wildlaurel

I work in an emergency department and have for the past 2 years. I am often frustrated by the favoritism in assignments in our department. People who are part of the "in crowd" get the better assignments - floating, triage, less acute beds. If we are...

I don't think most hospitals consider BSN vs ADN when setting the hourly rate. I've heard that Duke is now starting new grads out at $25/hour. I was surprised by that because they used to be the lowest paying hospital in that part of the state!

You don't say you hate nursing or caring for patients...you hate the hours, the place, the people...You will most likely not find your dream job right out of school, but you might find one that is a little more compatible with your lifestyle in terms...

I agree with several of the other posts, call RT - get them to assess the patient. If the patient had a hx of COPD - you have to be careful about over oxygenating. Go to the EDP and say, "I'm really concerned about this patient and need you to come...

Hello, We're getting ready to implement the use of pharmacy techs in our ED with ALL patients. We already have techs who come in and verify meds on patients being admitted, but we'll soon have techs doing all patient meds. We're having conversation...

I had a lady take an ambulance to our ED at 2 am once because she didn't get her piece of fruit before bedtime...because nobody was home to give her "care and comfort." I wanted to give her a fruit cup and send her home - the EDP wanted to work her ...

I would like to hear about how various ED's handle violent patients (psychotic - not a patient you can reason with) in the ED? A patient who became so out of control that one of their family members was injured (by the patient) and a nurse was injur...

Yeah - there was no reasoning with this patient - they were completely psychotic. Those people just scare me - I can take a mean drunk or a manipulative personality disorder - but psychotic people just cannot be reasoned with.

Wow! So well written and engaging Loque! It is a good reminder that something that is small and annoying to us can be huge to someone else. I had a little old lady patient who came into the ED one day with constipation and I really felt for her - ...

I have passed out one time - in nursing school in the OR...and I knew it was coming, so I got to a wall and just slid down into a sitting position! The worst fainting episode I've ever heard was a patient who'd just been discharged and was at the di...

I have had a recent spate of plain old rude, manipulative patients. I can ignore rude behavior, but it amazes me when people lie to/about me. For instance, the other day a patient called out for assistance to the BSC. I was charting and a tech imm...

When I was studying for the NCLEX I read in several places not to study the day before - relax, see a movie - just let yourself come down from the studying! That's what I did pretty much. I made some flash cards with lab values and things like that...

Thank you guys! I did document on it, but I guess my main question was - do you confront the lying? With the patient who said she'd called out for 30 minutes I finally said, "I'm really concerned that you aren't happy with your care and I'm sorry a...

Oh, by the way, I'm an ED nurse!

We have a 4:1 ratio on acute side and it can be 6:1 in Fast Track. There are times though when we may be short-staffed or really busy and we'll have to go up by a patient or two. That is pretty unusual though thank goodness.

In my ED we don't call Code Blues when we have a pt arrest or a CPR in progress come in. ED staff handles all codes in our department. If there is a Code Blue called anywhere else in the hospital, one of our docs responds with one of our EMT's and ...

I am thinking of relocating to the Northern VA, Fairfax County area and was wondering if anyone knows anything about working in Emergency nursing at Inova Fairfax or any of the other hospitals there. I have 2 years of nursing experience in an Emerge...

Thank you! I'll try to figure out how to post in that forum!

There is actually an anticipated shortage over the next 10 - 20 years nationwide as babyboomers age. With the economy being so bad however, nurses are working longer and that off-sets the need for new nurses to some degree. Statistically however, t...

I wouldn't bother renewing. You'll find a job as an RN somewhere!

Well, it wasn't an educating situation - they were trying to be threatening, like, "If you mess up, I'm gonna have it on tape." The pt with the worst attitude though had to stop recording because his cell phone died! Which, I thought was kind of fu...

We had a (very) young adult pt come in because her family said she couldn't stop crying!

But if they survive the code, I think she meant it gives the family time to say good bye and wrap their heads around how ill their loved one is. I've only ever seen 2 ME cases and the family wasn't allowed in the room either time until the ME had cl...

Funny - I just looked this up in my med administration book not too long ago. My Mosby's says to dilute IVP Ativan with equal amounts of sterile water or NS. It seems to suggest that you should also dilute IM preparations too, but it doesn't explic...

We're not a trauma center, but I actually do feel a little better now. Thanks guys! I tend to get a lot of the high acuity pts and at least one of our two trauma rooms. I LIKE those pts too, but I worry I won't be a well-rounded ER nurse if I can'...