Is emergency nursing the most intense nursing there is?

Specialties Emergency

Published

Is emergency nursing the most intense and fulfilling career path? what should i look at when choosing my career path?

I want to thanks everyone for their helpful responses to my posts.. I really appreciate all the kind effort you made to reply to a newbie like me.

Thanks to all,

Trey

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.
Why would anyone over 18 be sent to the PICU vs. an adult ICU?

Our PICU takes every congenital heart pt they ever operated on, and our Hem-Onc team keeps their sickle pts long after the pediatrician cut off of 24, they have to present to the adult side ER after they turn 25 and then be admitted to the peds units

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Specializes in Emergency.

ER nursing is intense in that at least half of our codes (mi, stroke & even blue) present in their street clothes, no iv access, often no reliable hx and sometimes sans name. We generally start from scratch.

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

I've been a RN for a few years and will very soon graduate from an APRN program. I've worked in an ER for the past six months as it best befits my academic commitments, and I 'hoped' when I started that it'd be a far more educational experience. Unfortunately, this push for "rapid throughput" makes me really dislike the ER. I'm not lazy by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't like doing work at the pace the facility administration prefers. The problem is not so much that interventions need to take place rapidly but rather there's such a push to coddle the patient and get them in and out the door in under 90 minutes that it makes work unsettling and fatiguing. I really enjoy the primary care stuff and feel like I learn most from each of those encounters, but the abdominal pain and chest pain ad nauseam that comes in that the docs really don't know what to do with but admit for observation is really boring.

Also, I feel like I've sort of outgrown the trauma and code appeal as I'd rather fix a finger lac and send someone happily on their way than deal with a cluster buck of people raving in a code room. I think my APRN program has gotten my interests to such a degree of specialization that the vastness of the ER, which was at first a great appeal, is less than desirable. I get a lot of compliments from patients, but I feel the team thinks I'm slow. I'm not cognitively slow, but I'm not accustomed at literally jogging around the workplace -and don't want to be as I'll save my jogging affinity for my days off. I don't know. Perhaps I'm just tired of every element of nursing beyond what my professional volitions are. I'm not stressed terribly or upset about the job duties, but the "newness" and appeal have worn off.

I wanted to add that I'm very grateful for having been given the position, and I think it's a great hospital with a good selection of caring ER bosses. I think I'm just a fish out of water.

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