ER Nurses Blog

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, poten...

Every nurse would agree that sharing skills, knowledge, experience, and technology to improve lives of patients worldwide is indisputably necessary. What is the role of US nursing in this unfolding phenomenon? With the effects of increased globalization the world is becoming a global village. How is the migration of nurses to the US affecting worldwide health care? A starting point for this discussion would be to evaluate the experiences of internationally educated nurses in the US. What has been their journey? Internationally educated nurses comprise a growing percentage of newly licensed RNs in the US, a trend that will continue. 68% of these nurses have at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing compared to 50% of US educated nurses.(1) The most common ways nurses find work are through either the placement model where nurses work for the medical center. Integration and wages are more likely to be equal to US educated nurses in the placement model. In the staffing model n...

  To improve and refine the quality of health care that the elderly receive in America will require not only more health care workers but professionals that are trained in geriatric care and understand the specific needs of the elderly. Currently, only approximately 2% of nurses are trained in geriatric care. One participant in the geriatric care scene is the John A. Hartford Foundation a philanthropic organization which advocates on behalf of the elderly. Since 1996 they have been emphasizing the importance of nurses and nursing in elevating the care of the elderly. The foundation created a number of initiatives to increase the quality medical care the elderly receive. One is the Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing.   The vision statement realizes that education, research, and policy are key factors in moving best practice to standard practice but more importantly, education, research, and policy must translate or affect nursing practice. It is affiliated with the ...

Nurses enable health through both clinical judgment and technical knowledge. Yet their immeasurable skills such as the ability to support and comfort produce measurable results. For example, Nurses are teachers of theirs peers and patients. Good nurses look at the whole person or patient. Nurses communicate, execute, and innovate, all with an attitude of caring. Nurses are the most trusted of the health care professionals. Nurses apply their knowledge with compassion to a positive measurable end. These immeasurable skills that nurses possess will bring the solution to the next great challenge the US health care system faces: the aging of the baby boomers. Around 2030 there will be over 70 million people 65 or older. The fastest growing segment of the population is the oldest at 85+ years. Although people are living longer it’s not necessarily better. As they age they usually need more health care. Half of hospital patients are 65 or older. Two thirds of the elderly will need l...

Over 50% of workers are age 50 or over in the nation.(1) The graying of America’s working population is approaching and with it the understanding that knowledge transfer will be a much discussed challenge. Indeed organizations like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) are looking at various industries and the impact the retirement of the baby boomers will have on the workforce. The transition in technical knowledge based professions will be affected the most which includes nursing. Although there is a current artificial unemployment situation in the nursing profession this is short term. Issues of profitability and companies wanting to stay financially viable means teaching institutions have reduced expenses. For hospitals, training new nurses costs money so there is a reluctance to hire. But it is expensive to replace a nurse who has long tenure. However, when demand for services and nurse retirement peak, medical centers may find themselves unprepared due to curren...