1fastRN

I just enrolled in RAMP...I was accused of diverting a non-narcotic drug at my previous job. I was fired, despite testing negative on a drug screen. After consulting with my lawyer, I decided to enter RAMP instead of fighting the board. I'm After I w...

Do you folks have your fair share of older folks c/o constipation? Sometimes coming in numerous times for enemas, laxatives, etc? Don't get me wrong, I know from experience that this can be quite painful... but isn't there somewhere else for them to ...

Ever feel like our jobs would be 10000x easier if families were not allowed in the ED? I'm not a complete jerk, I'm very nice to family members, try to accommodate, make them comfortable, keep them in the loop, and always ask the family if there is ...

How is this procedure normally done? Numb+clean the site, aspirate fluid, and then what medications are usually utilized? Do they inject solumedrol into the joint space? One of my teammates just had the procedure done and was asking me a million ques...

WHY do some ppl want the hand? i know some ppl with no veins sometimes say they only have luck in the hand...i get that...but some people WANT the hand. why! that ish HURTS! And i understand not wanting the AC because you bend your arm and its not co...

maybe you need to look into employment at another facility.... personally i try to "kill em w kindness." I am always super nice to the meanest of patients...sometimes it works and my positive and empathic attitude (although im "faking" it) works, som...

any chance of getting a part time or per diem gig in another ED or critical care setting? maybe at a smaller hospital?

Ever get the pain seeker with the trashy looking friend/gf/bf who is overly concerned with the medications being administered to the patient? What medication is that? Dilaudid. How m any mg? 1. Oh that wont do anything for her, she needs atleast 2mg...

A while back a young woman came into the ED with angioedema/oral swelling. She was treated with the usual cocktail IV: benadryl/pepcid/solumedrol. I believe she was given epi as well, but I can't remember. Anywho, after the meds were administered she...

We definitely are critical care, but I always view CC more as ICU. Emergency nursing is a beast of it's own,; we take every patient as they walk in. Of course, the ICU patients start in the ED, and as others have mentioned we often hold ICU patients ...

Congrats! Noc-nursing is where it's at! I love my night crew!!! Night shift usually has great teamwork; we have less resources so we work together and help each other out. Hopefully it's the same where you are. As others have mentioned, there's no s...

Cool, I was thinking it was the epi, but I couldn't remember if she was given it which is why I was wondering why she had that reaction. So I guess we did give her epi! And yeah I think the blankets were just to calm her down so she could relax. Than...

I often get caught up so I just end up "forgetting" to pee. I'm getting better with it though! The main problem is that the bathroom is so far away it's really inconvenient. If they had one in each of the pods in our ER, I would have no problem! If...

^^Ditto to the above poster. The best piece of advice someone gave me when I started: "The ER is like a game of chess. You want to figure out how you are going to get your patient in and out as fast as possible." You want to know the plan so you can ...

I dread these patients! Unless they're sick with legitimate AMS compared to their baseline, I honestly don't know what they want us to do about the irritated sundowning patient. Sometimes it seems they just don't want to deal with the patient so they...

Definitely! I'm not saying the complaint is unwarranted. Without a doubt we often roll our eyes at a patient's complaint and they end up way sicker. You just never know, but hey, that's the fun of the ER. Hence my young lady with a mild headache. See...

What is the nurse to patient ratio where you work? I work at a busy trauma center and we max out at 10 patients per nurse. At 4-6 patients I feel okay (depending on acuity). But when it reaches upwards of 8-10 it can be overwhelming and sometimes it ...

Wondering if anyone else runs into this situation... When transporting a critical patient to CT/Xray or the unit (step-down/ICU), it is required that the nurse travels with the patient and monitors them on the portable monitor. We are SUPPOSED to hav...

I can't think of a better word than "juggle" to describe our jobs.

Well atleast I can rest easier knowing someone is in the same boat.... LOL Ugh how frustrating is it to come back to an assignment full of new orders to catch up on, and patients that are upset because they didn't get their meds yet? Meanwhile I was...

Yes! ARGH!

....an occupied patient's bed!? WITH a patient???

what is the relevance? makes no sense and dont see how this applies!

Who has time to sleep at work!? I'm too busy to even think about taking a nap! I do really wish there was a quiet area designated for nurses to nap during breaks though. I think by giving RNs 45 minutes to lay down and recharge would be great in term...

When I first started, a nurse told me every new ER nurse spends the first year drowning. Completely true. Stick with it! Nobody is perfect off that bat, but from what I've seen you either "get it" or you don't. Maybe ER nursing isn't for you, but th...