CrashED

D/C- Discharged ERP- Emergency Room Physician CAMS-CandyAssManSyndrome (We say but never chart it!) CP-Chest Pain CBA-Clear Bilateral Auscultation GAEBL-Good Air Entry Bi-Laterally PSBO-Possible Small Bowel Obstruction NIDDM-Non insulin dependant D...

We have pharm techs in our department and have for a while now. Our techs do medication recs once the patient is placed in a room. It has really assisted in getting appropriate med lists, as they contact the pharmacy (community) and get proper update...

Food......the one thing no ER nurse will refuse!:)

I moved to the ER almost 3 years ago with a background in General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Urology. (And before that had worked Neuro and Rehab nursing). I found the transition was overwhelming at times, but it was the best thing I ever did. The fi...

It completely depends on the environment you are working. My ED is broken into 4 parts, fasttrack where the ratio is 1:9, Acute where the ratio is 1:4-5, and Critical/Trauma area has a 1:2 ratio. In fast track or minors it is completely acceptable ...

In my area we are in a nursing home shortage, so half of our acute care beds are being taken by LTC patients...so unfortunately when you work Med-surg, It turns out to be a bunch of seniors awaiting nursing home beds...really makes you miss the skill...

You are not alone! Sometimes you just need to hand it back...then fill out an incident report to cover your own ass!:)

What is the thing that you hate seeing in the Emergency Room? Is it kids, traumas, lost causes, frequent flyers or........... What gives you heebeejeebies, Creeps, Chills, gags. Tears, bad taste in your mouth and Pulls your heart strings.

We are working on that at my trauma center, more so because our medics have rediculous protocols. Anyone with fall or mvc below the age of 5 or above the age of 65 automatically comes in boarded and collared, even without neck or back pain! So due to...

Unless its an IV drug user telling you "I am a tough stick"....I don't believe it!LOL

I don't know about any of you, but at my hospital if a code blue is called, so many people arrive that it can spin someones head. We run our own codes in emerg, and it runs smoother then any floor code! The last floor code I went to, as the ER RN I h...

I have only been an emerg nurse for a few years but my previous back ground is Gen Surg. And I have seen the wait and see approach to a ruptured appy many times. There is obviously certain criteria that go allong with it (IE: No trauma to the cecum f...

Emerg drugs are scary, because we deal with everything from pain and nausea meds to antibiotics and PALS/ACLS Drugs. See if your facility has a parenteral drug therapy manual. We have one and it is marvelous! We have one at every medication dispensin...

Does your hospital not have policy for venipuncture?? We are only allowd 2 attempts per RN unless its an arrest/emergency situation and then we pull out the old IO to get things going until we can get IV access! I personally am a difficult stick, le...

We have several nurses in our department who preceptor Medic Students. It gives them an eye opener of what goes on once they drop the patient off. As their clinical rotations, they do several shifts in the ED shadowing a nurse. They also do some shif...

Good old smoking cigarettes with the home O2 cranked at 6lmp via Nasal Prongs....KABOOM! (((And they didn't learn the first time, because it happened again)))

We can basically wear whatever we want. T-Shirts or scrub tops. And some of our Male Nurses wear Cargo pants.

The ED is a hard place for any nurse to go. The style of nursing is completely different. You need to be able to prioritize, recognize problems, emergencies and acuity. Some new RN's have trouble with it, but eventually it gets easier. I came from Ac...

Diversions are really hard. I work in a city where there is a level 4 center that is open until 11 pm. It will see almost anything that can be seen, and sent....but people are afraid of waiting!!!! Even though the wait they are looking at is hours an...

Last week I am pretty sure my whole city had DIARRHEA/VOMITING, and ofcourse INEFFECTIVE COPING! And everyone of them came to emerg! I must have triaged 80 people with the runs in a 8 hr triage shift! Towards the end of my shift I had this gentleman ...

I tell them we are instructed to keep them NPO until a physician order along with all disgnostic results are reviewed. If they are diabetic, we will monitor their sugars....and if they are really grumbling I tell the family they can feel free to wait...

We have 2 NP's who work at our trauma center, and the implementation of them has been a marvelous asset to our hospital. They see the levels 3-5 within their scope. It works great, and makes for faster ER times and Patient Care!

They present with _____ pain, and you go to get them an order for something and this is what the allergy list looks like....HINT #1 TORODOL FENTANYL MORPHINE ADVIL TYLENOL CODEINE TALWIN LYRICA GABAPENTIN DEMEROL ALL NSAIDS ELAVIL then you go to give...

I love the gardenhose explaination!!!

1) Paramedics report patient is found acting "Bizarre", diaphoretic, co Chest Pain radiating to his neck. Turns out the patient had a whole slue of problems. STEMI, Menningitis and to top it all off he had a CVA too!! Needless to say he had quite an ...