Student Nurse - interested in E.R.

JustinAllen · Nov 28, 2010

I have been a Paramedic for 23 years when I became an RN. The wont take me until I have worked 1 year in med/surg.

Seriously?

mentalhealthRN · Nov 28, 2010

OP--not sure where you live but it sounds to me like it depends on where you live. I am in upstate NY and some of the techs are EMTs but most are not. Definately not a requirement. It is a general rule here of at least one year med/surg experience for ER....

linguine · Nov 28, 2010

EMT training can prove to be very useful for emergency nursing. For example, you learn how to set up oxygen and bag a patient, take care of C-spine patients and deliver a baby emergency style amongst other things. Some nursing schools teach emergency triaging (the color system), but I think that in EMT courses, they are most likely to train you in this.

The paramedic students also become trained in IV starts and emergency med administration (Adenosine, for example)

Training in EMT and paramedic can help the nurses understand their roles and maybe work better together.

DC Collins, ASN · Nov 28, 2010

My local hospital (small town) only allows volunteers to work the information desk so no volunteer opportunities there.

That sucks. When I volunteered in an ED for nearly 2 years, they let their volunteers in the room during traumas/codes to observe as a reward. We would sometime get to run labs, get blankets, or other supplies needed for that particular emergency.

That's where I fell in love with the ED, and why I am an ED nurse now.

DC :)

greenfiremajick · Nov 28, 2010

Sure :)
Be 'on' at all times. Look for opportunities to help the nurses, other techs, charge nurse, etc.
Cheerfully turn over the rooms, restocking when things are slow.
Within your scope of practice and certification, offer to help the RNs (facilities I know of have at least one RN on the hiring committee for that dept.). For example, if you are certified to draw blood, watch charts for orders needing draws and offer to do them. Same with ECGs. Urine dips...offer to and do them.
If you are a well experienced EMT/Tech, you can be a mentor to a newer or recent grad ED RN. But be that, a mentor, not a know-it-all.
Basically, find ways to *both* make others' jobs easier *and* make them look good!
They will love you for it and recommend you when there is an opening.
DC :)

Thanks, DC! There's always that fine line between being helpful and annoying, so I like to hear what others appreciate!

Music in My Heart · Nov 28, 2010

Your comment of "but if you *shine* in your Tech or Volunteer position, they will *want* you to apply there when you pass your boards................."
Would you please expand upon what is meant by "shine?" I mean, give some examples of how a tech might make themselves indispensable, so to speak.....

Know where *everything* is...

Know enough to predict what people need *before* they ask for it... and have it at hand immediately *when* they ask for it...

Consistently do *more* than is required or expected of you...

Step up to volunteer for the dirty work or the tedium...

Be 10 minutes early, not 1 minute late...

Know the phone numbers and extensions for the lab, x-ray, etc.

Really, the things that make somebody shine in any field... be knowledgeable, reliable, professional, courteous, and helpful... and never, never, never criticize or backstab, even when the people around you are doing so.

Pneumothorax, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2010

I have been a Paramedic for 23 years when I became an RN. The wont take me until I have worked 1 year in med/surg.

seriouslY?...i would apply at another hospital. that sounds like a load of crap.

i literally think i would rather eat glass then do med/surg for 1 yr. im doing my rotation on a general med floor now and cant wait to run the heck out of there

CrazyCatLadyRN, BSN, RN · Dec 11, 2010

This is kind of what I have started to do. I'll graduate with my BSN in April and last summer I went to EMT school in between nursing semesters. I think it helped me A LOT! My assessment skills are so much better than they were and I think it's because EMT school forces you to think about things a lot more bluntly and rapidly. Sometimes in nursing school you get caught up in a lot of processes that are going on physically and mentally with the patient which is great, but from what I've done clinical wise in the ER it seems important to get back to your A, B, C's! I applied to get my preceptorship/internship next semester in the ER and trauma center at the hospitals I picked. HOpefully that's where I get placed, and HOPEFULLY they will offer me a job, not getting my hopes up though. I'm also considering getting my ACLS cert in the spring during internship. Everything helps!

PS-this skills you learn in EMT school are a lot of fun! so are the scenarios! Nothing like a scenario of a kid that got run over by a train and lost 3 limbs...won't see that in nursing school :-)