Does ED have a bad rep for mean nurses?

Specialties Emergency

Published

I was perusing the posts and this question came to mind. I have worked several different units but my short stay in the ER showed me some of the meanest, bitter, most unhappy RN's I've ever met. Most were nice to me, but a handful of the veterans were downright unwelcoming and nasty to me and more importantly, to their pts, too :(

One of the docs saw what was going on and offered advice--he told me it was b/c I was attractive. He suggested I try baking treats, being extra helpful, etc. I did all that and it seemed to make things worse. It seemed the nicer I was, the more they disliked me. Anyway--I could go on and on. It was one of the hardest experiences of my life b/c I so wanted to be accepted there, never had a problem ANYWHERE else. It was months ago but still messes with my mind.

I found the ER to be my fav work. Loved the pt population, will go back to this or another ER one day. The tele unit I transferred to seems SOOOOO much busier for me than ER. I get out late almost always, juggling so much more than any other unit I've worked on. Most of the RN's there are registry or agency, I am staff. I go home drained both emotionally and physically almost always. Just an observation. I'm not saying the floor works harder than the ED. It's just different, different degrees of busy-ness and workloads, and I wish we would all recognize this. Nursing is tough enough without us fighting each other, for any reason, period. The really great RN's, the ones who are secure with themselves and truly love what they do, are who continue to inspire me. The old dinosaur RN's, like the ED ones I referred to earlier, shouldn't be able to call the shots anymore. (They need to change jobs :)

Whew! I feel better! Just my 2 cents.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Peds, ICU.
hi trauma RN,

You come across as a caring person, and I'm sure you're a very good nurse.

You're young and starting out in one of the most volatile RN positions there are. I'm not sure you've worked other units before but just let me say this:

patients ask the same questions on almost all floors in teaching hospitals (except of course, the hallway questions--altho I've seen an occasional pt wind up in the hallway on other floors :(

My point is, I don't think it's fair that ER nurses use the excuse "We see so much crap everyday--it gets to us, and it we become not so nice sometimes."

That's BS. Nurses in general see terrible things EVERYDAY. You deal with it, or change professions or transfer if it gets to you. I know veteran ER/ICU RN's who would never use that excuse for being rude or mean to anyone!!

BTW--the younger ER nurses were very accepting of me, helpful, and seemed happy to have me there. They weren't the problem.

Good luck to you and keep up the good work you do!

noelle

Thanks. I'm not trying to use the excuse "we see so much crap everyday". I am nice to all my patients, some people are like "why are you so nice???" haha but you know I treat everyone the same. I never want to get out of ER nursing...it just seems like that is everyone's excuse you know "we see the same thing everyday" and it's the truth but I guess it's not a great excuse.

I have found in my years of experience the meanest nurses were in the medical wards, sorry to any medical nurses out there, I realise the job is hard work.

Specializes in ICU,ER.
My point is, I don't think it's fair that ER nurses use the excuse "We see so much crap everyday--it gets to us, and it we become not so nice sometimes."

That's BS. Nurses in general see terrible things EVERYDAY. You deal with it, or change professions or transfer if it gets to you. I know veteran ER/ICU RN's who would never use that excuse for being rude or mean to anyone!!

I'm afraid I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree.

I have worked on Med-Surg, CCU, and neuro-ICU. Nothing will wear your patience down like people that don't need to be in the ER. They are usually the ones that give you the most crap.

If a patient gets to the floor, they usually have to have met certain criteria to be admitted. In other words, they NEED medical care. I can take care of PIA patients and deal with their families a whole lot more if I know they are sick and truly need to be in the hospital.

Let me add.... there is no excuse for being rude to patients. I am not condoning that at all. I am just giving a reason why the ER burns nurses out more.

Specializes in ER, telemetry.

I used to work on the floor, and there was this one iv nurse that was always so mean and nasty when you had to call her. After I tranferred down to the ER, I found out that she was going to transfer too and I thought "oh great!!!". But in the ER, she is the nicest, most helpful nurse. She will bend over backward to help a coworker out. And what a great resource to have in the ER!

My point is, there are mean nurses everywhere, most of the time, I have found that the meanness is situational or personal, not necessarily where the nurse is working. I don't think working with trauma or critical pts makes a nurse mean. We do see the worst of the worst, we see the pts before they are cleaned up, tubed, medicated and sutured, and deal with their hysterical families and friends. But, most ER nurses come to the ER because they want the drama and excitement of the "horrible" things that come in. Most of the nurses that I work with in the ER are able to take care of those horrible traumas and then talk about it, sometimes even joke about it, and go to the next pt without blinking an eye. The nurses that can't do that usually don't last in the ER.

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