abundantjoy07

There's one sign in there that says, "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat." At my other job, it's educational and policy posters galore. Oh and of course announcements for staff meetings. Joy.

No idea. I feel like there is no other area to go... it seems like ER is the final stop. Maybe it's because I like it so much. I can't imagine not working at the bedside, yet I can't see myself in any other unit but the ER.

Compassion and caring goes so far. Something has to pay the bills. Great career great benefits and salary. I love being a nurse and I love what I get from it. And 3 days in a week in Pajama like clothes....heck yes!

Wear a mask or really good concealer.

Of course. People can be really nasty and I unfortunately have met almost all of them. lol. You learn a lot about personalities being a nurse. People are incredibly racist and sexist. Horrible. I just cuss them out in my mind and do what I have to do. :sneaky:I don't spend extra time in the rooms either.

I pay the mortgage, pay the car note, pay all the bills of living, pay for my daughter's care as a baby...and I occasionally buy things that are overpriced that I really don't need....like an idiot.

You did all the right things. People tend to say things like "if only I hadn't told him to come over" "if only I had turned the corner sooner" "if only I had turned on the lights upstairs" my response is It's NOT YOUR FAULT. We are not God and we don't plan on bad things happening. If it rains it rains. If it's cold it's cold. And the boy didn't die because you didn't get there 34 seconds earlier. He didn't die because you didn't ask what medications he was on. He died because it was his time to go. If it's your time to go it's time to go we can't feel at fault. You did your best but in the end it was already decided.

I'm gonna have to play Devils advocate here as my response is going to go against several posts. I dont care care how people get home. I'm the ER nurse. You're discharged and it essentially means from an ER standpoint that you are fixed. That is where my job ends. I'm not a social services person and I honestly believe that you should have money on you or someone to get you home. If you don't have money on you still get in the cab and pay the cabbie when you get home. Grown people should be able to take care of themselves. I swear it's annoying when people ask how They are getting home. Don't know, don't care. You found your way here Im sure you can figure it out. That issue annoys the living hell out of me. just to add on...for bedbound/incompetent/or morbidly obese to the point where the patient is non ambulatory that is common sense that transport will be arranged. For everyone else...figure it out!

The carina is the y shaped junction at the bottom of the trachea. The muco-ciliary (spelling?) elevator brings up sputum and mucus up from the throat and the sinuses. Totally useless crap.

Our Obs unit is considered part of the ER. However we as ER nurses do not float to Obs and Obs nurses don't float to ER. Honestly, the ER staff regards OBs as a completely different unit. The acuity of the patients are lower, the patients are already packaged up when they get over to Obs and Obs nurses tend to not be able to handle critical situations the way ER nurses do. We see the OBs unit as a regular unit with just a shorter stay. Sad to say, but Obs has always been ER by name...only.

I would ask for more staff. Period. Allocate more money for more staff. That's all I want. Forget equipment, forget new machines, forget renovations...just give us more staff. Period.

Traumas are no different in my mind than any other case. I kid you not. You do all the basics and then troubleshoot from there. Monitor, line, labs, meds...ABCs...assessment...Usually when traumas come in everyone goes to the room to assist. Maybe I've just been doing it for a while that it doesn't phase me anymore. Granted there will always be iffy situations, but for the most part it's basic...especially after you've done it for a while.

Pregnancy testing. Or a few weeks back a patient came in for a rash that had been there for 1 year (I kid you not). He waited in the lobby for hours only to get screened.

I'm truthful. I tell them there will be at least an hour wait if there are 5+ people in the lobby. (Even if it will be only 15 minutes). If there are 15 people in the lobby then 2 hours. 15+ I'm sorry I can't answer that question, we are moving as fast as we can however due to the ambulances coming in the back I can't give you a time. I don't know how long it will be. If they still press I tell them that the longest wait is x hours and leave it at that. I don't tell them about acuity because they get pissy. Everyone thinks they are a level 1 and most are level 4s and 3s. If they knew about acuity they would ask theirs and I would have to explain way too much. Then they would be pissed if they knew they were a level 4 or 5.

ER #1 sounds wonderful.

