Emuhawk000

In our emergency Department we have area's for Category one patients, such as Resuscitation which has two beds and is fully stocked for any major life threatening emergency. Another for Cardiac patients (Cat 2), Acute beds for Cat 3 and cat 4 patients, another area for quick assess and sort such as fractures and an overnight area for patients needing repeated blood tests, ECG's etc but who are stable. We get rotated through these areas as experience and training increase.

I worked as a surgical nurse for a long time and one of the first things I learnt was not to carry equipment if you don't know how to use it! hence why it was quite some time before I carried a stethoscope on me. They look very impressive, but do you know what you are listening for or where? before adorning yourself with one, get some training or advice first.

I have just started working in an Emergency Department after many years on the medical wards and although an experienced general nurse I feel like a raw beginner to some extent in Emergency but already I have been put into areas that I have had no training on (except self educated) and now I have been asked to work in resus with Cat 1 patients including babies and toddlers which I have previously had no experience with. Does this happen everywhere else?

Thanks for the replies everyone. One other thing along the same lines is that when I see morphine mixed up it's simple, say 8mg is ordered, so 10mg is drawn up into 10ml of saline and then 2ml is discarded to give the 8mg. So when an order for Fentanyl 75mcg is ordered, I see 100mcg drawn up into (sometimes 11 or 12 mls of normal saline and the desired amount discarded, and this is where I get a bit confused, because Fentanyl comes in a mix of 2ml, what should the correct amount be to discard?

As a nursing student I have observed nurses making up the same drug in several different ways, and was wondering what is the best way to make up medications such as the following; Fentanyl IV 25mcg (comes as Fentanyl 100mcg/2ml). Some draw the medication up the whole amout from the vial and then discard what isn't needed and then add saline, others draw it all up and then discard out what they don't need, which is the one that confuses me a little, not quite knowing the amount to draw up and how to work out what to discard.