Best/Worst list of Emergency Nursing

NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN · May 2, 2013

Best: Being thanked by a previously critical patient.

Worst: miscarriages and crying moms... then having to do the ppwork with them about it.

SweetMelissaRN · May 2, 2013

Best: stabilizing a super critical patient!

Worst: violent/loud/demanding patients! The ones with a sense of entitlement... Flustering!

Sassy5d · May 2, 2013

I feel like a battered spouse (as someone described previously) I love it as much as I hate it and I don't see myself doing anything else.

I hate the manipulating Pts and the fact that joe CEO is worried about his survey results so we have to suck butt to the most redic Pts.

I live the life saving and opportunities at little education points that go a long way.

Tonight was a hate night. We were busy with tons of 'stupid' stuff that needed to be seen by pcp (hearing loss x's 1 year) then coupled with moody coworkers who want to sucker u into doing their work.

I can honestly say in 12 hours there was not 1 emergency.. But you'll get that

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · May 2, 2013

Best: I will agree, stabilizing critical patients!

Worst: It's a tie between people who come in with non-emergent complaints (that could have waited until the morning when they could see their PCP)...and you get A LOT of those...and the demanding, entitled patients.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · May 2, 2013

Best:

The sense of teamwork among nurses

Helping a pt make it through a critical situation

Knowing I will learn/see new things everyday

Worst:

Knowing that we can be swamped and pts will just keep coming

Having other hospitals and clinics dump pts on us because we are the ER

Entitled pts (get a lot of those in my upper class neighborhood ER)

Editorial Team / Moderator · May 2, 2013

Entitled pts (get a lot of those in my upper class neighborhood ER)

And THAT is one big reason I left my Virginia ER (in one of the U.S.'s most affluent counties) to join the Army! And while there may still be a sense of entitlement in military ERs (because it's free for them ... you don't value as much what is free, right?), these are still folks who are DOING something -- serving our country. Helps my brain make it all better inside.

Funny -- I worked per diem in a Level 2 out in the Virginia boonies, and those ER patients were courteous and grateful and rarely all grabby-demandy.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · May 2, 2013

Best: again- the teamwork to fix the critically ill patient or at least stabilize them. Fixing the asthma kid, love it when they're breathing easy. Not knowing what each day will bring.

Worst: same as above. Minor complaint for months/years, today it's an emergency. The entitled wealthy. Patients who greet you by name... Without having to look at your id badge.

Editorial Team / Moderator · May 2, 2013

Patients who greet you by name... Without having to look at your id badge.

I once had a patient say, "Hey, you got your hair cut! It looks nice." Really? You should not know this! LOL

NO50FRANNY · May 2, 2013

From a professional perspective, here is the BEST 1.5 hours of my nursing career. Triage nurse hits the trauma bell, and hurries into Resus to tell us that a "very sick trauma patient is on the way, 40 yr old cyclist hit and run at approximately 100kmph (60 miles), found in a ditch GCS 5, no blood pressure, suspected high c-spine injury, bilateral closed femur #s and +ve fast scan" 10 minutes away. I had been saying earlier that morning that I didn't really feel like doing anything hard-core.... We were down 2 staff, so I nodded to our flustered and fairly junior T/L and said "of course". I was team leader and airway for this patient, the sickest person I have ever cared for, and I usually avoid traumas these days but what transpired after he arrived is the reason I do my job. Colleagues communicating by some sort of strange telepathy, a team of over 30 professionals working balls-out to save someones' life. The culmination of 15+ years of nursing experience, drawing on every intuition, everything I've ever learned and being part of that team, what an honour.

I always say I work with heroes, this is when I get to see them in action. We stayed well into his emergency surgery (yep, us grubby, blood covered ER team) long after we lost his pulse in the trauma room, long after his wife was allowed 3 seconds to say "I'm here baby, I love you". Our Consultant Physician had to gently physically pull us out of Theatre because we wouldn't pass him over to others to care for, none of us wanted to leave, he was our responsibility. I was under the drape watching the trauma surgeons and catching transfusions from across the room. I've often said, it was just like television, only better because it was real. He survived. Last I heard, learning to walk again, with a fully intact brain (despite a later evolved Subdural) and no c-spine injury. This man went home to his family. So often what we do is futile, but occasionally patients like this will cross your path.

If I had to say what the WORST part of ER nursing is, I would say it is any patient who thinks their complaints are more important than this particular patient, or one who simply doesn't care. They usually go hand in hand though.

Racer15, BSN, RN · May 4, 2013

Best: The teamwork is AWESOME! I never feel alone, I always have someone there to back me up. The satisfaction of seeing a very sick patient walk out ok. I've had ER doctors high five me when we get a STEMI to cath lab within 15 minutes of arriving, it's a good feeling :) Just being able to take an situation where someone is really scared, and make them feel better and know they will be ok, is great.

Bad: I have to cater to patients that I KNOW are not emergent (and they know it too). I once had a patient with a chief complaint of back pain x5 months ask me why they were not an emergency. When I explained what a true emergency was, their response was "there ain't nobody dying here!". If you don't mind the wait, I am more than happy to treat you and make sure you are comfortable, but when you chew me out because the doctor is too slow and you're chronic back pain is hurting NOW...I get frustrated.

KentuckyNurseKim · May 5, 2013

Best: days when I get to be. "Real" nurse. When I get to use more than just my skills. When I have the time to do that extra little bit of teaching before discharging a worried mom. When I get to comfort a scared little old lady who is confused without being pulled in 100 different directions. Days when someone smiles and actually says, "Thanks!" Days when, even though I may loose the fight, I battle as hard as I can to keep people alive or maybe their last few moments comfortable. Days when everyone is on the same page and the team is tight. Days when something little pops in my head and I mention that off-the-wall thought to the doc and (what???) I'M RIGHT!!!

Worst: entitled patients. Rude patients. "Emergent" chest pains that are really nothing more than "I'm out of pain meds." Moms that don't own a thermometer or Tylenol/Motrin but have an I phone. People that do not understand triage systems. Calling EMS for a sprained ankle the day before. EMS that act like they don't know how to put a monitor on a patient when they know you're crazy swamped. Doctors that get mad at you because your patient has not voided but has been npo, had no ivf's, and you've been busy with 2 vents, a CP, a baby r/o sepsis, and a psych pt. Manipulative "psych" pts that are just seekers who want meds, but only specific meds, not what the MD orders, and get REALLY angry when they get a 72 HR hold because they were talking about being "suicidal." People that refuse to understand what 2 visitors and no visitors under age 14 means.

Yeah. That's about it. Maybe. For tonight, at least. :)

Y'all have a good'un. It's past my bedtime and I pull another 12 tomorrow. :)