Any health care professionals out there?

[GTaylor]

Currently working as a Respiratory Therapist at a smaller hospital just west of Indianapolis. Learned my trade in the Army and worked in HI for 6 yrs, before that I was doing Military Intelligence work.

Agree with the others that most of the excitement is in the ER or ICU, but there can also be some good stuff that happens on the other floors.

 

[mccumath]

My schedule rotates. We have a huge staff load for the days 7-3, a couple staff members 3-11, then a night RN and a night CST. We have to have an in house team at all times due to our level II trauma status. Then we have a call team to backup the in house folks if there are multiple traumas. Yeah, I wish I could just be on night call, but our facility doesn't have that option. Oh well, all good. Pays the bills, allows me to brew, life is good!

 

[Cacaman]

Currently working as a Respiratory Therapist at a smaller hospital just west of Indianapolis. Learned my trade in the Army and worked in HI for 6 yrs, before that I was doing Military Intelligence work.

Agree with the others that most of the excitement is in the ER or ICU, but there can also be some good stuff that happens on the other floors.

Awesome! Some of my best friends are actually RT's. Real nice helpful folks. I thought about going into that, but the scholarship offer was too good to refuse. Worked out well, I like what I'm going into.

My schedule rotates. We have a huge staff load for the days 7-3, a couple staff members 3-11, then a night RN and a night CST. We have to have an in house team at all times due to our level II trauma status. Then we have a call team to backup the in house folks if there are multiple traumas. Yeah, I wish I could just be on night call, but our facility doesn't have that option. Oh well, all good. Pays the bills, allows me to brew, life is good!

Amen brother!

 

[nukinfuts29]

Currently working as a Respiratory Therapist at a smaller hospital just west of Indianapolis. Learned my trade in the Army and worked in HI for 6 yrs, before that I was doing Military Intelligence work.

Agree with the others that most of the excitement is in the ER or ICU, but there can also be some good stuff that happens on the other floors.

You mean like when the ER gets tired of the nutjob and admits him to med surg or icu...hahaha

 

[mccumath]

My favorite is when ER holds onto those patients until shift change, then dump them off to the floor. The ER shift change and the floor shift change were the same in most instances, and therefore the floor nurses had to admit a patient at shift change, which is super time consuming and frustrating after a 12 hour shift...

 

[nukinfuts29]

Our hospital had a real problem with certain nurses and doctors admitting the hard cases to try and make a difference. We had a floor supervisor that did not have that crap, i can't tell you how many times she called me to take someone out.

 

[GTaylor]

You mean like when the ER gets tired of the nutjob and admits him to med surg or icu...hahaha

Or it could be the post op patients that get over medicated and then somebody panics and pushes the code blue button, nothing like running across the hospital in the middle of the night for someone that needs narcan.

 

[scrambledegg81]

5-year EMT when I lived in San Diego. Currently doing the RN thing at skool. :rockin:

 

[Cacaman]

5-year EMT when I lived in San Diego. Currently doing the RN thing at skool. :rockin:

Awesome! We're in the same shoes! What year are you in? Doing BSN or ADN?

 

[coypoo]

Clinical pharmacist here.

 

[Hang Glider]

not clinical (although I also did EMT training once upon a time).
35 years in healthcare, 25 inside hospitals. Lately (last 10 or so) supply chain automation, efficiencies and analytics, making sure you nurses have what you need in hand, in time, without wasting $$.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Awesome! We're in the same shoes! What year are you in? Doing BSN or ADN?

Hoping the BSN pans out. Since I'm doing it at a community college, it's AS to start with, then transfer, then another 2 years of school.

 

[pharmer1]

PharmD here. Worked in critical care before moving to clinical informatics. ICU was definitely more exiting, but a M-F daytime schedule is hard to beat and using my clinical background and applying it to electronic medical record has been a great learning opportunity.

 

[nukinfuts29]

Or it could be the post op patients that get over medicated and then somebody panics and pushes the code blue button, nothing like running across the hospital in the middle of the night for someone that needs narcan.

We had way too many code blues. Literally 6+ a week that didn't need to happen. All of them woukd get cancelled around the time my heart rate hit its peak running through the halls.

We had 7 in one day when the joint comission was there. Good times.

Sent from my Galaxy S 4G using Home Brew Talk for Android

 

[kevokie]

I have been in EMS for 12 years now, Paramedic for 9 of those years. I will be going into nursing soon, the streets are killing me! Eventually I will have the BSN.

