any well-equipped ED's out there?

[bissie]

I work in an inner city ED but have just accepted a postion in a rural ED closer to home. In my experience in the city, I've never had a day where you could find anything! Even basic things like BP cuffs and pulse ox probes. I'd first look in the pt drawers found in each room, not there, so I'd go to the supply room...not there either!

I would often have overflow pts in the periphery rooms which were not originally equipped with monitors....I'd have to go and search for a monitor...if I could find one, it usually didn't have any connecting cables...it was a joke, I could spend soooo much time just trying to find basic stuff.

I asked one of the experienced techs if there were any well-stocked ED's, and he told me that Shock Trauma was.

Just wondering about others' experiences.

[Biffs25]

I work at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda MD, and we occasionally have problems locating a monitor cable or something, but I have to say we are very well stocked. We have 8 pixus stations with supplies, plus our 2 med pixus stations. We also have items which we order for ourselves and keep in the management offices in case one can't be found or runs out, etc.

[dunedain]

I am a nursing student who has 7 years experience as a PCUT between two ED's. One inner city and the other, and current one, is a rural level 1 trauma center. The techs are responsible for in both places to keep each room ready for at least the basics (i.e. cables, O2 sat probes, BP cuffs, suction...the works.). On top of that we always try to keep the monitors in the rooms where they would be needed the most...in other words the ENT room can wait...unless it's needed in there.

The problem for us is mostly with equipment breaking down...the monitors are forever giving us grief and the cables are designed to fall apart, I'm convinced...but we try to keep things stocked and stores has been pretty good at working with us. Another nice thing is our stocking budget hasn't been hit too hard... yet. Inner city gets tougher to keep up with because you are dealing with a higher volume at a constant rate...and things grow legs on top of breaking down...not to mention the financial piece...its a lousy feeling knowing that the bottom line can get in the way of quality care.

Does that shed some light?