You know you're an ED nurse when.....

[Virgo_RN]

Anybody have an "Aha!" moment when you knew you were an ED nurse?

[bucksnut1981]

my apoligies......i was not trying to put down the ER nurse...I'm from Zanesville and I'm sure ER's in bigger cities are way different than a city like Zanesville....its just that is what they are here.....if someone was in bad shape they would rush them up to icu as fast as they possibliy could without trying to get anything done there....i guess thats where my lack of respect comes from......and I should note that while workinfg at Grant in Cbus......that did not happen....so kudos to the good ones out there

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

if someone was in bad shape they would rush them up to icu as fast as they possibliy could without trying to get anything done there

This is a common perception that I've seen here and heard from ICU nurses who really don't know what the ER is like, or what we do. I always think we could benefit from hanging out in each other's area for a shift to get an idea of what it's really like on both sides of the coin.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

when you carry a box of gloves in your trunk, but you won't even stop if the paramedics are already on scene. They know MUCH more than I do about on scene care.

when you order the xray, labs, some pain meds, and start the IV before the doc even walks in and nobody thinks it's unusual

when going to work in a raging storm is a good thing, because only the really sick folk would dare come out in it.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

deleted post

[ThrowEdNurse, BSN, RN]

When you tell off the chief of anesthesiology

[RhiaRN75, RN]

-you know the pharmacokinetics of street drugs.

-when a pt says "Those little blue footballs really help my pain" you respond innocently "Aleve is a wonderful medicine". Extra points if you can get the pt to call them aleve as well.

-you know a pt's doctor by the med list.

-you'll never admit it- but you bought groceries for a pt.

-you arrange for the dog to be taken care of so a pt will agree to admission.

-you get hurt, and you briefly consider going to the ER the next town over because you know your coworkers will laugh at you.

-you recognize the address on the scanner.

-you know who dispatch is talking about just by the complaint.

-you've called your husband in the wee hours of the morning to ask him to check on the kids.

-you probably needed stitches but used super-glue instead.

-you wish Dr. Romeo knew that your ER has caller-ID.

-you know what the disease smells like.

-you recognize a head bleed by how the pt is breathing.

-you never got the medicine out because you knew the pt would suddenly remember that they are allergic to it.

-you appreciate your blessings a little more every day.

if you've ever triaged someone with no health problems at all, but they take a page full of meds and have almost as many allergies.

So true! There's PMH per pt, PMH per chart, but the most accurate is PMH per meds.

if you love your poopy stinky job because you work with great people who are all in this together, and if you are reminded every day that you can be one of the luckiest people in the world, even when you feel like hell.

That's the saving grace of it all.

[Annisme]

You know what patient is in triage just by the wailing.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

You know what patient is in triage just by the wailing.

Or by how many cops are playing escort.

[Soulsistadivagirl315]

You aren't surprised by the way a person high on drugs acts

You were told of by the family because they felt you werent doing enough

You know what disease someone had just by the way the blood smells

You can tell if the pt is lying about how many pills they took

[ThrowEdNurse, BSN, RN]

When you can watch that episode of hoarders where the woman hoards all that rotten food, while you eat lunch.

[CathiP, ASN, RN]

When I worked ICU years ago (back when the thump was still taught) we had a man who kept going into VT. The nurse would walk into his room and say "I'm gonna have to hit you again, Mr Jones."