend on these exercises in futility. It's make-work for the executive class. Business where it has no business being in business. If they unde...

I tell you something else. I think pt satisfaction surveys are a total waste of time. One facility I worked at surveyed 1% of the people we saw every month and, not surprisingly, the scores were quite variable. 1% is statistically useless. That's...

I've worked in several ERs now and I believe that good Press Gainey Scores are a result of: --The staff doing their best to keep pt's and families informed and comfortable --The length of stay and quickness of access to care --The presence of a telev...

Love the triage system and agree with it completely. I also love the buttons. I used to have one that said, "I smile because I have no idea what's going on" but they made me stop wearing it. If we had the "should be taken out and shot" category, we...

I've been into AC/DC a bit lately and think that "Highway to Hell" would be good for the waiting room. "Thunderstruck" might be good during a code. Joe

We had one guy I called Minnesota Fats because he was demented and playing "pocket pool" everytime you went in the room. One of the other nurses called him "Mr. Happypants". When a pt is seriously dopey (picking pixies out of the air) from the stuff...

I've been in a few codes where family members where present. It has never been a blanket policy allowing family in codes in any place I've worked, but rather a case-by-case basis. The few that we've had family present went very well. The families ...

I've worked at one facility, a level 2 trauma center, where there was a backboard protocol in which we were allowed to remove the pt from the board in the case that there was no back pain with no spinal tenderness or deformity on palpation, in alert ...

My point about encouraging people to come to the ED for the slightest problem was actually about that last cya statement we always make during our discharge instructions or telephone advice call. I'm like you and stress heavily on the discharge and ...

1) 19 y/o female calls ambulance to bring her in for a broken fingernail. Became irate when we wouldn't "Fix it!!" It wasn't even broken to the subungual area. 2) 18 y/o male calls ambulance to come to ER for a sunburn at 3 AM in August and he live...

Let's not forget that we encourage people to come to the ED and return to the ED for the slightest problem. We have to do so we don't get sued, even in a patient that is highly unlikely to need to return. If you hear, "Come back if you have any pro...

It's profoundly disturbing that a three year old is diagnosed as bipolar. I see that as an agenda on the part of the parents to avoid their responsibility or on the part of the psychiatrist for whatever bizarre reason or a combination of the two. D...

I had been a nurse for 2 yrs when I started charge and ended up doing it for 6 yrs on 11p-7a shift. I only got an extra 25 cents/hr then, but it's been a few years ago. It actually is the second worst job in the ED, the first being a tie between tr...

I worked for a year in a facility that wanted us to script (Emergency Dept, BTW). It made us sound like Stepford Nurses. The worse part was the fact that we were using the exact language of the customer satisfaction surveys they were using. "Our g...

I'll have to agree with a lot of what has been said here. When I went through nursing school (18-20 years ago) I didn't have any real problems with being male. My instructors and classmates were pretty cool with me and the other 3 guys in our class...

I don't think they hate you. They just love themselves more (heh, heh!) I also despise triage. What's really interesting is the long list of complaints and the "Oh yeah, I'm also having chest pains." Curious, I though the chest pain would have co...