defib queen

As an er nurse, I would have to ask, why would you want all direct admits to be worked up in er first? In our er, if we worked up all the direct admits before they were admitted, we would not have time or space to take care of the emegency patients. We have a real problem with our patient ratio being at least 50% or greater being non-urgent problems i.e. cold symptoms for 4 days, etc. things that could have waited for the doctors office to open or be taked care of with otc meds. This takes precious time away from urgent and emergent patients and a toll on the staff at our facility. I really don't have a problem with a patient being a direct admit if they have seen their pcp. I worked on a busy med-surg floor for 3 years, when I got a direct admit report came from patient assessment, just as in the er with walk-in patients we don't get a report from someone, we get report from patient history and assessment.