Brilliant policy number 456: Thou shalt put all patients who are on cardiac monitors on a portable monitor who have to leave the department for CT or xray and have them accompanied by a nurse. A nurse with portable monitor shall acommpany any patient being admitted to their room post haste. This is thine edict from above henceforth from this day.
The scathingly billiant designers of our ER decided when they renovated 20 years ago to have our patients be on hardwire connected to the monitors. In other words, there is no tele pak. Now xray does not want wires on the patient especially for CXR because they will interfere with the picture. So that won't exactly fit with the put on monitor to go to xray or CT.
So you are telling me that a couple of nurses will be gone from the department with their patients in xray leaving the other nurses to watch their other patients. Makes sense to me. Nurses will also be gone transporting their patients to tele floors.
Xray and tele are across the hall from the ER. We have always removed the monitor from stable tele patients while they spent the 5 minutes in xray or CT. We have also sent stable tele patients up to their rooms with non nursing personnel. But no more....Joe Smith might have a PVC or something.
More assinine changes by those who don't actually DO the job. Of course all of this has to be done with the same amount of nurses. Guess I'll have to take less patients and that things are going to slow down to accomplish this task...how does your ER handle this?
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