In this video I will talk about 3 of the most crucial skills for a nurse to learn
working in the emergency department.
After a few months of working in the ED, I have realized how important these
skills are in making a difference in people's lives.
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The first skill that is important for an ER nurse to have is critical thinking and
prioritization skills.
Now I know on the floors you have to have this as well, but in ER it is even
more important.
You have 4 very acutely ill patients that you have to decide who to treat first
and why.
Not only that, you have to think about the medications they have taken and
make sure you do not give them an extra dose of medication they have taken
before they've come to the hospital.
Then you must also think of possibilities that could make the patient
deteriorate and obviously prevent them from happening.
So in the ER you typically will get four people with pending tasks to do every
hour, but it is up to you to determine which one is more important than the
other and document what you have done.
Now your training does significantly help you on how to decide who to care
for first but it is a never ending cycle of having that level of engagement with
your patients.
So you could probably imagine by the end of a 12 hour shift, you are
completely zonked.
The next skill that you just simply have to be good at is inserting IV's and
foleys catheters.
Now, like I just mentioned, you have to be able to prioritize and effectively
critically think about what to do next.
So imagine if you aren't having success with a foley or an IV and you need to
drain their bladder or give them fluids to resuscitate them.
That would be terrible, you need to do it quickly and effectively and move
onto the next task otherwise you won't have time to chart and can't help the
next person you will be in a never ending cycle of being behind on both tasks
and charting.
Now I mention these two skills in particular because they are extremely
common and you almost have to do it for like every other patient.
That last skill that is crucial for an ER nurse is understanding the bigger
picture and the pathophysiology behind diseases and disorders.
Often times, the physician is helping other people so it is up to you to make
sure that someone that comes with abdominal pain must be kept NPO until
assessed, or needs to have neuro vitals done if they've recently fallen and
lost consciousness.
Stuff like this are important for an ER nurse to think of as you can really do
more harm to them if you are not realizing the different procedures and steps
necessary for their stay.
That is why I mentioned "the bigger picture" because based on their
complaints, you have to understand what could potentially be done for them
during their stay and optimize the transition into that.
For instance if someone is in with a general weakness and a fall type
prognosis and they can't transfer onto another bed, place a sling underneath
them so that when they come to take them for a CT scan of their head, you do
not have to go in the room again.
Anyways those are some skills that I think are very valuable to have for the
ER but I am curious if you work in other departments or floors what are the
most important things that you must consider during your shifts.
I hope you enjoyed today's video, thank you so much for watching and I will
see you in the next video!