gotaluvtheER

Has anyone bought maternity scrubs? Was it worth it, or will regular ones (a few sizes larger!) work just as well? The four pregnant women on my unit will appreciate any answers! :)

1. cough/cold 2. headache 3. abd pain 4. back pain 5. kids with fever 6. psychiatric 7. chest pain 8. drunk 9. trauma/injury 10. abcess/rash

headache, flu, cough, vomiting. MI. rash, fever, fever, drunk. amennorhea. vomiting, headache, laceration, cough. leave triage. report. restrain. give work note. can't be pregnant! sigh. :)

Holy cow! I've always respected you Med-Surg folks, and always knew I could never do it, but good grief! I am more amazed than ever. I took a pt to the floor tonight for admit from ER, and just stood there wide eyed. :uhoh21: Nobody at the desk, nurses running around like crazy, the call bells going off. I thought "where's the code?" No code, just normal business at 2130 from what I was told. And on top of that, census was even down from usual. Made me wish I could take my pt back to ER just to help them out. The ed is always busy, but I can honestly say that I have only felt as frazzled as these nurses looked a handful of times. So in short, KUDOS TO THE FLOOR NURSES! :)

While you're out looking at books, look for a Lippincott NCLEX review. I am pretty sure that is what I used. Helped me a whole lot more than Kaplan. Good Luck!!!

Guilty,guilty,guilty. And I didn't think I was that southern! Haven't laughed that hard in who knows when. Especially loved the Breakfast with a Southerner! Thanks for sharing!!!!! :rotfl:

If you act up in McDonalds, the mall, grocery store, or wherever, you will either be asked to leave or arrested by police for disorderly conduct. What makes people think it is any different in the ER? Is it because "I'm sick and you can't refuse me treatment?" HOOEY!! :angryfire I realize there are people who get very stressed when a loved one is sick or injured, but that still doesn't give them the right to abuse the people they came to for help in the first place. NOBODY has the right be be verbally abusive or threatening in a public place, especially the ER, where crowds of people are. My patients are sick, and deserve to receive competent care in an environment in which they feel safe. They get neither when I am busy calming, restraining, or having police arrest an SOB like that. It prevents me from spending time and delievering the medical care my pts need and deserve. If press-ganey matters so much, why don't we start encouraging pts who witness and feel unsafe in an event like that to blast it loud and clear on their surveys. 50 complaints are much louder than the one complaint from an uncivilized moron.

I used the Clorox 2 and it removed a little more. Hmmm, about this Tide buzz thing. It removes ink too?!?!?! I have a couple with some ink spots..... Heck, I just need to wear black!

Got spewed with charcoal last night. (So did the walls and ceiling) :chuckle All over my brand spankin new scrub top. Anybody got any tips on how to get charcoal (or other stains for that matter) out of my clothes. I did the whole Spray N Wash ritual, but it didn't work. You'd think I'd learn by now to wear those yellow gowns, but it was so gosh darn hot last night...

How common is it in your ER to put a totally NON-EMERGENT ambulance pt in the waiting room? I've read lots of posts and c/o about putting bogus amb pts in rooms, why not send them to the waiting room??? Is there some sort of law against doing this? Of course, I mean only the obvious BS ones, like FFs with chronic back pain, stubbed toe, toothaches, etc. I've only seen it done a couple of times, so is it more common in big cities with bigger ERs?

I came in the ER right out of school. Here's some advice straight from the horse's mouth. 1. Make sure you will receive an extensive orientation. Especially make sure you know where everything is on the unit--nothing is more frustrating in an emergency than for you to not know where something is. 2.Take ACLS, PALS, NALS, TNCC, even if they are not all required. 3. If there's a skill to be done that you haven't done, grab a veteran nurse and have them talk you through it--watching it is not nearly as effective as doing it. 4. Don't let anybody make you feel bad about being a new grad in the ER. No matter where you work, it will be busy, short staffed, and emergencies will happen. Just know when to step back and let the veterans step in, and take that time to absorb everything you can.Follow the code team as they respond to the calls on the floor. The more codes you see, the better your ability to appropriately respond. 5. If you have time, go watch the triage nurse and note her assessment and the questions she asks. Think about what priority you would assign the pt and see if it was the same as hers and find out why or why not. Nothing terrified me more than going out to triage (and I had been in the ER for 2 years). If the pt looks fine but your gut tells you different, go with your gut. Better to err on the side of safety. Oh, and if the nurses start to complain about you bringing too many people straight back, offer to swap assignments with them. That'll shut them up. :rotfl: Note: Even if you did work on MedSurg for a year, that doesn't necessarily mean that when you come down to the ER, you will automatically know how to work with chest tubes/vents or do gastric lavages or get an IV in a baby in full arrest in record time. No matter the years of experience you have, the ER requires its own orientation.

Hey guys. I really hope this is not a repeat post. I used the search engine, and did not find a lot. My question is this. Does any one know the chances (i.e. 1 in a 1000, etc) of contracting a blood borne pathogen via broken skin? Can't seem to get straight answer with CDC website. Tonight I was helping restrain a pt who was lunging for another nurse, (pt fine one minute, dangerous the next), and immediately grabbed his arm. (No time for gloves, even though I am a stickler for wearing gloves) Unbeknownst to me, he had some superficial lacs to his arm that were still bleeding slightly (not much, just "damp"). Anyhoo, got blood on my hands, mostly on my palms and palm side of my fingers. Note my cuticles are bad from washing so much, but I looked and did not notice any on them. At least I don't think I did. (If I had, I would have freaked then and there.) I did scrub good afterwards, no broken skin to my palms. Would you worry? Didn't think about exposure precautions then and still wonder now if it even applies since I have no proof of blood to blood contact. I'm gonna lose sleep over this. This is the only HIV, etc scare I've had. *Pt "looked" okay, but we all know how reliable looks are. Thanks for listening. :uhoh21:

Too funny! :chuckle

It's been several years, but I had some about insulin, lidocaine, methergine ?sp (the one for uterine atony), and one about the immunization schedule for kids. :)

Holy Cow! You've never seen a roach! I want to move to your town!