Re: Question!!! (Men in Emergency Nursing)
Others will tell you how great the ER is. They are right, since it's a personal opinion kind of thing. So I'll give you the opposite view as a person who has worked both.
ER nursing can't compare to med/surg.
1. Patients are angry in the ER. That's not how they thought they would be spending the day, the stretchers are uncomfortable, and they are constantly waiting.
2. Patients don't often say thank you. They're angry, tired, and just waiting to get their meds or get admitted. Also, every single thing you did to them was either painful or uncomfortable.
3. It's natural that your focus in the ER will be to save lives in emergent situations, as opposed to patting hands and massaging shoulders. That natural focus will make more patients think that you are uncaring, and therefore a bad nurse.
4. Most of the "exciting" things in the ER I actually have different words for. Disgusting, tragic, and perverse come immediately to mind. How many Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases, Schizophrenics off their meds, and old drunks needing to sober up enough to go to jail/rehab do you need to see in life anyway?
5. ER nursing is often slower than med/surg. That's right, I said it. They can't really have any idea what their acuity will be, so there are often times where there are a bunch of nurses and no patients. After two hours of this, the ER will be overflowing and people will be stacked up in the halls. In med/surg, it's busy from 7 to 7, guaranteed.
6. The change of pace is murder, because not all patients are moving at the same speed. You'll be talking to a doctor on a cell phone trying to get one patient admitted, while two other patients are emergent. Then you'll have one patient who is stable and just waiting for a room upstairs. That's 4 different paces you are trying to maintain all at once. Inevitably, none of them are going to get everything they need. There's only so much you can do/remember/accomplish.
7. You don't really get the opportunity to learn disease processes in depth. You learn rapid responses to emergent situations, and after they are stabilized they are gone.
8. ER's lose money. They are perpetually the first to face layoffs. Forever and ever, amen.
9. Med/Surg gets to work hard, fix someone up, and see them improve. The patients go home surrounded by family and friends. It's very positive and rewarding.
10. Pancakes are better than waffles. Tan lines are awesome. People in Washington, D.C. can't drive.
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