JonZ, are you the resident "opener of cans of worms"? There has always been, and there always will be a sort of rift between the ED and inpatient units. A lack of understanding between these units is the biggest problem. We're not so dissimilar. We all want to take the best care of our patients. Floor nurses often have upwards of 8 patients or so with routine meds, procedures...etc. ED nurses have anywhere from 4-6 plus with almost all orders being of the "do it now" variety. There are obvious differences between the two...one being the acuity of the patients and the other is volume. In our hospital, when an inpatient unit is full, it stops receiving patients. Unfortunately, it goes without saying that doesn't happen in the ED. My manager and I have offered personal tours of our unit to the managers of inpatient units in exchange for tours of theirs. This is in the hope of fostering better relations and attempting to create a "pull" vs. "push"mindset in which the inpatient units attempt to "pull" their pt's from us rather than us trying to "push" them out. Once they usually walk through the noise, chaos, patients lining the halls, herded at triage, the ambulance radio going off, ems crews lined up at the back with nowhere to offload their pts...they kinda get it. We're all overworked & underpaid. And we're in it together.

I think it is sad that nurses are all working in the same place but arguing.  that is too bad

Having been a floor nurse and an ER nurse, I definately see both sides. When I used to do floor nursing I used to get so frustrated when ER kept slamming us with admits when we could not seem to catch up with the pt's we had. On the other hand, I've gooten relly aggravated when I've had a pt in the ER for hours waiting for a bed and you call for report and the floor nurses act all exasperated. They have the gall to say they are overwhelmed and busy. That's when I let them know we have stretchers in the hallways with pts wall to wall.I also let them know I was once a floor nurse and I sympathize.I usually try to get any meds and orders done so the floor nurse won't get stuck with worrying about new orders. I usually let them know that and they are usually appreciative. I guess its a matter of being respectful of each others jobs. They are all important in their own way.

I have worked the floor and the ER.   When I worked the floor I HATED the ER - it seemed like they waited until I was as busy as possible and then called to send a patient up - it seemed as though they never knew what was going on with their patients and just basically wanted to dump them off on us.   When I moved down to the ER - it was a different world.....it all started to make sense....I think that if everyone could have the oppurtunity to REALLY see both sides of the story - there wouldn't be a problem.....ER nurses aren't there to "fix" the patient - they are there to keep them alive and well long enough to get them to a floor......just my 2 cents.

I think that the problem is that nursing is a stressful job and both floor nurses and ER nurses are overwhelmed with patient care. It is frustrating when we are short staffed and we have 5 to 6 patients to take care of. A lot of times it is the lack of communication that gets both units arguing at each other. I don't believe that either unit should be treated any different. We are all nurses and our main concern should be focused on the patient and not about who is the better unit. Because at this point we are just pointing the finger at one another and nothing gets solved.