Critical Access
Hey all. I would love some thoughts. I’m on in assignment in a critical access ER. 6 bed ER ( 2 “traumas”, 2 regular rooms, a triage room (which is used as regular) and a “psych” room (which is a regular room in the assignment. There are 5 inpatient rooms in the same little square. The closest big emergency room is about 40 minutes away.
What I’m finding is that most of the staff have only worked here, so no big ER experience. Nobody has TNCC, NRP or training in deliveries. However, they’ve had an increase in deliveries. Given that it’s a rural farming community, they also get their fair share of trauma worthy patients. Without any preparation or resources to care for this population. As a nurse with L&D and trauma experience, I was trying to go through supplies and policies to ensure that we’d be capable in the event. I guess my question would be, is it silly to try to help educate and ask for more resources for them to care for these patients? It is terrifying that none of them know how to resuscitate babies or even what tools to use in that scenario (CPAP etc). It’s almost fearful for my license to not have resources or emergency certified physicians.