sierranurse

My exact sentiments! )

Karen, what bridge course did you take, please? Thanks.

I worked the ER for many years. You could anticipate some type of physical altercation every shift, particularly on graveyard. I've had guns, knives drawn on me as well as physical combat. These events were not related to the way a patient was approached but more the percentage of patients of the seemy side seeking care. Most of all, mind altering drugs were underlying. I even hand to defend myself and another nurse with an IV pole against a knife weilding "Crankster" one shift. These events became more than commonplace as the influx of methampetamine production/sale increased in the area. I loved the work but left the ER after an evening event involving fracturing the arm of a druggie gone amuck in the back of an ambulance accosting the EMS crew at our ER service dock.

**** signing a waiver would mean nothing when it is related to a workplace injury. particularly, in a court of law when it comes to osha mandates. i believe you would be prudent to require the mandate be followed & persue it as a personnel issue if the employ refused. rather than end up in court.

I am an LVN with multiple years of experience in many areas. My base is in emergency & surgical medicine & I've also worked in corrections. For the past 12 years I have worked as an OHN for a major international manufacturing company. This was a position posted in the local newspaper to which I responded. I work directly with Human Resources & Environmental Health & Safety departments here. I wrote the Substance Abuse policy used throughout the corporation & other policies used here in a union shop. Most of the occupational experience I have obtained on the job. This is a very interesting field which not only incorporates Wellness & OSHA mandates but employee/patient illness & injury treatment. If you're an LVN/LPN with a desire & can convince a company you can provide the service they need, do it. You won't regret it!

Okay, I'll do that Tiona. Where are you located & what County are you working in? )

thank you.

I did work for them at one point in time. )

Placer County.

Are any of you aware of an online LVN to RN distance learning program that IS accepted by California? Thanks in advancs for any help. )

Yep Nurse T, been there done that. Many times in fact and at County jail here. We dealt with them all as it was also clearing house too for the bad boys 7 girls in transport from Folsom, Pelican Bay, San Quentin, etc. Expect more of it as it 's the nature of the system. Sometimes better & sometimes worse. **Don't know where we're headed but no sense bein' late!**

Tell us your most outrageous emergency medical responses within the correctional facility where you work.

Please share with us the most outrageous call or event, in which, you as EMS/ER personnel have ever been involved. This can be humorous, tragic, or uplifting. You make the call as to the event. And, be specific in your description for most will understand but there will be others not in your area of expertise who may need some expalnation....have fun with your recounting!

We've all had those experiences of the delivery that is anything from the morm. It's the one, two, or multiples that just stick in your mind. Contribute the craziest stories from the Del Room, ER,, Emergency services here.

Contribute your craziest baby delivery stories from the Del room, ER, emergency services!

Yep, we as medical personnel have encountereds them. That's what I'm looking for those events you've experienced in ER that were related to cooking: Example: The burn victim I had transported into our ER one afternoon when he pulled the "Start the BBQ using regular gasoline trick" Initially, while in his backyard getting ready for company to arrive and after having ingested a few bbers to prime himself he attempted to prime the briquets in his BBQ kettle. He only had a small amount of old lighter fluid & the briquets did not light. Anxious that the BBQ would not be ready when his friends arrived he went to the garage & retrieved the spouted gas can for fueling the lawn mower. He sets about pouring the petrol onto the briquets not noticing that some of the charcoals had minimally ignited which did the same to the gas streaming from the can. The flame travelled back up to the can and it exploded. Now, in that instant he is covered in flame and tosses what's left of the fuel can back over his shoulder which lands on the roof of his house setting his home aflame. The quick response of his wife covering the guy in a blanket, the fire department & the ambulance not only saved the guys life but most of his home. We were told by the parameds the guy's friends stuck around and BBQ'd thier brat's and drank beer since the coals were going anyway & they had live entertainment watching the fire department & ambulance crew doing thier jobs. Share your cooking related emergency experiences with us.

Yep, read it. Many stories have been experienced by others in different regions. A lot of familiarity in this field. I am even thinking about publishing stories that emergency personnel have experinced,too. I have found that as society & cultures have changed some of the experiences in the emergency field have changed. But, a lot have stayed the same. Just variations on the theme, so to speak.

