Tonjia

welcome to the wonderful world of ER nursing in 2010. For years people have used ER's as walk in clinics, but now with the economy like it is you are going to be hard pressed to find an emergency room that isnt full of clinic patients. And they all know the laws of EMTALA. If you dont believe them, they will tell you. Just one more reason why I have given up a 16 yr career in emergency nursing.

a short time on a NRB is not going to hurt this patient. It sounds to me like he needed a continuous neb and/or a bipap anyway

wow, I want to work where you work!! We were inundated with reminders of "infection control day".. but no one gave a crap about the ER. Of Course thats the norm in our hospital. They only care about the ER when one of their patients code or they need an IV or a NG tube, or a difficult cath insertion etc etc....

Hi all, I am currently an ER nurse, been working in the ER for 16 years. From the huge trauma center to the normal size non trauma center. To put it bluntly I am burnt out. I still have another 10 years until I reach retirement age, so I am investigating other nursing areas. I have an interview on Monday at our local county jail, this seems to be a coveted job in our area, without much turnover. My question for your correctional nurses, what would flag me that this is going to be a good/bad place to work?? What questions should I ask? I know ER inside and out, but this is a brand new area for me, and I have never worked outside of a hospital setting. Thanks for any input that you may have:)

thanks! No one in our facility even bothered to acknowledge it. of course we are being inundated with "infection control week" which is right around the corner... bah humbug:devil:

4:1 is a dream!! when I worked in a trauma center we would work mods and have 2 RN's for 9 patients because we did a lot of major trauma, then I went to a non trauma center (who received trauma frequently) and our ratio went to 6:1 and up to 8:1.

Toradol is contraindicated in major trauma. period

you have already been told this, but it is ABSOLUTELY a HIPAA violation, and I would throw it right into their faces.... the nerve!

I hear ya sistah!! Believe me, nursing has taken a big dive, even in the last 16 yrs since I became an RN. Especially if you are working in a hospital. Now, on the bright side, there are tons of possibilities for jobs OUTSIDE of the hospital setting. Once you have had enough, I encourage you to check out some of the other areas for nurses. It might save you from burn out.. good luck

not since 1998 when EMTALA was put into law. My solution for the healthcare crisis..... abolish EMTALA

why yes, as a matter of fact... I refuse to detain. its my mantra:D and besides its much more fun watching them stagger out the door!

I have had several funny mispronunciations of problems: Had a lady c/o "viral mango encephalitis" and a man with "suggestive heart failure" and one day had a guy come with with sudden onset of blurred vision in his left eye. It was obvious from the beginning... the left lens of his glasses had fallen out:uhoh3:

I am on Verizon so I cant get the Iphone, I use my Droid.

sounds like a cluster to me. In the trauma center where I worked we had a "trauma team" everyone had a job and everyone knew what they were supposed to do. It looked chaotic but we seriously knew what was happening.... Where is your charge nurse??

when it comes to a combative drunk in restraints, right in the thigh! and through the jeans:yeah:

I can see our trauma centers in the US leaning more in this direction as well. Our most recent trauma conference focused on rapid removal from the backboard, (within 15 minutes of arrival) and encouraged those of us in trauma centers to establish protocol pertaining to this. Personally, I dont see anything wrong with removing the patient from the board, providing the pt is kept supine and in a c collar. I think it will eventually become a nursing judgement call, and will certainly make those immobilized patients happier!! In the grand scheme of things, if my patient has a cervical fracture, the back board wont make a difference in the patients prognosis, once they reach the trauma center.

Congratulations! your world is about to change:bugeyes:

Saturday night on a full moon weekend.

Thank you! someone finally said it! Long boards are for extrication and transport, nothing else. Who remembers when EMS used to do standing longboards???

had a guy come in with sudden onset of blurred vision in his left eye. when the tech took him to the machine to check his visual acuity she picked up his glasses and guess what? The lens in the left side of his glasses was missing!!! He didnt bother checking, he just ran to the ER as fast as he could! Left with his broken glasses and an ER bill. Think the Insurance company will pay for this visit?

I would check with ENA or the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma.

we work towards rapid removal of spine board at our hospital. That doesnt mean the RN's yank people off of the board without a docs quick assessment, but studies show that prolonged periods of time on the board, is more harmful to the patient than leaving them on..

kind of sounds like what we have been doing with "hold" patients for years. (dont get me started on that one.) I once worked at a hospital who had a separate "chest pain unit" where the patients would go to wait out their serial cardiac enzymes until cleared for discharge, but it was staffed separately. Its a lose/lose situation in my opinion. The patient loses out on consistent nursing care and attention and the nurse loses out because you feel like you arent giving good nursing care.

OK that is just WRONG. how does this happen?

Kudos to you Dan! I think if we all stepped back and utilized your work ethic then the friction would most certainly be reduced. I applaud your preceptors when you were trained to be an ER nurse, they did an amazing job.