countyERNICU

Thanks for the response!

Does your unit do weekly MRSA swabs? Our level III nicu does, and as of late its been a bit of a problem. One of our coworkers said that a level IV childrens hospital down the road does not do the weekly swabs. Just curious.

Our level I trauma center ED policy is to never infuse anything by gravity on a kid, never.

I wrote that wrong, I didn't mean to say give sugar for removing duoderm just in general for painful procedures.

I think the most difficult thing about all these patients waiting for their beds upstairs is that they get ANGRY! And as their assigned nurse all that frustration / angry is now directed towards YOU the nurse. "How much longer?" I think even for the most seasoned ED nurse having hours and hours of all that negative energy directed towards you it becomes extremely mentally draining. Not to mention making one dread coming in for the next shift.

The whole letting them cry thing makes me crazy! Maybe it's because I'm newer so hearing the babies cry bothers me more but there are several older coworkers that are so ROUGH with their babies. Their just puuuull that duoderm off their poor little faces, no paci, no sugar, seriously? Grrrrr……but I'm the new gal so what am I going to do! Oh and very little nesting, attempt at developmental positioning.

Sooo jealous! This sounds amazing! I love the sound of that, 'discharge lounge' with a patient advocate. If we gave all our patient's bus passes we'd be out of business in a month! Do you know how your hospital funds the bus passes?

Soooo I was wondering if there are any other emergency department nurses out there who would like to have a full time 'transportation specialist' who worked with discharging ED patients all day long helping them arranges their rides home??!!! As an ED nurse in the largest emergency room in the state we do A LOT of this. I just wish people thought about how they were going to get themselves home before calling the ambulance for their TOE PAIN!! Gaaah!

Hey! Good luck with your search! I'm an ER RN of 5 years and accepted a position in our NICU! I think the easiest way to get into a NICU without NICU experience is to be an internal candidate. So you could always take an ED position in a hospital who has a NICU and if after a suitable amount of time has passed while in the ED they open up NICU positions internally go for it then. I'm sure other people will have great suggestions, that's just what ended up working for me! Good luck my dear, if it's what you want don't let anyone deter you.