New to ER-overwhelmed!!

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hi I am not a "new" nurse, 11 years as an LPN with varied experience, clinic, psych, nursing home, and extended private duty home health (vent dependent peds) but I've never EVER worked in a hospital before, let alone the ED. To top it off I had to take a 3 year sabbatical to care for my husband in ESRD on home dialysis. I sent my resume out just to test the waters and got a call to interview for the new Peds ED at a local hospital. I never thought I'd be hired but I was. Here I am 1 month in and every day I feel like like a fish out of water and I'm certain my co-workers think I'm a moron. I know there has been talk of "the home health nurse with no hospital experience". I'm frustrated bc I know I can do my job once I get my feet back under me but I feel pressured to hit the floor running and I'm at a slow crawl right now. My assessment skills are so rusty, my charting (EPIC) takes forever, and as and I'm constantly at a loss as to what my RN is expecting of me bc some want me to "take initiative" and just do what needs to be done and others prefer to delegate what they want me to do. This causes me to constantly ask questions and question myself even in the skills I know I'm solid at. I'm really feeling like a brand new nurse at this point. Any advice on how to get my bearings the quickest, how to improve my assessment and charting, and how to gain my co-workers trust and confidence? I know I can be great at this with time, but I feel so pressured to know it all NOW!

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Specializes in ED, Critical care, & Education.

Sorry no one has responded to you yet. Three years off can definitely feel like starting like new. You need to invest in yourself stat.

I would definitely keep the lines of communication open with the management team about how you are feeling, that you are progressing and working on xyz on your own time in order to get back up to speed. I imagine you will need a longer orientation time than others.

There are tons of You Tube videos these days on assessments etc. Focus first on the primary and secondary survey. ER is a much more focused assessment depending on complaint but you should have a quality fast assessment down solid. Find an experienced RN who will then help you solidify your assessments. Practice, practice, practice at home. Sounds like someone who would run scenarios with you in a non-stressful environment would be helpful.

I answered an interview post by Scooter regarding things to know in the ED. I would focus on understanding some of the basics of the ED which are core measure timelines etc. I'll try to link that conversation. https://allnurses.com/emergency-nursing/need-advice-to-1080281.html

Get your hands on as many policies and procedures etc. as you can and study them. Read my blog post titled 5 Things I Wish I Knew as a New Grad (I know you aren't a new grad but the Book of Brains would be hugely helpful for you). You are on a steep learning curve.

5 Things I wish I Knew as a New Grad

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/5-things-i-1083307.html

5 Things I Wish I New Earlier in My Nursing Career: Building Relationships

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/5-things-i-1085789.html

Hope some of this helps.

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