Will352ns

Everyday. Pretty much there is no official policy that I am aware of. If a patient that I treated ends up back with COVID, I get a notification...that's about it.

Thanks, kind of like I thought. I would be curious to hear from anyone in one of the hot spots: NYC, New Orleans, CT, or the big cities in CA. The evening news is showing images of long entrance lines, crowds, and even a bit of chaos. Even in my city they are kind of giving the impression that we are really busy. I'm not implying some sort of conspiracy, just how the imagery doesn't match reality.

Just putting feelers out there for the different regions of the US. I work EM in Northeast Florida in a large volume ER in an urban setting. Normally very busy. In the last 3 weeks we have never been slower. Director has slashed Doc and APP hours, it's actually looking pretty grim for us. This said, we are seeing COVID every day and all the problems associated with that. I spoke to a few friends of mine at other ERs in this area and they are reporting the same, people are generally staying away. How are things in your neck of the woods concerning overall volume?

Oh, definitely did. I will be covering a few folks that got quarantined.

They skip the background checks and usually only have the Chair of the Cred board sign off. I just Emergency credentialed a new place in less than a week.

True story. I had one of my nurses ask me to see a pt in the ambulance bay...she said something to the effect of "you gotta see this". I walk over and there is a very calm guy sitting on the gurney with a 3 ft long hedge trimmer blade lodged in his right shoulder. There were 4 barbs in the flesh of the anterior shoulder to his anterior chest. He swung it too far an it got him. I walked up to the gurney and said "Hi sir, what seems to be the problem today"? I laughed, he laughed, the staff laughed....good times.

Sounds legit.

If given the same circumstances when I retired from the military....I would do it all again. I really like being a PA. I have good and bad days but overall, I enjoy it. If talking about the 20-something me....I would go to med school.

Not gonna lie, I am the embodiment of sexy.

EM Boot Camp, EM: RAP are great suggestions. Seriously, take notes on the Boot Camp. I always found that the best reference is myself. I carry a leather (sturdy) note book in my backpack that I sectioned off by system (cards, pulm, renal....). When I started, I went back through my notes from school and further broke it down to big ticket items in each system. Over the last few years I have added further notes for things that I have encountered with best treatments and tricks. I still add to it and reference it.

Dickies....cheap and do the job.

Work in a busy ER. Sometimes I will start my own IV's and and such when the nurses are legitimately busy, I do this when I am afraid a pt might slip through the cracks and there may be a delay in care...ie, I think pt has appy or may be septic....you get the point. I will sometimes turnover gurneys and get pt areas ready for the next patient and even sometimes load them. I only do this when the nurses are obviously sandbagging. They tend to get the point after a couple of times.

My ER has a separate trauma team that responds to all major traumas. The ER Dr. does initial stabilization but the trauma folks quickly take over. The trauma service has their own PA's so we are surplus to requirements. We are level II. Sucks not to really be involved with the major traumas, but we otherwise have a good scope in my ER.

I got lucky and fell into an ER position that I had a rotation in during school. They hired me because of my previous experience and how I was able to demonstrate how it was useful. I was a 20 year military medic. 9 years as a basic hospital medic (mostly ER) and 11 years as an Independent Duty Medic. During my time in, I saw my share of trauma and such, which was helpful. Most people would assume that is what would give me the advantage in ER; it wasn't. It was my ability to safely see low/mid acuity patients at a good pace. It was essentially what I had been doing for years, just easier now that I had a better foundation of knowledge (not to say I knew everything...definitely did not). Experience dose matter. I landed a >90% pay range job in a good location with a good group right out of school. I encourage everyone with my similar background to apply, there are hundreds out there.

Haha, I sometimes say pretty much the same type of thing. The ED I work in has always had a policy on briefing the Docs on level 3 and above; I believe all the local hospitals here have the same policy. It doesn't bother me. It's usually is a casual conversation with who I'm working with, "hey pt in 3 came in with X, workup is Y, I'm gonna Z". To which I usually get something like, "cool, thanks". Done.