I love working in the ER, I will be off orientation in 2 weeks after a 5 month orientation. I feel pretty confident in my abilities and I can roll pretty well with a busy team of 8 or 9 patients. Recently we have been too crazy and busy. Management has implemented a new triage system designed to get patients out of the waiting room and into the treatment areas as fast as possible.
I did an AM shift today and by 2pm I had 15 patients. There were no inpatient beds and the patients just kept coming. Before working as an RN in this environment I had no comprehension of the level of stress that a person could maintain for 12 hours. When things get that busy really sick patients start slipping through triage and ending up in the hallway.
As I said I really like the ER, but I don't want to lose my license. I know everyone is going to say get the heck out, I think I'm going to switch to night shift as soon as I'm off orientation and see how that works. I rotate days and nights now, and that side of the world seems a little bit more sane.
Thanks for listening