Andrew Makosky

Emergency Room
10/8/19

1. Briefly describe the type of patients observed in the ER.

- The patients that I observed in the emergency room were mainly trauma patients. I was
able to observe and participate in helping a couple of the traumas that came in. These
patients were in car or motorcycle crashes. I was also able to observe and participate in a
couple of codes. Overall, the patients that I was seeing in the emergency room were
critically ill or injured patients.

2. Identify the members of the ER team and their role.

- In the emergency room, there are several different roles in the team. During a code or a
trauma, I was able to work with a doctor, resident, nurses, respiratory therapist,
pharmacist, and radiology. The doctor is the code leader and leads the code team.
Respiratory can help intubate and control the patients breathing with bagging. The
pharmacist is on hand to instruct medications and dosing’s.

3. Discuss the activities and importance of the triage area.

- The triage area is very important for organizing and planning for care. They are able to
separate and categorize the sick or critically injured patients from the less ill patients.
This allows the emergency team to appropriately prioritize care.

4. Describe the method/rationale for bed assignment in the ER.

-The method used when assigning patients to beds in the emergency room is based on
acuity. They are able to use an acuity level of 1 to 5. One being the most severe and
critically ill patients and five being non-urgent patients.

5. Discuss the ER nurse’s role with patients discharged to home.

- The emergency room nurse has a major role in discharging a patient. The main role in
discharging for the nurse is education. This could be the only medical information that
the patient is receiving. It is important that when the patient goes home that they do not
come back but we do have to educate them that if anything does go wrong to seek
medical care.

6. Discuss the ER nurse’s role with admission to acute care.

- The ER nurse has a huge role with admission to acute care. The ER nurse is able to do a
focused assessment and treat/care for the acute illness. This focus allows for quick
treatment so that the patient can be sent home or admitted for long-term monitoring and
treatment.
7. Identify one potential ethical concern related to emergency care
-One ethical concern of emergency care is overcrowding and caring for patients
regardless of means to pay. The emergency room is unable to decline the care of any
patient. This leads to overcrowding. Many people will go to the emergency room for
minor illness. People are using this service instead of going to their primary care
provider. This leads to people waiting sometimes hours before being seen. This can lead
to potential harm for these patients.

8. How was your experience overall? Would you recommend this experience for future
students?
-My experience in the emergency room was very educational. I was able to experience
much more than I originally thought. I was able to practice several nursing skills and work in
several trauma/code situations. I would recommend this location to future students. This
was the best experience I’ve had in nursing school so far!