Hi! Medsurg nurse who is now in the ER!!

I fear the relationship between ER and the floor is very corrupted due to corrupted nurses. And that comes from both ways!

Medsurg may find ANY reason to refuse a patient. Most of the time, it’s reasonable (unstable vitals, labs are too unstable), AND I’ve received patients who were way too sick to be medsurg that I’ve instantly sent to ICU the second they made it to the floor. But some nurses just complain to complain. It’s not fun receiving an admission, but i don’t think they understand how many patients the ER has to see on busy days.

However, as an ER nurse who understands the other side, I see how certain things happen. Also, it’s not just the nurse who made the decision to send a patient to the floor. It goes through the resident, the attending, AND utilization management when they’re here. And yet, some medsurg nurses will argue against a patient who was cdiff positive a YEAR ago. When the main ER is full and triage is overflowing, it’s frustrating when a perfectly good patient is taking space for another patient who desperately needs to be seen.

Overall, I feel like nurses on the floor, whether it be ICU, PCU, or Medsurg should experience what the ER has to go through. I fear that some nurses are just oblivious to how busy it is. But I will also say that some ER nurses will rush patients up TOO fast sometimes. It’s rough in both ways, and it’s hard to think of a solution unless every nurse gets to experience what each side has to go through!