ER Nurses Blog

The common cold? Hangnail? What are some of the most ridiculous moments you've encountered of grown adults coming into the ER, tying up resources, you've experienced?

Well worth the read. It's lengthy but part of a growing conversation that we need. https://bluevirginia.us/2017/11/im-an-er-nurse-from-charlottesville-lets-talk-about-nazis

Have you ever been in a circumstance where you lied to a patient or their family? There may come a time when you are trying to relay information and the family doesn't comprehend what's happening, and you may, say, save someone's feelings with a white lie. Are there instances where it could be for the better, to help families or patients cope with loss. here's a story from Allnurses.com worth reading. Warning, it's a tear jerker. I got the call on the EMS radio around 5 am. This is the usual time we get calls from EMS responding to nursing homes- The nurses are rounding on their patients to give am meds, and they find their residents dead or in distress. An 87 yo female, febrile, and in severe respiratory distress coming in. Pt is a DNR, but family is very involved, is aware, and will meet them in the ER. I'm alerted that family is in the waiting room before the patient even gets there. I go out and introduce myself, tell them I will be her nurse, and that

Nursing is by nature a profession based on caring compassion and the desire to alleviate suffering and facilitate healing. The nursing profession has and will play a vital role in the response to any disaster. This fact has been acknowledged by the Institute of Medicine(IOM) in their report The Future of Nursing Leading Change and Advancing Health. The IOM has also created the report titled Guidance for Establishing Crisis Standards of Care for Use in Disaster Situations. The nation has coped with disasters such as the 9/11 terrorist, hurricanes, and pandemics. Some disasters require an all out immediate health care response, other disasters require a more planned response over a longer period of time. The IOM has distinguished disasters by calling them pervasive or catastrophic. However, every disaster requires a different allocation of resources, and maximum output of health care personnel. Care decisions are made in a compressed time frame and the standard of care will change. Th

It's mental health awareness month in the US , and mental health awareness in Canada . There's a noticeable increase in mental health awareness. For example, it's helpful when celebrities step up and share their struggles. It normalizes what has largely been either hidden or stigmatized. Mental health is something many health practitioners know intimately. Both in what they see on the job, but also what they what they have to deal with themselves. If, as a health practitioner, and especially a nurse, you don't take care of your own health, you're going to suffer. Faced with acute issues normal in a healthcare setting, like a hospital, increases the likelihood of mental illness. High stress environments are a normal part of the job. However, the consequences of that environment need to be treated as normal too. Often, the results of losing work time and employees to issues such as anxiety impact the healthcare delivery system as a whole. What's both disa

The knowledge and skills of nursing are portable and reflect versatility. Nurses are scientific critical thinkers who see their vocation as a calling to improve the health care of citizens through compassionate healing. Nurses’ ability to evaluate and think on their feet in a variety of situations is found in all locations of health care from the operating room to patient homes. The history of nursing reflects innovation. Since May is the month we find nursing week this article will take a look at one aspect of the future of nursing. Nursing’s bird’s eye view of health care gives nurses opportunity to see how health care delivery can be improved through new inventions of equipment and services. There are many examples in the past of nurses who have filled voids in the health care system by pioneering health care innovation. They have been mentioned in this space already, such as Frontier Nurse Services or the Visiting Nurse Services of New York and the Henry Street Settlement.

All nurses have them. At first, it was a shock, but if you stuck with it, you realized it was going to be a routine affair. We're talking about the chaos of humanity you can only find in healthcare. Although not specific to the ER, sharing stories about your time in clinical (especially if you're in the midst of it now) is a good cathartic release for what can be heavy stuff. Here are two anecdotes to share. If you have an experience from your time in clinical or internship, (hopefully with levity) add it to the comment section below.

Would you look forward to work each day if you knew there was a possibility you would be verbally or physically abused? Emergency departments are experiencing an increase in use by the public. Hospitals are unable to keep up. An analysis of this use points to one unintended consequence of a non universal private health care system. The emergency department of a hospital is the only location in an overburdened health care system where any patient who shows up must be treated regardless of ability to pay. With state facilities and programs for mentally ill citizens, and those suffering drug addiction being eliminated these patients often end up in emergency wards. Visits to emergency departments(ED) for alcohol or drug related incidents are on the rise. Emergency departments are often overcrowded. Overcrowding is defined as all beds in use and the waiting room full for more than 6 hours a day, patients placed in halls, and seriously ill patients having to wait more than 1 hour to see

The unprecedented need for more nurses has led to an examination of the state of nursing education in the nation. This article will present several recent views that discuss both the need for a greater number of nurses and increasing the quality and relevance of nursing education. A number of factors are preventing nursing education from reaching its full potential.   Nursing education has not changed significantly in the last half century. Clinical training availability is of paramount concern. RNs typically have little financial incentive to leave clinical nursing to become instructors. Half of all present faculty will retire within this decade. They are not being replaced at the same rate and yet there will be a need for even more instructors quite soon. It has been suggested that the many ways to enter nursing does not encourage enough graduates to continue on past the ADN or BSN therefore missing the opportunity to become instructors.   Without faculty, potential appl