We don't get lunch breaks. It's just not something that happens. Because of our high acuity and high census we are constantly busy. It's hard to ask another drowning nurse to help watch your patients for 10 minutes much less 30 minutes. Lunch typically consists of standing in the break room eating in 3-5 minute intervals during that time you are never free of patient care. It sucks being a pregnant diabetic...there is no mercy. And for 12 hours it's unfair to expect us to work without eating. But then too we are chronically short staffed so we don't have coverage for times such a break. Honestly when it's bad and I'm upset because I haven't had time to just sit for 10 minutes I usually just walk away. However that's never a good idea because inevitably there's someone calling for something or a new patient coming in.... I love the ER but what I wouldn't give to be entitled to my 30 minute break. It would be nice to have a time allocated where you could just relax. 12 hours again is a very long time...

I was told the other day that it is a violation for the triage nurse to tell patients waiting in the lobby what the wait time is or how many people are ahead of them. To give a brief overview of the triage process makes people feel like their problem is not serious and they get angry. To tell them I don't know how long the wait is but we will get you back as soon as possible despite them having already waited for four hours makes them angry. To tell them that there are 32 other people in the lobby and that they have been waiting for up to 4 1/2 hours makes them angry. To tell them that there are three other people in the lobby and that they will have to wait for the next bed makes them angry still. To tell them that the emergency room is not a doctors office and that we do not see people according to time again makes the patients upset. To tell a legitimely Ill person I have no beds available and they will have to wait adds to the frustration. Sometimes patients will tell me they have to be to work in 3 hours and cannot wait and that I need to do something now. Even if I could most of our ER visits average 4+ hours. How do you answer this simple question appropriately and with compassion?

If my license expires January 31, 2015... Does that mean: I can work all day on January 31 ? Or does that mean I need to clock out tonight when the clock strikes midnight? I go in to work tonight not sure if I can work from 7p-7a or If I'm not good to work that full shift.

3-4:1 no matter what area you're in...3 is this the room, the 4th is the hallway.

Has anyone ever snapped while on the job? After all of the verbal abuse has anyone ever just gave back to the patient what they give to us? I did last night...all the threads I've searched no one has ever said they as the nurse responded aggressively. I'm just curious to hear the responses of others. My charge nurse was allll tooo happy to report it to the director and to tell the family to file their complaint... but when I got in to speak with the director he just said, it happens. Patients are always going to be mad and for me to just go home so I could get rest for work tonight... Really? In the age of customer service and just grin and bear it I expected more. Just a little background, the 18 year old patient literally thought he was bleeding to death from his nose (vitals stable, no horrible frank bleeding, mainly dried blood from the pressure he was holding) and the doctor wasn't able to see him in 5 minutes of his arrival...EMS brought him in and he automatically got a room and I guess he thought he was in dire straits. He was also mad because guess what I was in another room and not in his giving him the magic pill he needed. He yelled he needed help now and I straight up told him, you're not dying, keep the pressure on it because it's working, the doctor knows you're here and he will see you soon. He cussed and started throwing stuff, his mother got angry and started getting hostile and I just told her they could either wait for the doctor or they could get up and go to another ER. She got angry and then I really went off... How on earth can you stay sweet and kind all the time anyway? Sometimes therapeutic touch and all that mess just goes out the window and self-preservation kicks in...

What is the best way to discharge patients easily? It seems like the hardest thing is discharge. People expect to be admitted for every and anything. Most of the time I as the nurse get the grief. I mean is it my fault that we aren't hospitalizing you for back pain or for a laceration to the head? We sent you to CT scan, MRI, and XRay. We drew labs, we stitched you up and made sure you were okay to go after 5 hours of work on you but yet...it's not enough. I try to explain that we cannot hospitalize for everything. Somethings aren't worthy of a hospitalization. You should get the prescriptions filled and follow up with your PCP in 2-3 days. Or employ conservative treatment such as heat and ice on ailment A, B, C and D. How do you gracefully explain and discharge a patient without them complaining, threatening, and asking to speak to the boss? How do you get them out the door sans security? I mean I understand fear, but if you weren't stable we would not send you home... Sigh. I need pointers.

It's no good for me because my phone has an automatic lock on it.

My question is how is anyone gonna figure out how to unlock my phone? And then they'd have to search through the apps to find the ICE app. But again, how do you unlock a locked phone? I have a card and necklace for myself that is with MedicAlert. I figure it saves life and doesn't take much effort.

I also do 3 in a row. If not I feel even more exhausted. And after work it's not that difficult to fall asleep. The light and a ringing phone doesn't phase me.

I work at a major hospital...and I get all of $0.00/per for being on call. WooHoo!!!