This story is part of our series on EPHC’s Emergency Department.
Donna Dorsey, RN, BSN has been with EPHC since 2001, for 23 years. She worked as a nurse in Acute, the ER (Emergency Room), Endoscopy, and Infection Control before becoming the ER Manager. As the ER Manager, Donna’s main role is to support the clinical staff, making sure they have all the resources they need to deliver excellent patient care: whether that’s training, a piece of equipment, extra staff, meeting regulations, or a system to improve processes.
So, if you are a patient in the ER and receive a survey asking about your care, please complete it. It’s important feedback that Donna and her team use to constantly enhance patient care.
Donna wants the community to know that “My greatest accomplishment has been being part of gathering such an incredible staff. They are a family, dedicated to excellent care, this community, and each other. They are constantly working to prepare themselves for any emergency. Being this small means, you are it, so you have to be ready for rare and difficult things all the time.”
All of our Registered Nurses maintain certifications in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Advanced Pediatric Life Support. Many of them carry other certifications such as Trauma Nursing, Neonatal Resuscitation, and Wound Care.
The ER staff also have access to 24/7 onsite laboratory and x-ray, which are critical diagnostic tools. In the case of chest pain, lab results will reveal whether heart cells have died; and a CT scan can quickly analyze stroke symptoms, a necessity when time is of the essence for medications that can decrease a stroke’s damage. These are tools that help her team determine whether a patient can go home or needs to be transported to a higher level of care.
On average the ER sees 10-15 patients per day and transfers fewer than one patient per day to other facilities. Most patients who come to the ER get the care they need there, often from familiar faces in the community that provide great comfort in frightening situations.
Raised in Calpine, Donna came back to the area to raise her family after completing nursing school, working in large and medium-sized medical centers in Idaho, and then a clinic in Reno. Donna was called to nursing, a profession that has allowed her to be of service and have a positive impact on her community.