When will everyone understand things are different in the ER

[ClayH]

Do any other fellow ER RNs butt heads with other departments when transferring a patient up from the ER? I think sometimes other departments forget I only had this patient for 30 mins and for 27 of them I was trying to keep his heart beating. So no, I don't know when his last BM was or if he got a flu shot this year....

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

To answer your question I was thinking it will be when pigs fly, when cats and dogs live together, or when snowballs don't melt in hell. You know they say the same thing about us right? Accept, breathe, don't judge, and carry on!

[LM NY]

I appreciate all your responses. Unfortunately, hospital top dogs keep shoving this pressure ulcer issue down our throats. Meanwhile, I have unstable patients in my unit that probably shouldn't have been downgraded from ICU or tele just to free up beds for more critical patients coming through the ED. Just as Pixie explained, the same pretty much happens in my ED. Many times there are admitted patients in the ED and even admitted ICU patients. Personally, I would never call the ED nurse about something I can just search the chart for myself. I just can't go back in and edit documentation if the patient still hasn't arrived in my unit. There is a new system my hospital has implemented which is a "roadmap". It tries to decrease the amount of time from admitting a patient, to bed assignment and then transfer. Reports are given via phones that the charge nurse has at all times. I will never forget when the nursing bed manager attempted to go off on me about delaying a discharge, but failed to realize or question the reason why. I had just finished transferring a patient to the ICU after being with that patient for almost two hours after they became critical. Regardless, at the end of the day we need to respect each other and be more understanding. Every specialty has its ups and downs and nurses are no different.

[coucas12]

I am a floor nurse planning to go to the ER. And its the people who place the patients in the rooms that cause the problem. There have been many times were I am called and told I'm getting report and was never told by anyone. And I also know that in the ER based o the patient's condition they are trying to be kept alive so I don't bother with certain questions. But the whole system needs to be fixed. No one communicates and it messes up the whole shift for both parties.