wwfd

I believe you also asked what if the OP had been by herself..well if she had been by herself i can probably bet you money the triage nurse would have assisted her to the bathroom. as to the above remark, it is also highly indicative of what is wrong with healthcare that a) i have a patient telling me how an er nurse should have done her job without knowing what that job entails and 2. that said patients and lay people feel the need to judge and dictate how i should do that job. blast away as always.....

After all these posts i am still waiting on the OP to explain to me what great harm was done to her by the triage nurse. Yes the nurse's comments may have come across as rude, but it was a comment ..get on with your life. I would have done the same thing as the triage nurse, may not have used the exact words but if she was able to be triaged to the lobby her friend could certainly have helped her to the bathroom. If you are coming into the ER expecting it to be a calm and soothing enviroment you are going to be greatly disappointed. We are there to handle emergencies, yes we should be considerate of our patients and treat them with compassion but sometimes the situation doesn't allow the fluff your pillow stuff.

I agree that Butterfly and the other poster had a bad experience, honestly i do. but the issue here for me has become that this site is designed for nurses to use to exchange information,experiences and a safe place to vent. I left this site for a long time and have only recently returned because i got to the point where i just could not take coming on here and reading one more patient or nurse wanna be slandering and bashing nurses. well it appears that that is still the genereal theme on this site. its bad enough that i have people like this at work, patients family member all wanting to tell me how to best do my job but to then have to deal with the same sense of entitlement and know it all attitude here, a site for NURSES, is just too much.

The brows being rubbed was a direct reference something said that would provide a human connection. For the love of all that is right I will never understand where Non-nurse, nurse wanna be get off passing judgement on my job and what it entails. Now run along and continue to dream of the day when you can save the world by being Florence Nightengale reincarnated.

And could I suggest that perphaps since according to your listed experience you have never worked in the ED...so you probably don't have a very good sense of what my job is like. I also view your comment as a personal attack and will report it as such. Now please continue to enable each other on this site.

And you and patients like you are what are driving me out of ED nursing. I know that sounds harsh but its the truth. If your doctor is really aware that you have flareups then you and your doctor should have a plan in place to deal with these situations. and going to the ED is not an appropriate plan. That entire statement of "my dr sends me and tells me to tell the ED that normal painkillers won't work for me" screams drug seeking. Why doesn't your doctor call the ED in these cases and talk to the ED doctor, or set up a pain management plan for you. Just because i don't rub your trouble brow doesn't mean that I don't want you get better, perphaps by your ED nurse trying to talk with you about dealing with your pain with your PCP he/she is trying to help you deal with your pain in a more appropriate way. okay blast away.

Speaking as former LPN, 9 Years in fact, and now a RN for the last 13 , I can say that LPNs are not as qualified as RNs to do an assessment. LPNs are trained for lack of a bettet term to be task oriented. Disease process, critical thinking are not major teaching points in most LPNs programs. I am NOT saying that RNs are better than LPNs just that the education is different and that both have their areas of more intense training. And in most states LPNs are not legally allowed to do an assessment without an RN cosigning it.

One born every minute.

It was a really bad decision to read this long very dramatic posting after working a 12hr shift in a level 1 trauma ED. I tried to hang in there with the OP, i tried honestly,but i can only suspend reality for so long and then i have to cry foul. I agree with most the points my fellow skeptics have posted here....bleeding "with every heartbeat" for 5 hours? and still able to be discharged home? nah...cold clammy losing consciousness and no IV or fluids? nah.....a nurse from the er filing a complaint on her behalf? where was this angel of mercy when this tragedy was unfolding? watching from the sidelines to see if the poor bleeding almost in shock pt actually bled out? sounds reasonable to me.... several things in the OP followup postings lead me to believe that she has spent quite a bit of time in ers. "always have an iv started first thing" friends that work in ERs, an ER doctor that is a friend......makes you wonder i guess. okay blast away but at least i am going on record here with saying No Way this happened the way the OP laid it out. okay i feel better

My first question after reading this post by the OP was why isn't this in the ER section instead of the general nursing? I agree that the triage nurse was rude to the OP but other than that what was her horrible, shameful offense? she didn't smile enough, smile not bright enough? did the OP expect the triage nurse to carry her physically to the bathroom? I am probably going to get killed by saying this but if she was in and out in 4 hours...well she wasn't exactly dying... I have worked in ERs for many years and done triage on many busy nights and let me tell you it is a stressful and one of the most highly skilled jobs in the ER dept. As many of you have said, you have to assess that patient in a few short minutes and decide if they will die if you don't put them in a room or they are able to wait in the lobby. I understand that the OP felt as though the triage nurse was rude, okay so maybe she was. but...she triaged you appropriately and that is the bottom line.

I am not trying to be appear callous but I too am questioning why the OP went to her ER...a couple of statements in her post lead me to believe that she expected special treatment since she was an employee....and the fact that she "had to hunt down the doctor" really clinches it for me...does she allow her ER patients to wander around the ER hunting down the doctor? i would bet money no.

Maybe this is off topic, but how can a 3rd year nursing student list exp as 16 years? Just asking.

Exactly what I was thinking.