Vent! Floor v. ED

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Specializes in Infusion, Med/Surg/Tele, Outpatient.

So I had a tele admit to the floor (not the unit or step down). Hgb was 4! Blood ready for 1 1/2 hours in blood bank by the time pt got to the floor. Why oh why can't the ER nurse hang the first unit so its started before the pt came up? Seriously took almost 45 min with charge rn help to get started after pt came up. Thank god the pt was ok. Thanks for listening!

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU/CCU, Specials, CM/DM.

IMO the blood should have been hung in the ED if it was ready for that long, especially with that Hgb. The first unit could have been half infused by the time the patient made it to the floor. The patient could have had arrhythmias or worse with a Hgb that low.

Christy

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I'm not an ER nurse, but even I can tell you there was probably a really good reason---trauma pt coming in, someone crashed, visitor/family member out-of-control, etc.---for what happened. I sincerely doubt the ER nurse was sitting on your transfusion pt while the H & H was dropping into the basement, and s/he certainly didn't do it to inconvenience the floor staff.

Really, it's just my opinion, but it seems to me that there are enough nurse-vs.-nurse threads around that we could have a bash-a-thon on any one of them, instead of starting a new one each time somebody has a bad day. Better yet, why don't we try a novel idea, and use a little patience and understanding with one another........this job is hard enough without us being at each other's throats for being less than perfect, don't you think? :nurse:

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Could use a little humor up in here.

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Specializes in CEN, CPEN, RN-BC.

I'm an ED nurse and I agree with you... the blood should have been hung, especially for a hgb of 4, but without more info on the situation we can't really dole out a judgement. For this patient to only be tele with such a low hgb, I feel like this must be a chronic problem. If my patients are ordered blood, and that blood is ready while they're in the ED, they get it, so don't be fast to generalize all ER nurses :D

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU/CCU, Specials, CM/DM.
I'm an ED nurse and I agree with you... the blood should have been hung, especially for a hgb of 4, but without more info on the situation we can't really dole out a judgement. For this patient to only be tele with such a low hgb, I feel like this must be a chronic problem. If my patients are ordered blood, and that blood is ready while they're in the ED, they get it, so don't be fast to generalize all ER nurses :D

I agree that this patient would normally be in the ICU with that Hgb unless maybe it is someone with a chronic problem. When I worked on tele, we never accpeted a patient from the ER with that Hgb. We always made sure they went to ICU.

Christy

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.
So I had a tele admit to the floor (not the unit or step down). Hgb was 4! Blood ready for 1 1/2 hours in blood bank by the time pt got to the floor. Why oh why can't the ER nurse hang the first unit so its started before the pt came up? Seriously took almost 45 min with charge rn help to get started after pt came up. Thank god the pt was ok. Thanks for listening!

Why did it take you 45 min to hang the first unit of blood? I agree ER should have started the blood if it was ready, but fail to see why it took you that long to get it going.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to Nursing Colleague/Pt relations.

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