Is emergency nursing the most intense nursing there is?

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

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.
Is emergency nursing the most intense and fulfilling career path? what should i look at when choosing my career path?

No, flight nursing is LOL!!! This is a matter of opinion but if you want intense then getting into a helicopter and treating the sickest of the sickest independently with the possibility of crashing and loosing your life every time gives me a reason for my opinion lol

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Intense nursing is going to depend on what you define "intense" as. Every job is going to have its intense moments and its boring moments. In the ER, you will see many patients who aren't really there for emergencies. It may be something that has been ongoing that they decide is an emergency right now, or it could be something as ridiculous as a hangnail coming in via ambulance (seriously, go check out the most ridiculous reasons people visit the ER thread in the ER forum). Med/surg nursing will have its intense moments- prioritizing the care of whatever number of patients you've been assigned, dealing with codes (not all patients who code do so in the convenience of the ICU). OR nursing will have those moments of "Great. Yet another day of lap chole after lap chole after lap chole." along with "Holy crap! This is a really ugly trauma." (Ask me about gunshots. I have far too many stories to tell.)

But the bottom line is, a job will be intense if it's not one you can find at least several things about it to like- attitude is going to play a big role. Generally, I like my job (just not those days when I start my shift at 0700 and because it's my turn on call and it's a really crappy day I get to go home after midnight). To me, that makes it less intense in the sense of always running on adrenaline. Do those traumas that come screaming up to the OR seem intense and get that adrenaline flowing? Absolutely, but that isn't really the norm.

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Specializes in PICU.

Try PICU nursing. Every speciality rolled into one. Ages 1 day- 60+ years. Ecmo, crrt, codes, multiple sizes I've every every single device. Kiddos can be fine one second and just crump the next. Every single day we are seeing new things. On top of that put the pressure of families. No one wants to say it out loud, but loosing a kid is not an option. So we do everything. In every case. And it can be beyond rough.

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Specializes in PCCN.

from what ive heard and seen, cath lab can get pretty intense. especially when some of the docs are screaming at you.

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Med surg was at times more intense than the ER. I think in all areas that I have worked, each one has had intense moments. Pediatric being the hardest when the parents are panicking and you have to stay calm. Majority of the time in the ED, I was slap bored. I had a lot of emergency pregnancy tests and UTIs. Lol. I read that about the hang nail. Omgosh I was rolling at some of those posts.

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Try PICU nursing. Every speciality rolled into one. Ages 1 day- 60+ years.

Why would anyone over 18 be sent to the PICU vs. an adult ICU?

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Depends on what you call intense and the acuity level of the ER and the patient population in your community.

It's not all codes, trauma and high adrenaline situations. A lot of it is drunks, drugs, domestic violence and of course people who don't have a primary care provider so they clog up the ER waiting room with runny noses.

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Why would anyone over 18 be sent to the PICU vs. an adult ICU?

It occasionally happens where I am at, although no one as old as 60.

Most commonly these are patients in their early 20s with congenital heart defects who are still being followed by pediatric cardiology or with defects the adult CTICU is not familiar with. On rare occasion, it might be an adult patient whose surgery was performed by on the pediatric CT surgeons and they prefer to send their patients to the PICU instead of the CTICU.

We also occasionally admit overflow patients when the adult ICUs are full. Again, no one in their 60s as they send patients more in line with what we typically see. For example, 30 year old DKA.

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Is emergency nursing the most intense and fulfilling career path?

I like the job, but I suspect that being lowered out of a helicopter to rescue babies from a burning building would be both more intense and more fulfilling. But, there were no openings, so here I am.

Some of the work, like most jobs, is decidedly unfulfilling. My last patient last night was an 8 year old with a bruised knee brought in by his narcotic addicted mother. "it was so bad he stayed home from school today". "No Mom, I overslept".

Mom also decided to register as a patient to have a fingernail looked at.

In reality, the point of the visit was to get a school note some mom wouldn't get in trouble for the kid missing school. Again. We exposed the kid to unneeded radiation, gave mom a prescription for unneeded antibiotics. This school note probably cost $1,200. I did not feel fulfilled.

On the other hand, earlier in the day, family wheeled an older gentleman completely unresponsive into the ER. I took a guess, and put some oral glucose (think cake frosting) into his mouth while one nurse tested his blood sugar, and another quickly got an IV. The blood sugar test showed he was near dead with his level being below 20. (70-100 is normal) We put some very concentrated sugar into his iv, and he woke up.

By working together as a team and thinking critically, we saved his life. This really was fulfilling.

what should i look at when choosing my career path?

You should look at getting the best grades possible, getting the most clinical experience you can, and working your tail off. This will help give you options when you are ready to make choices.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

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Specializes in PICU.
Why would anyone over 18 be sent to the PICU vs. an adult ICU?

Not where I work. If you have 'a disease of childhood' or have been refinery followed by one of the doc at our childrens hospital u end up in PICU. I really have had a 60 year old pt.

it's fun looking at the central monitors and wondering if that HR of 50 is a baby or an adult ...

Nursing in General is hardcore. I think you can be 'intense' wherever you want.

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