 

[Cacaman]

I have been in EMS for 12 years now, Paramedic for 9 of those years. I will be going into nursing soon, the streets are killing me! Eventually I will have the BSN.

Welcome to the club!

 

[lex990]

I'm a ct tech at a lvl one trauma in MO. Our er has smokin hot nurses. I think it's a requirement. It's a pretty happening place. We pump 100+ patients a day through our er scanners alone. Great field. Im slowly finishing up my bs in radiologic science then applying for pa school

 

[stevehardt]

Another RT here. Been working as an RT/RT instructor for about 18 years. Love it!

 

[nukinfuts29]

I'm a ct tech at a lvl one trauma in MO. Our er has smokin hot nurses. I think it's a requirement. It's a pretty happening place. We pump 100+ patients a day through our er scanners alone. Great field. Im slowly finishing up my bs in radiologic science then applying for pa school

MO requires ER nurses to be hot. There are some in Hannibal that could bring a tear to your eye

 

[Rowdy]

EMT paid and voulanteer PCA emergency department.

 

[lex990]

MO requires ER nurses to be hot. There are some in Hannibal that could bring a tear to your eye

You have no idea man.

 

[TriageStat]

Been an ER nurse for three years now..beer is one of the only things that keep me sane after some 12 hour shifts

 

[3PegBrew]

Medical Technologist at a cancer center. Beer helps me cope with the fact a patient I saw yesterday is in the obits today. (not today just giving an example of what it is like somedays)

 

[lex990]

That's why I haven't went into rad therapy like I was kinda wanting to do. You see the same patients every day for good while. Then they stop coming. Half the time it's because they stopped breathing

 

[mvcorliss]

Twenty five years as a Medical Technologist in a community hospital in western Ma. I enjoy the work, especially cuz I work all alone and cover everything from drawing blood to doing all of the testing. But the best part is my schedule. I work 10 hour shifts, 9:30 pm to 7:30 am, 7 nights on .... 7 nights off. With vacation and holiday time I work way less than half a year with big chunks of time off for brewin', drinkin', and travelin'!

Way back in this thread folks were talking about new nurses getting some med surg experience before the ER. ABSOLUTELY!!!
I've been doing this a long time and watching new nurses right out of school work the ER is damn scary. **** happens really fast in the ER and real life ( and death) ain't the same as school.

Just saying.

 

[TheG3RG]

I'm heading into RN school this coming fall (if accepted). I'm getting my RN, then if I 100% decide to, go on and become a physician. So I'll be like 35 when I'm done with college

 

[Cacaman]

Twenty five years as a Medical Technologist in a community hospital in western Ma. I enjoy the work, especially cuz I work all alone and cover everything from drawing blood to doing all of the testing. But the best part is my schedule. I work 10 hour shifts, 9:30 pm to 7:30 am, 7 nights on .... 7 nights off. With vacation and holiday time I work way less than half a year with big chunks of time off for brewin', drinkin', and travelin'!

Way back in this thread folks were talking about new nurses getting some med surg experience before the ER. ABSOLUTELY!!!
I've been doing this a long time and watching new nurses right out of school work the ER is damn scary. **** happens really fast in the ER and real life ( and death) ain't the same as school.

Just saying.

Nice schedule. I wanted do to ER, but I guess building a foundation of skills wouldn't be a bad idea before I start pumping Epinephrine into pulseless patients. One of the main reasons I really didn't want to start off on med surg (and don't call me lazy), was because in my city, the hospital is way understaffed and nurses are 8:1 - 10:1 nurse patient ratio. I think that's just way too much!

As I mentioned a few posts back, if score a job in Austin, I'll gladly take med surg any day where they pay $6-8 an hour more than in my city, and I get a comfortable 5:1 patient ratio.

 

[E-Mursed]

Recent grad from a ASN program and now mid-term on my first semester at University of Michigan. Go Blue!!!

Taking my boards on 3/2 and hoping to pass first time.

I worked phlebotomy for 3 years on midnights and saw my share of loonies. Hoping to get into specialty nursing.

 

[Brutus Brewer]

Graduated about a month ago from an RN program, now waiting to take the NCLEX. Have an ER position waiting when I pass.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Graduated about a month ago from an RN program, now waiting to take the NCLEX. Have an ER position waiting when I pass.

Nice, congrats!

The ED is tough place to work. I love it though.

Currently I'm a stay-at-home dad, but I was an ED clinical pharmacist (PharmD) board certified in critical care pharmacy (BCCCP). I set up clinical pharmacy services in the hospital where I worked.
Hopefully your hospital has clinical pharmacy in the department.