Emergency Room

For our first trip to the hospital I will be going to the emergency room otherwise known as the E.R. The emergency room is a hospital or primary care department that provides initial treatment to patients with a broad span of illnesses and injuries. In the ER there is a vast array of people caring for a patient including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and surgeons. An abundant amount of tools are used in the emergency room. A stethoscope is a diagnostic tool that allows a nurse or physician to listen to heart and respiratory sounds. A cardiac monitor gives the visual display of the rhythm of a patient’s heart. The suture tray contains the sterile equipment to place stitches in a patient with a laceration. This tray consists of a needle holder, forceps, sterile towels, scissors, and small bowls. Some organizations that are associated with the ER are the Emergency Nursing Association (ENA), the International Association of Emergency Managers, and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA). I intend to see the variety of conditions that a physician sees. Some of the conditions that bring people to the emergency room are car accidents, sports injuries, broken bones and cuts from accidents or falls, food poisoning, and loss of hearing or sight. I hope to see someone getting surgery since millions of Americans visit an emergency room each year.
The emergency department has several different areas including the triage, resuscitation, and pediatric area. Each is specialized for patients with particular of injuries or types of illnesses. This is how the emergency room works. When you arrive at the Emergency Department you stop at the triage which is the place where each patient’s condition is prioritized into three categories: immediately life threatening, urgent but not immediately life threatening and less urgent. The nurse records your vital signs and gets a history of current medical complaints, past medical problems, and medications and