New to ED Nursing, need help

[vsnurse]

I have been a psychiatric nurse for 8 years and need a change so I applied to the ED and got the job which I will begin by August. Any suggestion or advice of how to prepare would be appreciated. I was wondering if there would be a book to use as a good reference? Thank you

[CarlP973]

I would definitely study cardiac rhythm's and EKG'S, Trauma, and just about all other body systems. A good reference book is Sheehy's Manual of Emergency Care. Your background in Psychiatrtic Nursing should be helpful to you, as in the ED, we get quite a few psychiatric patients. Good luck

Carl

[RNAH01]

Congratulations on crossing over to the "Wild Side". lol. Carl gave great advice. Definitely know your rhythms, ACLS and Cardiac system as that will be your majority of illness seen in the ED. I like to read books that give me an idea of what to expect from the docs so that I can anticipate their plan of care. There is a book called, Emergency Medicine, written for physicians, but it is a great book to go through and read as a nurse. The author is Tintinalli, Kelen, and Stapczynski. Hope this helps! Goodluck

[jpdreyer]

wondered how your transition went!

[libcom1]

Congrats you have entered the Dark Side!!! Your background in psych will be very helpful but you will need to take any course in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and PALS that is offered by your facility. Also get to know the seasoned nurses well and ask for some of their ticks of the trade in the ER. If a situation presents itself and you feel scare or uneasy, grab onto a nurse you trust that can help you and walk you through the problem....I think the saying goes , learn one, do one, teach one.....What ever you do never stop learning and always have fun in your field....you will need it to keep yourself sane! lol

[Mimiecade]

I have been a psychiatric nurse for 8 years and need a change so I applied to the ED and got the job which I will begin by August. Any suggestion or advice of how to prepare would be appreciated. I was wondering if there would be a book to use as a good reference? Thank you

Hi There, maybe we know each other! I have been a Psych. nurse in MA for 20 yrs--I am 64, in good health, with no immediate plans for retirement and would like to get a job in FL as a 6 month Seasonal resident--have a home there--also have a FL nursing license---have applied for so many jobs, but all I get is "a psych nurse!? we don't need psych nurses, we need ER, OR, ICU"-------which I have no experience in those fields and the med/surg skills I had are rusty--any suggestions??-------Congratulations on your new job--I think you will learn as you go, Good Luck!! Cindy

[Mimiecade]

wondering how the transition went? just saw the date of your post-sorry--I am new here!

[medicaltransportflorida]

Good for you on journey over to the Wild Side. And Carl gave huge opinion. Absolutely know your rhythm, Cardiac scheme as so as to will live your greater part of sickness see in the ED. I similar to to understand writing book that provide me and thought of what to wait for from the papers so that I can expect their diagram of think about.

[essarge]

My suggestion for any new ED nurse is to pick up a copy of a good CEN (certified emergency nurse) review book. Excellent resource and review. Will teach/review old and new items you will need in the ED. Then when you have been there for awhile, sit for the CEN exam and add that certification to you resume!

[GitanoRN]

My suggestion for any new ED nurse is to pick up a copy of a good CEN (certified emergency nurse) review book. Excellent resource and review. Will teach/review old and new items you will need in the ED. Then when you have been there for awhile, sit for the CEN exam and add that certification to you resume!

I'll 2nd that Emotion, and in addition, the ED nurse is the first one to Prioritize Injuries and make the decisions of which injuries are more serious and must be attended to first. Moreover, less critical injuries, that could perhaps wait would be attended to after patients who need more serious attention for a critical injury or emergency are treated. Having said that, ER patients may arrive at the facility at the same or different times, an ER nurse will use their expertise in deciding which emergency constitutes a quicker response. For this reason, as well as others, an ER nurse must be able to make quick and accurate decisions, conflict resolutions and also demonstrate confident leadership qualities. Lastly, I would be interested if you became an ED nurse, since your post was posted a while ago...Aloha~

[lucyft]

It's so hard to learn to read ECGs out of a book, and I found that inservices during orientation were hit or miss (mostly miss). The best website I found is ECGAcademy.com -- it's actually an entire course with video tutorials that are super easy to understand. It teaches you the physiology, not just pattern recognition -- much better than a live course, since you can pause and play back the videos. It's improved my ECG reading skills tremendously. Definitely worth it!

[NURSEDETROIT]

Back in the day, you just applied, interviewed and then oriented in whatever area you chose to work in. Unfortunately, now the the HR reps (not nurses) are judging you, your abilities and the criteria; never mind that they have no clue what it is to be a nurse or what it takes to work in any given area. What was is now no longer so. HR reps have created the ultimate Catch 22 for all nurses these days. . . They are the gatekeepers. . . Check out the online HR questionnaires; so basic psych 101. . . The answers you provide after applying is primarily what you are judged on. . .