Flow of Patients
Through the E.R.
How does the E.R. staff keep this flow quick and easy?
My Story
I had planned on being a nurse, but I had no idea I wanted to be an E.R. nurse until I had done this internship. After shadowing a Nurse Practitioner through the Emergency Room and witnessing the daily activities such as the triage of patients and the interactions between the medical staff and the patient, I knew this was for me. So naturally I research a little more about the daily activities of the Emrgency Room and how the staff efficiently works to prvide quality care for the patients.
What I already Knew
Honestly, I knew embarassingly little about the Emergency Room. on my first few days I had to ask several basic questions like "what is a triage nurse." I understood that nurses played a big part in getting patients to where they needed to be to be seen by the appropiate medical staff, but other than that, almost nothing.
Reflection
I'm certainly glad I had the oppurtunity to complete the research because without it I wouldn't have a good understanding of the internal works of the Emergency Room and of course I haven't completed a bachelors degree in nursing yet, so I still have a long way to go, but I feel I understand fully the purpose of each nurse and how the different specialized employees work together to create a smooth flow for the patient to recieve quality care.
Time Crunch
Most of my research covers the areas of the E.R. and different certifications nurses can get located in a different tab above in the main menue. However, during my interniship I noticed that throughout the E.R., on the walls were times that patients had entered and exited the E.R. The state government reviews weekly reports about these times and reports weather or not the times are too slow. The average time in teh Braselton location was about 4 hours.