What exactly is the EDCU?

[NOLAnewbie]

I am a new nurse. My first 6 months of experience is on a Med / Surg floor. I have become aware of an Emergency care unit opening at a local hospital. I applied for a same day surgery position but was contacted by their human resources dept to say that position would be filled by someone with years of experience but thought my med/surg experience would be perfect for their EDCU. I sort of understand that it is a post Emergency department holding unit for those patient's that have been admitted but are waiting for a bed to be located. Please tell me the responsibilities of this department and the pros and cons in general and especially for a somewhat new grad. Thanks in advance for any insight and comments.

[CP2013]

I am a new nurse. My first 6 months of experience is on a Med / Surg floor. I have become aware of an Emergency care unit opening at a local hospital. I applied for a same day surgery position but was contacted by their human resources dept to say that position would be filled by someone with years of experience but thought my med/surg experience would be perfect for their EDCU. I sort of understand that it is a post Emergency department holding unit for those patient's that have been admitted but are waiting for a bed to be located. Please tell me the responsibilities of this department and the pros and cons in general and especially for a somewhat new grad. Thanks in advance for any insight and comments.

We used to have a "ETU" or Emergency Transition Unit. We basically transferred ED patients there after admission orders were entered and there was no bed available. Basically the ETU nurse would do the admission paperwork, the same way they would admit to the MedSurg floor. They basically stayed in a "floor bed" instead of a stretcher until a room became available. They gave meds from their unit, and hung fluids. Did everything you would do if you had admission and then transferred them 2 rooms over to make room.

Does that make sense? Sorry if it sounds jumbled. I'm not sure how best to put it.

[ecerrn]

Sounds like something someone made up. Ask your supervisor what it is and what your duties are to be....they will let you know, maybe even give you a written format of what's expected.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Sounds like something someone made up. Ask your supervisor what it is and what your duties are to be....they will let you know, maybe even give you a written format of what's expected.

There are many facilities that are developing "Clinical Decision Units" as a safe way to deal with ED crowding and ED in patient holds. These patient are waiting for an inpatient bed and are usually only the adult med-surg patients and telemetry chest pain admits. This is an answer for the ED cry that boarding all of these patients isn't safe.....and it isn't But, it requires commitment/money from the hospital administration....which is something difficult to come by these days. Admitting these patients earleis brings revenue to the facility and some patients are ruled out for MI before they are ever placed.

OP....I am sure that the Day Surgery went to someone with more experience that 6 months....those jobs are coveted.

On the CDU (clinical decision unit) .you will care for the patients there like anywhere else in the hospital. You will probably be trained in telemetry. You will be busy. The will be a ton of comings and goings of patients....being admitted to you and then transferred/discharged home within a short period of time. Transfers are tiresome......many times you will just finish the admission paper work and they will call with a bed....all that work for nothing and now your bed is open for another patient.

The good news YOU WILL BE BUSY! The bad news is YOU WILL BE BUSY!

You will learn a lot, you will have a quick turn over in patients so you will be caring for new people all the time....some people like it. I personally do like knowing that if they are a real jerk...or their family is CRAZY....my time with them will be short.

You will have to organized for there will be constant labs to keep track of and calling MD's. You will work shift work like right now. I would ask specifically how many nurses will be there.....what/who is your back up and will you ever be the only nurse scheduled and how many patients willl you be responsible for ......how is this located to the ED?

you need a good brain sheet.......here are a few.

mtpmedsurg.doc 1 patient float.doc‎

5 pt. shift.doc‎

finalgraduateshiftreport.doc‎

horshiftsheet.doc‎

report sheet.doc‎

day sheet 2 doc.doc

‎critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students

student clinical report sheet for one patient

Adapt them, change them to your liking. These have been contributed by many but especially Daytonite (RIP)

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Esme12 provided some good info. The Clinical Decision Unit where I work houses admitted patients for whom there is not expected to be an inpatient bed for at least 4 hours and those patients whose admission status is still up in the air: chest pain patients with normal EKGs and negative first set of enzymes who are awaiting a stress test or repeated enzymes or both; nausea/vomiting patients with negative labs and/or CT scans who may be able to go home after a few more hours of fluids and antiemetics; etc.

Hope this helps.

[NOLAnewbie]

Thank you all for the generous feedback. Now I have a better list of questions to ask when I hopefully get an interview. This is a large hospital that can give me opportunities to grow and transfer to other departments in the future. I currently work at a very busy, small for-profit community hospital where I'm given no training or opportunities to grow. So, I'm hopeful. Wish me luck and I will post an update.