Thoughts of an ER Tech

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Speaking for myself on this topic I'd like to go over what is going through our minds on a day to day basis. And the Dos and Don'ts of delegating....

1. Is the most important of them all, please if you see us techs with an ekg machine, or a phlebotomy cart, or something important DON'T ask us to stop what we are doing to go help room 20 to the commode or to get them a beverage. DO get it yourself because chances are we have more things to do.

2. DON'T tell us oh room 20 just needs the channel changed in the room. Knowing that the PT really has to be changed, wants the channel to be changed, and would like food. DO Just tell us ahead of time keeping that information from us and then hearing the PT say oh I told the nurse I needed to be changed she said she would get someone is really irritating.

3. DON'T talk down to us, can't tell you how many times I've seen it where a new grad nurse talks down on a tech then a few months later they are colleagues both with an RN degree and the tech is a better nurse than the new grad.

We are all team mates looking for one thing, great patient care. I love my establishment now because the doctors and nurses and techs all sit together and we all speak to each other on a first name basis. DO delegate tasks to us techs in a respectful manner meaning do not micro manage have faith in us, and say thank you after we are done with said task. That means the world to us.

4. If we are walking into a room together and you start talking introduce yourself and myself with appropriate titles. I am no longer a CNA down in the ER. I am a Tech, just like doctors and nurses have specialties I too am in a specialty. Plus if you tell a PT I am a tech, rather than a CNA they won't think of me as their personal assistant having me fetch them drinks and blankets just because. Of course I will do all of that but it deters them from thinking all i do is wipe butts and wait on their hands and feet.

Of course not every nurse does this in fact in the hospital i work in there's only one nurse who does this. I love my staff and i consider myself apart of a functioning team. Please dont take this list the wrong way its just ones Techs opinion. Thanks!

Those saying the ED is too busy for these words are flat out wrong

I've looked through all the responses. Show me where anybody said being busy trumps being polite?

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Hey OP-

ER nurse here, and have worked as a tech. Nobody referred to me as a CNA, as I wasn't. I was, and am, an EMT.

You actually had some reasonable points. This is an ER nurse forum, and a great place to make those points. But, your presentation and attitude failed to win anybody over. If you just wanted to vent, a forum for ER nurses probably isn't best the place to vent about ER nurses. It's much more rewarding to vent in a place where people agree. On the other hand, if you are looking for conflict......

So- if you think there is a problem, learn a good way to present your case. Whether it's here or at work. You might actually get somewhere.

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Hey OP-

ER nurse here, and have worked as a tech. Nobody referred to me as a CNA, as I wasn't. I was, and am, an EMT.

We don't call our ER techs CNA's either. But while many are or were EMT's outside of the ER, they are NOT EMT's while working in the hospital. Some of the tasks that they do cross over from one position to the other, but they cannot legally function as an EMT while employed and an ER tech.

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.
Well...since I am as old as dirt AND an ER nurse, I have a point of view as well.

First. No floor, ward, or ED can function without multiple levels of professionals. Each person has a job to do and each job is specialized. Yes....there are such beings as ED techs....and no they are not CNA's. In many ER's across America, ED techs are usually EMT's and are given specialized training to be ortho techs for the ED. These individuals are specialists in the department and do all splints and crutch walking instruction who also do EKG's and transport most non monitored patients admitted. Blood draws are everyone's responsibility, mostly on the RN's to obtain when they start IV access.

I realize that most ED's are not the well oiled machine as the ED's I have managed (tongue in cheek) with specific triage criteria for patients care before the ED doc sees the patient. ALL nurses are responsible for bedpans and patients needing changed. Interestingly enough I have found this a newer belief among newly graduated nurses that once they have become THE RN...they no longer are required to participate in actual patient care. As a nurse, supervisor, and manager I find this one of the least endearing qualities of newly minted RN's.

Oh I have heard the usual outrage that THEY are busy and that they CAN do the tech job but the tech can't do THEIR job but what I believe in is that these patients...that bedpan...that EKG is everyone's responsibility with THE PATIENT being the most important of them ALL. I find that the poor tech's are spread thin. The ortho Doc wants them. The ED doc wants them. The nurses want them yet usually there are only one or two of them to the 6-8 of us.

What I find helpful, and require of anyone I work with, is respect. If you are busy...changes are EVERYONE IS BUSY! Language that I find respectful is...Tech1, can you help me with....EKG, blood draw, bedpan? I need to give xyz and MNOP to Trauma two and give LMN to bed 2. then we can clean up bed 4 together? THANK YOU!

YOu get a lot more bees with honey than you would with lemons.

Respect is good but worry not about feelings. Not everyone deserves a trophy.

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We don't call our ER techs CNA's either. But while many are or were EMT's outside of the ER, they are NOT EMT's while working in the hospital. Some of the tasks that they do cross over from one position to the other, but they cannot legally function as an EMT while employed and an ER tech.

CNA is a specific title by definition and a few specific requirements via CMS recognized both at Federal and State levels. EMT and CNA are very, very different. This is why neither EMTs nor Paramedics can challenge the CNA in most states.

If the person is an ER Tech with a Paramedic or EMT certification they may be limited only to the ER. If they also have the CNA certification, they are more flexible throughout the hospital. If their system allows them to become CNA II or PCT, they are even more valuable to be used in several areas of the hospital.

It is often to an EMT's advantage to go with an ER Tech title and its scope of practice as dictated by the MD of the ER and facility. The EMT has a very limited scope of practice recognized by each state. An ER Tech title can include the same skills of an EMT along with an expanded scope such as phlebotomy, ortho assist, EKGs, Holter monitors, glucose sampling and arterial puncture which is well beyond a Basic EMT in most states.

An ER Tech with Phlebotomy and CNA certifications can be golden to a hospital when it comes to staffing.

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Specializes in Cardiology, ED/Trauma, Med-Surg, Telemetry.

I will say this is an interesting post. I won't take offense to what was said. I will agree and say that without techs, I think our job would be a million times more difficult as nurses.

But in defense of nurses, our job is not easy. The purpose of delegating is not to load you with "unnecessary" and "meaningless" tasks, but it is to help carry on the care of the patient -- as best possible. Communication is key, so I will agree, if something you are doing is urgent, state that. If not, then take the request with a full heart as we are all doing what is best for the patient.

I hope that nurse changes her mentality, but I also hope you do as well. Good luck!

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Specializes in Cardiology, ED/Trauma, Med-Surg, Telemetry.

I think this becomes a major issue in the ED environment, because as we all deal with, what we are used to doing is difficult to overcome. I think some techs forget that they are not in this role (EMT) while in the ED, and they are working under the license of whatever nurse is currently on shift.

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Specializes in Cardiology, ED/Trauma, Med-Surg, Telemetry.
We don't call our ER techs CNA's either. But while many are or were EMT's outside of the ER, they are NOT EMT's while working in the hospital. Some of the tasks that they do cross over from one position to the other, but they cannot legally function as an EMT while employed and an ER tech.

I think this becomes a major issue in the ED environment, because as we all deal with, what we are used to doing is difficult to overcome. I think some techs forget that they are not in this role (EMT) while in the ED, and they are working under the license of whatever nurse is currently on shift.

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I just want to say thank you for doing what you do. I am an ER nurse and have the utmost respect for my ED techs. Where i work, ED techs play a HUGE roll! I can't thank you all enough for the IV starts and EKG completions before I even make it to the room. Thank you for running to the lab when the tube system is down. When I was a PCU nurse, during codes our techs would run the opposite direction. ED techs run into the room to start compressions and lines. Again, I can't thank you enough?

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