Madigan first to train Army's new CriticalCare Emergency Nurse Course

By Tawny M. Dotson, tawny.m.dotson@us.army.mil (Madigan Healthcare System)October 18, 2010

t takes a partnership throughout the medical community to train a good nurse. That's a lesson learned from the Army's Critical Care Emergency Nurse Course being held for the first time in Madigan Healthcare System and some of Tacoma's emergency rooms.

"Right now we have a shortage of ER nurses, so Tacoma General, Mary Bridge and MultiCare are actually helping the military train ER nurses," said Lt. Col. Spencer Dickens, director of the Critical Care Emergency Room Nurse Course. "It shows that our community is actively participating in supporting the military."

The program, taught by Madigan staff, is for Army registered nurses and features a series of clinical rotations taking place in MultiCare's Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Hospitals. Lasting 14 weeks, the course prepares nurses to function in the ER. Competencies covered include responsibilities, nursing care, teaching role, principles and techniques of staff supervision and management of patients across the life span in an emergency setting. All the students are active duty RNs who have had initial Army assignments and a minimum of 18 months experience. They come to the course from a number of duty stations including Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Bliss, Texas, and even an international student.

"Because of the recent increase in a need for ER nurses in combat and stateside, I proposed an emergency nurses course at Madigan," said Lt. Col. Dana Munari, deputy director of the critical care emergency nurse course.

The nurses are integrated, with oversight, into the ER at Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Hospitals.

"Even though it's a large emergency room, you can only infuse so many nurses in a student mode. Our facility can only take a few as the other facilities can only take a few," Munari said.

The hope is that the nurses will complete clinicals and share experiences.

"A lot of them are carrying back their stories from deployment and I expect that they are sharing those experiences with the civilian nurses," Munari said. "They are experiencing what life is like for an Army nurse and what life is like as a civilian."

The course is collocated with the Critical Care Nurse course in order to focus on the pathway between the emergency room and the intensive care unit.

"We want to focus on the pathway and the carry over between the two," Munari said.

The end product is a group of nurses prepared for entry-level work in the ER or ICU. The first course graduates Nov. 24.