doubleshotespresso

I'm also an ED nurse potentially looking to move to Maryland this summer, likely the Baltimore area. I've done some reading on here and online and found that the University of Maryland Hospital system, Johns Hopkins and Mercy are well-reviewed. Mercy has been listed in some lists as one of the best hospitals to work for in the nation regarding nursing benefits. I (also) don't know anyone who works for these hospitals as I'm across the country, hopefully someone will respond and give us some more insight :-)

I am a new grad and started in the ER, many of my preceptors are nurses who came from various floors (medical, surgical, CVU) and they all said while they did learn valuable skills on those floors, nothing really prepared them for the ER. All have mentioned the speed and ER-specific flow took getting used to and nothing on the floor really prepared them for it. Some nurses feel you need to have experience to work in the ER but most of my preceptors feel that all floors are really a specialty and the best way to orient and work in that specialty is just get there and get started. My advice is to get to the department you really want to be in, you will strengthen all skills on the job :-)

-What length of orientation did you have? 6 weeks, they just extended it to 7 -Were there specific ER classroom time or general nursing classes? How many hours would you estimate? 2 days classroom in 4th week -What is your experience? (10 years med-surg or new grad) new grad, worked here at a tech - How long ago was your orientation period? (like was it 33 years ago or just last year?) I'm in the 3rd week Then here are some questions about your ER: -What is your current patient to nurse ratio? 1:3-4 depending on acuity - What type of ancillary help do you have if any? Techs, lab - What tasks do they do? Lab does all draws, techs collect urine, do ekgs, transfer patients, get vitals - Can you send squads to triage? No - Do you have protocols? A few official ones for chest pain, stroke, etc. But otherwise we have a lot of autonomy to order obvious meds, X-rays,

8 weeks sounds wonderful! I'm a new grad and have a 6 week orientation, I was taking two patients my first week on the job. I have no experience with the ENA online orientation, but I've been using Sheehy's emergency nursing text and it's been really helpful. Good luck :-)

Excellent post! Thanks for the insight. I take it in June, will also be praying :-)