LittleBittRN

Good luck with the interview. The ER I work at does not hire LVN's into "nursing" positions, they work as a Tech. Make sure in the interview you ask about your job duties. Our Techs start IV's, do EKG's and work on the floor helping the nurse. If you are planning on getting your RN and want to work in the ER, this is a great way to get your foot in the door for a position as an RN. Some ER's allow their LVN's to give certian IM and IV meds but the position is as an LVN, not a tech. In interviewing, I can tell you I look for nurses that are energetic. When answering the question "Why do you want to work in the ER", some answers you can give is, I like to work in a fast paced enviorment, I like the challange of getting a patient stabalized, I like the variety of patients- from peds to adults, I will have the ability to use my skills and have diversity of changing diagnosis and conditions and being able to intervene and help the patient. If you plan on going on to become an RN, share this. Also be honest and tell them that you want experience in the ER any way you can get it because eventually you want to be a RN in the ED. Let them know you have goals and a vision for your career. Our ED hires new grads but we only invest in one's that stand out and have a go-getter type of personality. You have to remember that they are investing in you, make them see why you are worth the investment. Good Luck

Hi all, Have a question. My ED realized that communication was less than good so we decided to create an ER website which we communicate meetings, going-ons, message board etc all in the spirit of building morale. THere is NOTHING that discredits the hospital or the ER but admin. is having a fit and want us to shut it down as it is not corp. "approved" This website was bought outside the ED and not with the hospital's money. I have a question: 1. Does anyone else have their own website for their dept and can you put the link We don't want to loose this. THe staff and doctors love it. It is fun, upbeat and positive. HELP please. Thanks in advance

I agree with the fact that you are not a guest- you are there to do a job. Illegal is illegal- no 2 ways about it. As far as invading privacy- it wasn't like she was going through his personal stuff and found it- it was in line of site and illegal. Imagine if you asked to be reassigned and someone new came in and reported it or a neighbor and "Oh by the way officer, why didn't the nurse that was assigned here report this". My philosphy is I always protect my license first. I worked to hard to get it and I will not jepordize it for someone else- I do the right and legal thing. Think of it this way- if an off duty cop happened to stop by- do you think he/she wouldn't report it?? Heck no. This does not fit into the expectation of privacy- just as bruises on an eldery person don't- and you HAVE to report that even with a suspicion. Illegal is illegal. As far as opening the lines of communication with the patient- that's all fine and dandy but if you turn your head to any crime you are an accomplice- As for me- I love my nursing license and will not jepordize it by turning my head to a crime just because I don't want to hurt my patients feelings. Also- this patient had a lack of respect for the nurse- leaving out illegal drugs in line of site. Betcha he would have had more respect if a cop walked in there.

I work in a very busy ER and I love to get students that want to learn and are motivated. I can say this though- Nothing is more aggrivating that the student who just stares at you, takes no inititive what so ever and when you say "Do you want to get practice with....." they look at you like it's a huge imposition and all they do is follow you and stare. I take care of my patients when I have a student. I don't make them do all the grunge stuff but if they are sharing my assignment with me I expect them to work with me like a team. Not just "call me if you get a Foley or IV to do" and then they just stand at the desk holding it up or ignore a call light. Also, the nursing "aide" is part of the team to- remember when you are a nurse it does not mean that you don't have to do bathing anymore- that is part of patient care. I remember what it was like being a student and I can say I absoultly don't dump on them but give me some students that are motivated!! I would say that only 2 out of every 10 we get show a real eagerness to learn. I remember that I was always looking for oppurtunities to help and learn and didn't have to be asked to do my basic skills- I did it on my own. That helped out after I graduated- the nurses remembered me as a hard worker and a go getter- I got the job because of that. You can never go wrong with a preceptor if you get off on the right foot and up front say- "What are your expectations of me" and come to a common agreement of what your going to do and be responsible for. This opens the door to communication with your preceptor. That is usually how I start off with a student- What my expectations are and what him/hers are. Also be up front with things that you have not gotten a lot of exposure to "I need practice with..." and at the end of each shift ASK for feedback. How did I do, What do I need to work on... This means a lot and you will learn a lot. Good luck to all of you!

I am an ER nurse but I can sypathize with you. The ICU/CCU nurses in our facility treat us like dirt. When we call and give report they pick us apart, they make snide comments when we get upstairs and make us feel stupid- they ALWAYS have to point out at least one thing we did wrong and argue with us if they don't feel that the pateint "needs ICU" The other day I tried to give report and all the nurse kept doing was interrupting me and "if he's not on a vent and doesn't have a foley than why is he coming up here" even though he had no platlets to speak of at 24 years old. It's almost like they are afraid of patients that walk and talk. I feel that they also don't understand that they have 1:1/-2/:1 and we have been caring for this ICU patient in the ER being 4,5,6:1 and we don't always have time to make them immaculate and tie a bow on for delivery to them. For what we have to work with I think we do a great job and if that was my only patient than I could understand but come on guys- we are expected to manage our other 3-6 patients as well and can't put off getting report because 1 patient in the dept. had a blood pressure drop and it takes all of our nurses to take care of it. We run codes and the ambulances still continue to roll in, the patients still come through the front door and we can't say no, why can you??!! when you don't even have half the patient load that we carry? sorry, bad night last night and had to vent- but I just don't understand the ER-ICU war that seems to go on at every hospital. We are all nurses and we all are there for the patient- it takes ALL of us.

In Florida the "right to work" state, the majority of nurses in my hospital would like a union. Is it happening? No. Why? They are afraid of losing their job. THe last time the nurses got together and wanted a union, administration got word and do you know that those nurses were all gone within 1 year! It scared everyone else. What do you do! They can fire you for any reason in this state. We would love to have a union. The working conditions are horrible. Will we? Nope. No one wants to risk their job.

I love having nursing students in the ED but only if they want to be there. Some of them come down and have no interest but don't want to do the "bed baths" upstairs. They stand in a group and hold up the desk. My feeling is if they want to be there then they will seek out learning experiences. I don't like feeling like if I have a foley to put in that I have to hunt them down and then get a look like "what, you want me to your job" even after their nursing instructor said they need the experience, it's easier to just do it myself. So I guess it just depends on the student. My suggestion to them is find a nurse and stick with her that shift and you will learn a lot. Your rotation in the ER isn't to hang with your buddies and chit chat and appear uninterested in being there. I guess this goes for any student. One that comes up to me and says "I'm so-and-so and I am here until 4 and if you have anything you need help with or any procedures please feel free to call me" will get me teaching them all day long. Attitude is everything and it's to busy to be chasing students around trying to get them involved when they don't really want to be.