Monday, August 6, 2007

Holding Patients

The hospital where I work is undergoing renovations, and has been in the 13 years I have been there. We have a higher patient volume and fewer rooms. Many times over the past several months the ER has had to hold patients that have been admitted. A month ago we were holding so many patients that we only had four beds to see ER patients in one morning!

We don't get help from the floors with these patients. A nurse for holding patients would be wonderful, help to put orders in would be nice too. We will have patients with med/surg, tele or ICU admissions along with the usual ER patients. Sometimes admitted patients will have orders missed and it is really difficult to provide the support and education to the patients and their families that they need while trying to take care of ER patients too.

I got a call today to ask for help with holding patients tomorrow. It's my day off but I'm going in. Hopefully there will be some discharges on the floors and we can have our ER back!

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