Does anyone who has made a lifelong career of the ED still love their job?

[NeoPediRN]

It seems like ED nurses are working in tough times from the posts on this forum. With doctors leaving medicine left and right the ED is inundated with inappropriate and misguided patient problems and a lot of social nightmares. Is there anyone who has worked in the ED a long time who still loves it? I really want to make the transition as an ED nurse, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I want to look back in 10 years and still love the work I do. I thought for a long time that I was going to be an OB or pedi nurse, but my heart is with emergency medicine and I'm over the internal struggle of where I think I should work vs. where I really want to work. As a disclaimer, I know very well that the ED deals less and less with true emergencies and more like a primary care clinic, but I still feel it's my calling. I like prepping patients for surgeries, love love cardiac cases, inserting IVs, making patients comfortable whether it's through medication or a warm blanket and crackers, and the quick thinking and action that comes with a true emergency. It all sounds so great now, but does anyone still feel this way after a few years? Just looking for some hope. :)

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

I'm also not a lifer yet, but I knew going in to nursing school I wanted to work in the ED. Every shadowing experience in the ED in nursing school reinforced this feeling, and now I'm working in the ED as a new grad nurse and love it. It's challenging, exhausting, sometimes overwhelming, frustrating, maddening, and then I get a patient or two who I feel like I'm really able to offer something to who makes my day. Or week.

Here's the thing- if you try it and decide you don't like it....that's ok! You can move on to something else. I say go for it.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Not a lifer, but after almost 8 years I still love it.

I did make the jump to the ICU for a while, and I embraced it ... but the ER is home.

[FF-PHRN]

Twelve of my fifteen years as an RN have been in the ED. I left a flight job to get back in the ER.

It is an addiction. I missed the chaos and the drama you don't get anywhere else. Sometimes getting to help people who are really sick is nice too. Sounds kinda sick and twisted when you write it. Maybe one of the psych nurses here can give me another diagnosis to go along with my ADD I didn't know I had;)

I know several other nurses leave and come back after a short time.

Do I love it? I don't know, but I know thats where I am at my best and I think we should be where we do the best with our individual talents.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Sounds kinda sick and twisted when you write it. Maybe one of the psych nurses here can give me another diagnosis to go along with my ADD I didn't know I had;)

ADD with a healthy dose of sick-n-twisted is exactly what it is! LOL. After a few days of working in the ER, I was like, FINALLY! People who get my morbid sense of humor.

[JSoupyERnurse]

I've been an ER nurse for 7 1/2 years. I remember in nursing school thinking, " I am not meant to be a nurse." Nothing felt like it fit. That is until....I walked into the ER for clinical rotations one day and literally it was like, "ahhhhh." The light came on and I knew I was "home." I loved it then and I still love it today. I love the challenge, I love the adventure, I love the fast-pace, I love thinking fast, I love the constant learning experience, I love the rapid and never-ending change, and I love the opportunity to make a difference. I've tried other areas of nursing PRN and even tried to leave the ER life for a short stint and ultimately always came running back as fast as I could to the ER. Now, there are aspects that I could do without (doesn't every job?), but what I love far outweighs those minor details. And too, some days I do wonder why I do it, but I always find the answer to that question pretty quickly...."I love what I do even when it doesn't love me back." Throughout the years, I've laughed, I've cried, I've blow a gasket, I've felt like a failure, and I've felt like a hero, but every minute has gone towards making me the strong and competent ER nurse I am today. I do plan on being a part of the ER for the rest of my career and am currently working towards my NP. ER is in my blood. Its what I do, its who I am, and its my passion. Most of all I know its where I belong.

If you choose ER, I can promise it will never be dull and you'll always learn something new.

I hope this helps you:).

P.S. I do have ADHD (literally) and it definitely comes in handy in the ER, but I'm pretty sure its not a requirement:p.

[needsmore$]

I have been an ED nurse since 1986. And yes, I still love it. The days where I feel that I made a difference in someone's life...what a great feeling

Yes, ED nursing has become more of a 'exacerbation of your chronic problem ' type of nursing about 80 % of the time, but those days where you know that you and your care turned a critical patient into a stable one, or you made someone who was terrified and in pain; relaxed and feeling better, ready to face whatever needs to be faced...

The feeling that I HELPED someone, truly helped, boy it gives me a high to this day

I'm not talking about the everyday care we deal with, but those times where your adrenalin is pumping just as fast as your norepi is dripping in...and someone that was swiling the drain now is stable....

That's ED nursing.

[JBudd, MSN]

Well, I don't know that 15 or 16 years makes it "lifelong", because the other 15 or so years were spent doing things I also enjoyed.

Will you still want to be doing the same thing in 10 years? How boring to know the future that far in advance. You grow and change and stay in a rut and then grow some more. Moreover, not all ERs are the same, moving from one to another (especially from regular ER to a level 1 trauma center) is nearly changing your work entirely.

Do I still like being in the ER? yes. But I've also gone back to school, gone into education part time, and done some teaching overseas. Been burned out, took some time off and came back in going strong. Although lately my ER has mostly been the overflow ICU and medsurgs that we can't get moved to the floors, but that's another thread.