Duck ! Three-fourty Saturday morning was always a bewitiching hour in this metropolitan emergency room. The bars had closed over an hour previous and those who made the attempt to proceed elsewhere than where they should have after a night of drinking and partying most usually would end up in situations they hadn't imagined in their drunken stupor. It was a typical blustery, rainy, wet to the bone November late night in this northern California city. The usual waiting period to be admitted into ER was on average four hours. We had our share of accident victims among the usual patient fare that visited an emergency room during the weekend. Also, there was everything from the rest -home geriatric with an elevated temperature that the assisted living staff didn't wish to deal with so they shipped them to ER via ambulance for another chance at a coffee break , the pediatric internal ear infection who was having seizures, and the sixty three year old cardiac arrest victim who arrived via code three mobile response team performing CPR in a valiant attempt to resucitate an obiously dead body. But, you had to try. For, what was the alternative if you did nothing. Yep, it was a busy wet night in this small building annex with it's tiled floors & walls, stainless steel wall apparatus & surgical tools displaying the same amount of chilling coldness as the weather out side. And, curtained spaces in which to roll the next gurney when there might be an opening. The structure of those gurney's was such that their heavy duty construction would withstand a lot of long-term abuse from weight and physical trauma. Yet, be safe & comfortable enough for a patients short term stay. Either, to admission as a patient in the main hospital or discharge from the ER back to the street to venture on their way. Hence the term, "Treat & street". Each Stryker gurney totally outfittted for these concerns weighed approximately 300 pounds. You would notice the weight when transporting a patient on rolling wheels down the hallway. But, you didn't appreciate the total weight with the ease of movement that was engineered within it's compact system. This Saturday night I became keenly aware of every aspect of the gurney's components, comstruction and weight. Officers of the City police department arrived at approximately 4 a.m. and had with them a 27 year old female in custody who obviously had been out in the elements. For, she was soaking wet in her denim pants and black knit sweater that hung down to her knees from the rain-water weight. Even with that extra rain-water in her clothing she couldn't have been more than ninety pounds. And she was pissed, foul mouthed, wreaking of alcohol, pupils the size of saucers and non-reactive. Her black pupils were so dialated it was hard to determine where her pupil edge ended and the white of her eye began. In fact, there didn't seem to be any white color notable. The officers, both well over six feet tall and two hundred pounds, were having difficulty restraining her. They brought her to us to evaluate her healthiness for incarceration at the City jail. The intention was to put her on a gurney so the physician might be able to examine her and make that determination. They walked her in from their squad car parked in the ambulance bay to the main ER room with hands handcuffed behind her back and an officer on either side with both of their hands and arms strongly entwined with hers for control. The plan was to place her on the gurney and attach soft leather restraints to her limbs for containment. No such luck ! I was in the middle of performing chest compressions on the male CPR victim when from behind I heard someone scream out, "DUCK!" One of the many disadvantages to working in an emergency room is the high percentage of unseemly individuals that utilize it's service. It was quite usual to be involved in a physical alteration of some sort every night. Too many of those encounters not only involved physical events but guns, knives, and other instuments of harm. That was a purpose behind not only use of security guards but also actual law enforcemnt assignments to many emergency rooms. As ours was a smaller entity we had a rent-a-cop and relied on law enforcemnt when they might be inhouse for other reasons. So, when the scream went out to, "DUCK!" I immediately stopped pushing on the victims chest and dove to the floor. Just as one of those 300 pound gurneys passed over my head striking the CPR victim tossing him and the gurney he lay upon over sideways to the cold tile flooring. When placing the ninety pound female on the gurney assigned to her by the officers she had been able to slip her handcuffed hands underneath her buttocks and feet, snaking out of their grip, and dropping off the side of the gurney opposite their position. Wherein, she physically grabbed the cold steel transport device, picked it up & threw it at the officers missing them and me but striking the CPR victim. It took seven personnel to subdue her and use plastic zip ties to bind her hands feet and knees. Of course, the question was how was a person her size able to perform such a feat? After successfully containing and four-point restraining her to the gurney an evaluation was performed physically and with laboratory work The lab results revealed not only ingestion of alcohol, marijuana, and methamphatmine, but also PCP more commonly known as, "Angel Dust". This property was originally used as elephant tranqualizer and had an effect on abusers that included incredible strength without pain. After the physician declared the death of the CPR victim and the evaluation of the small female took place she was given an intramuscular injection of relaxant and deemed healthy enough for incarceration and detoxification. The officers picked her up off the gurney by the zip ties, deposited her face down in the back seat of the squad car and drove off into the stormy night with their newest resident to City jail. I grabbed the next patient chart, called out their name, and went back to work, After all, there was still three hours left to the work shift. Just another night in ER !

As experienced medical personnel in the Emergency Room we all have favorite stories to relate. If you care to, please share your most favorite with all of us, whether funny or tragic. Be elaborate and detailed. For you may also educate others who haven't had your experience but may encounter the same situation in the future! In fact, I'll start............

I have had many inmates as patient's in the past. I also worked for a while in correctional medicine for a county jail facility. While there are many potentially hazordous situations, for the most part, the custody staff is very accomodating in providing for your safety. If that is your question. I have been in some compromising situations but rarely. Even with inmates from San Quentin, Folsom, & Pelican Bay.