bissie

Don't know if this was mentioned but.... I've already checked out my 3 children's, my boyfriends and his 2 children's veins....just in case...and to the 2 I know will be hard sticks...pointed out their good ones to them so they will be able to tell their nurse if I am not there!

I've done several stupid things in the ER since I've started working there. My first psych pt, I went to do his triage, and for his privacy shut the door. When I went to leave I found no doorknob. Luckily one of my 6 laughing coworkers watching on the monitor came to let me out! Then there was the pretty blue button on the wall when I tried to turn out a call bell...oops! Code blue ER. Not to mention how many times I've asked a "daughter" for info on her "father: only to find out it's her husband. Gotta laugh!!

I just moved from a busy city ER to a local community ER closer to home...took a $5 and hour pay cut...BUT I DO get bathroom breaks and so far have had at least one meal in a 12 hour shift! It does suck that, as a newly single mom, I can barely afford a 2 BR apartment and food for the kids on what I make now. What to do?

Hi, I am wondering if anyone knows of a reputable agency to work for in MD? I used to do agency work all of the time, but it seems like they've all gone out of business! Thanks...

I work in an inner city ED but have just accepted a postion in a rural ED closer to home. In my experience in the city, I've never had a day where you could find anything! Even basic things like BP cuffs and pulse ox probes. I'd first look in the pt drawers found in each room, not there, so I'd go to the supply room...not there either! I would often have overflow pts in the periphery rooms which were not originally equipped with monitors....I'd have to go and search for a monitor...if I could find one, it usually didn't have any connecting cables...it was a joke, I could spend soooo much time just trying to find basic stuff. I asked one of the experienced techs if there were any well-stocked ED's, and he told me that Shock Trauma was. Just wondering about others' experiences.

I've been seen sprinting out to the waiting area and even outside after pt's who've left with medlocks in place. That's why I love the fact that our security is such a presence where I now work...there are often just as many security guards as nurses...I am now in an inner city ED but have just accepted a position in a rural ED that is closer to home, and I anticipate the security situation will be different...but I think the pt population is as well! Anyway, I just love it when pts act like "oh I forgot that was in there"...did they also forget that they haven't been seen by the doc yet?

18 year old girl comes in drunk out of her mind. Her chief complaint, " I am dizzy and feel like I'm going to throw up." DUH

What about not wiping Y-ports on IV tubing with alcohol prior to accessing? This just isn't done in the ER..but when you think about it...eww

One of our docs just wrote an article for our city paper about this same topic. I don't know about an "average" wait time, but I can say that we've had pts there for days....very sick pts waiting on ICU beds that end up staying for their entire treatment in the ER. When I hear "we've been here for six hours" I want to laugh...and I usually do say something like..wow, that's not bad. People have to know WHEN to come to the ER, but unfortunately for some (indigents, illegals) we are the only option...we HAVE to treat them regardless of ability to pay.

Drank roach poison after wife put it in a coke bottle...on discharge instructions the PA wrote,"label all containers". The pt said,"it was labeled...it said Coke"