danggirl

I just started a new job in an ER that cares for a mixed population of both adults and pediatrics. My entire career (13 years various med/surg/tele, 4 years ER) has been spent caring for adult patients. I'm enrolled in PALS and ENPC but they won't be...

Is this a newer question? Sorry, I haven't been on here in quite a while and was just wondering if that is November of 2015! The great thing about nursing is that you CAN go from specialty to specialty with some training and orientation. For the ER p...

Hi. I'm hoping that all you GI nurse experts can help me out with this. I've never run across it in my career and I can't find hardly any information on it at all. A few weeks ago I had a stent put in my cystic duct (gallbladder removed many years ag...

I made the original post back in October. I didn't get any replies but perhaps I can turn it into a teaching opportunity since I've learned a few things since then. So the cystic duct is the one that the gallbladder is attached to and, due to some fa...

Wow. I just sort of stumble across this posting. I know it is a bit older but I'm going to comment anyway. I graduated with my Diploma (no they really do exist...they aren't a mythical creature!) in 1995 and I have to say, at least for that, I got a...

**Warning: parts of this may sound like the ravings of a paranoid conspiracy theorist but I guarantee you every bit of it is true and verifiable. I had worked in a particular ER several years ago for about a year and then worked there again this pas...

Since I've had never ending GI issues I have discovered some great liquid solutions. Even when I felt well, I'd always have one on hand at work in the ER for those days when you might get 15 minutes out of 12 hours for yourself! There are three that...

I can't think of any reason for you to NOT put it on your resume. I can understand how you might think it would look bad to have a job for such a short duration, but unless your resume is riddled with them or you were actually terminated from it, a p...

When I was a new nurse, we signed every narcotic out on a paper log and we could use a vial more than once. I found out the hard way that the laws had changed (as well as that Pyxis machines existed!) when I had a patient who required a dose of pain...

Congratulations on your new position! It sounds like a double challenge transitioning to a med/surg floor nursing role AND learning about transplant patients. I worked on a transplant unit for two years but came there initially as a travel nurse with...

The most amazing (and humbling) act of gratitude from a patient and her family occurred about 8 years ago and it still brings tears to my eyes. I worked charge on a med/renal/endocrine floor and so we had a lot of repeat customers. A young, married...

Yay for you! I love, love, love the ED. So I can't think of any books off the top of my head but I know of one way you can get into the ED and see if it is what you really want and/or if you feel you are capable (I'm sure you are)...there are many fa...

Interesting information here. I never knew that when a patient left AMA that discharge instructions etc were required. I've never, ever seen that happen! In fact, one time I left a hospital AMA...the residents wouldn't discuss treatment plans only TE...

Was so happy to see this thread! My entire life I have been extremely shy and what I call a "social moron". In school I think I was so exhausted from working full time that I didn't have the time or energy to even think about being anxious but once I...

I hear what you are saying that being on the other side of the table makes one examine their own practice more closely. Since last January I have been in the ER more times than I can count, had 3 surgeries, a few procedures and several hospitalizat...

So just curious to hear some other opinions of this. Our hospital is considering a serious overhaul of its ER practices due to the upcoming reductions in Medicaid. All patients presenting with any complaint are to have a medical screening exam (as p...

I've heard about this from some of my ED patients. For the drugs that have a lower oral bio-availability and/or for enhanced effect people will take the drugs rectally. On the street they call this "plugging". For example, apparently hydromorphone (D...

That sounds really off the wall to me as well. In the ER we frequently give overlapping medications for acute pain management...IV dosing to bring it under control and IV/PO/IM to maintain control. I personally think you did an excellent job for your...

In my 17 years of nursing I have never once struggled with this issue. Taking care of patients, regardless of what they want or need, has no personal relevence to my life: I mean whether they take a tylenol or dilaudid, how much, and how often is no...

Yep, Judy worked triage again last night...

And here is our state of the art Empathy Training classroom....

Yes, this is the Non-violent Crisis Intervention workshop....

Oh my gosh! I graduated from Methodist Medical Center School of Nursing (now college of nursing) back in 1995! I worked there for 4 years...2 as a tech and 2 as a RN. Not sure this is helpful in any way what so ever to you! Anyway. Back then it was ...

First, I hope you are well and that you don't have such a severe exacerbation again any time soon. Now...there are different degrees of bag packers from the humorous to the practical to the sad. A few years ago we had a lady come in critically ill w...

Ditto regarding the other posters. I worked for 13 years in various med/surg/tele units before moving to the ED. Because I had my ACLS I was asked to float down to our ED one day and I was hooked. The pace is definitely more rigorous. Prioritization...