Happy-ER-RN RN

A couple of us wrote this this morning and had a good time doing it so I thought I would share, now we used the names of our frequent flyers, so I will bleep those out so you can put in the names of your own. If you are a bleeding heart nurse who is...

This happened to me this week. A hospice pt. comes in to the ER. He has end-stage renal cancer and is here for a PCA morphine pump and a Kayexalate enema. (good hopice huh). So the guy is pale as a ghost and hallucinating, I can't get an accurate...

Is it possible, in a fully conscious pt., to insert an NG/OG tube into their lung and NOT have them gasping for air and becoming hysterical? Has anyone ever misplaced a tube and had the pt. just sit calmly with a tube in their lung? It just seems t...

Just out of curiosity, have any of you ever had a pts blood pressure drop dramatically after starting Levaquin? I have had it happen twice in the past month but never before that. The first time I was afraid my pt. had turned septic on me or someth...

Last week a 30 yo female came in with RUQ pain. She looked shaky and pale. I hook her up to the monitor and her pulse is 180, BP 180/100. Hmmmm...that's not good, so my counterpart is starting an IV and I get her history--she has Graves Disease. ...

Well, I have been a nurse for almost a year now and I just realized something, I am still broke! I thought surely after a year of nursing I would have all of my nursing school debt payed off. Nope, still working on it (and I'm just counting credit ...

My PPD is positive! I just had my chest x-ray. My question is, can I refuse the meds if my x-ray is negative? Can my empoyer refuse to let me work if I refuse the meds? I am trying to conceive and have already lost 2 babies so there is no way I a...

Thank you nene RN, that is exactly what I was needing to know. It sounds to me like it is optional to take the meds as long as there are no signs of active infection. I looked closer at the form they gave me and the doc just has to sign saying I ha...

Hello. I just lost my little boy at 20 weeks gestation last week. I am scared to death to go back to work, not only the fact that I have to face all of my peers with an empty belly and empty heart, but how I am I going to take care of all the misca...

Thank you all so much. I am back at work now and somehow making it through. I have noticed that I have lost my ability to stay detached from my patients. I mean, I am always caring and kind to my patients, but, for example, yesterday I was discha...

What do you do when you work with an incompetent doctor? This doctor is truly an idiot and is inhumane. I know how very frowned upon it is for nurses to go after a doctor, but I am scared for MY license and MY patients lives when I work with her. ...

You don't need a year of med-surg, the only people who say are that people who are bitter because they had to do it back in the day when you couldn't go wherever you want. I am not saying med-surg experience wouldn't be helpful, but go do what you l...

I am so upset!! I made my first med error after 2 years of nursing. I am very, very diligent, I always double check my order, I always check allergies, I made a promise to myself as a student that I would never once get lazy with my med passing proc...

I am an ED nurse and had a question for ya'll. Is it possible for the babies heart to beat in sync with the mom? At nine weeks I heard the swishing of the femoral pulse at about 75 bpm, then moved over toward where the uterus should be and heard th...

Do I have the right to refuse the TB skin test? I work at two places and it seems like between them I'm getting a TB test every 6 months, one won't take the other's results, I am tired of it and I looked around and saw that the test is made with a k...

Absolutely take ACLS. Your hospital should offer one every quarter or so. I felt just like you when I first started in the ER and after ACLS it took my anxiety level down so much it was unbelievable. ACLS is actually not that difficult if you take...

Hello. I have been working in the ER since I graduated 6 months ago. I absolutely love my job, but I can't get on days and I physically can not work nights anymore. I love to be busy, I love the variety and the stress, I love that my difficult pat...

We started making one of those at work too, only ours went: On the 12th day of christmas my patient gave to me, viral meningitis, gastroenteritis, one UTI....that's as far as we got though... Hee hee, fun..

Thanks! I think educating patients will be difficult for me, I never know what happens after people leave, long term is not something I ever think about in the ED, it's always someone elses problem, it will be a huge role change to try to teach someo...

Hello. I am getting burnt out on ER nursing so I am going to work part time there and get a PRN job somewhere else. I am considering a free standing rehab hospital that has a lot of TBI, vent. weening, medically complex, things like that. I just ha...

Unfortunately, I think besides the basics--(learn all you can) there is not much you can do to avoid the new nurse struggle. It is going to be hard at first, that's just the way it is. Try to think of it like child labor, you know it is going to hu...

This is a cynical rant... This week I worked 3 12's, I only had 2 patients who were actually sick, even out of the dozens who were admitted, basically because we have to watch them even though we know nothing is wrong for fear of being sued by the on...

Yes, I completely agree, which is why I call it the dumping place, your PMD dumped you to the ED, this is absolutely not your fault, this is the fault of the PMDs, and someone already made the point that PMDs are forced to fill up their schedules and...

For worst headache of your life you might get--A CT of the head, IV, blood work, UA, blood cultures (very expensive), spinal tap--more cultures. I did this exact work up for someone who didn't even have a fever, was young and healthy did not have ha...

Maybe the problem is those of us who can see what the problems are and may even have solutions don't have the time or energy to be politically active, we are too worn out from working in the ED!