How do you like your new job?
The job description of a head nurse is completely different from that of a general nurse. It's more of a managerial position than a nursing position. I am in charge of ensuring that the central reception is staffed, listing services, taking care of the material operation and ensuring that there is a sufficient supply of medicines and medical supplies. For me personally, it's a big challenge. I was tempted by the offer to try a different position in the healthcare sector and I also wanted to be closer to home, as I live in Pribram. At first I felt quite insecure and I was a bit afraid that after a while I would miss the nursing work, the contact with the patient, which I don't meet now. The biggest challenge for me so far is the staffing side of the job, to set up the services in a way that suits everyone and that includes all the positions that are needed in the ER.
What is the work like in the emergency department? What health problems do you most often deal with?
The hospital's emergency department operates on a 24/7 basis. There are 24 nurses and 15 orderlies working there. The spectrum of work is the widest of the whole hospital, because practically any case can come to the emergency room. We've had the same diagnoses over and over again in orthopaedics. It's never monotonous here. You never know what kind of case you're going to get, from broken legs, to serious injuries from car accidents, to curiosities. Patients either come in on their own or are brought in by ambulance. We divide the emergency room into a surgical section, where we deal with lacerations, injuries, an internal section where we treat mostly elderly patients who often have problems with pressure, breathing, then there is the neurological and orthopaedic emergency room. The children's emergency room is run separately by the children's department.
How are patients handed over from the ambulance service?
Already in the ambulance vehicle, basic triage takes place. The Central Bohemian Region Ambulance Service sends information with basic patient data and a description of the problem for which the patient is being taken directly to us in the information system. Ambulances of the Pilsen region contact us by phone.
Often people complain about the large number of patients in the emergency room and the long wait.
Yesterday, around noon, 50 people were already examined in the emergency room, and the whole afternoon and night were still ahead of us. People often seek help from the hospital emergency room before seeking their GP because they cannot assess the severity of their health problem. This also leads to a significant accumulation of patients. The selection of an emergency ambulance is made, for patients who present themselves, by a triage nurse who not only identifies the appropriate ambulance but also determines the order of patients, which is determined by the urgency of their health problem and condition. In the surgery, the patient is examined by a doctor who is invited from the ward for a consultation. Most patients have a blood test, the results of which patients wait for in the waiting room if their condition allows. We often encounter the situation that patients want to go shopping, for example, for the "hour until the results are in". However, this is not possible if they are seeking urgent care, we assume that their condition is urgent and therefore serious. It is not possible to leave the emergency room until the blood results are in.
Is there anything you know that you would like to improve already?
I am certainly looking forward to the new emergency reception to be built with the new hospital extension, which will solve the inadequate space not only in the waiting room. In the future, we also want to address security in the emergency room with the hospital management, as the staff often encounter aggressive patients, especially at night. So far, we have marginally consulted the possibility of placing a permanent security guard in the central reception area and a self-defence course for medical staff.
Is there a friendly atmosphere in central reception?
My colleagues have overwhelmingly received me well, even welcoming the fact that there is a man in this position. Being a man in a predominantly female team is an advantage in my opinion (laughs). We just struggled a bit over whether to call me Mr. Chief, but we settled on Martin.
I would like to form a team here because one spends most of one's life at work and many times it is difficult to get along with patients and if one adds to that the unpleasant working environment, it is too much for one's psyche. I would like us to work as one working family.
