Acute Care PAs

[buckeyes]

On average, how many acute care patients (chest pain, abdominal pain, dizziness, etc) do you see in a 12 hours shift?

[EMEDPA]

IT VARIES. sometimes everyone is a level 2/3, sometimes no one is.

[medic25]

Very variable. I worked in the critical care section of our ED yesterday and only saw high-acuity patients; don't know how many I saw in total, but at the busiest I was carrying 10-11 patients at a time. Other shifts might be nothing but fast-track lacerations and ortho injuries.

[jen0508]

varies for me too. i'm at the end of my first month in EM (first job out of school). i average 20-25 patients in a 10 hour shift. today i would say 1/2 were 3's and 1/2 were 4's. i generally leave the 2's for the docs and will do so until i have more experience.

[moestown1016]

My record I think (since I've been counting) is 33 in a 12 hour shift. Doing level 3 and 4s. Other days in the low to mid 20s. I only do ER part time so...that's my excuse if it sounds low :)

[bcstout]

I work in a rural ED with 24 hrs physician and 12 hours PA coverage. When there are a ton of Level 4 and 3 patients I stick with those, but sometimes there are a ton of level 2 and 3s. In those cases I've carried maybe 5-6 level 2 and 3s. I usually try to carry max 5 complex patients while also running our 3 bed fast track area as well to get those 4s moving!