My heart is set on the emergency field but...

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hey there! So a little background info: I start nursing school in a couple of weeks. I did emergency veterinary medicine for 3 years and absolutely loved doing it, but despite what people say doing what you love doesn't always pay the bills which is important too.

Anyways- I have my heart set to be an ED nurse, and I hope nursing school just aids my desire to do so; however I am concerned about a couple things. 1. Children coming into the ER. I have a four year old and I'm afraid that will hit too close to home. 2. People dying- I know, I know kind of silly but I'm not sure how I would handle it. Pet pts died all the time and we euthanized so many as well. As hard as it was pets can be replaced but someones child/parent/spouse cannot...

I know I have time to figure it out but do y'all have any advice on how to get over these stresses or do you think I should consider a different field all together?

I guess if I can go to the shelter and pick out a new dog, and "replace" one, then all those mothers who have children die, can just pop out a new one!

It's another "child" to replace the one they lost.

I'm sorry, but pets are irreplaceable, as are people. In the ED you see loss, and honestly, I feel more anger than sadness sometimes, because a lot of pediatric death I have seen has been from accidental drowning or suffocation because the parents were throwing a party and not paying attention. It's sad to see so many women struggling to be a mother, and having difficulty, when there are people who just pop out kids and have no value on human life.

Wow, I applaud the way you twisted my words. I clearly stated in my original thread, you cannot replace someone's child or spouse or parent.

I understand your anger towards negligent parents and this is one of the reasons I question my goals to be an ED RN, however my desire to help, out-weighs my bitterness and anger towards parents that should have been sterilized.

I refuse to believe that someone cherishes their pet on the exact same level as their child and has the mindset that replacing the dog is the same thing as just 'popping out a new kid,' and honestly the idea repulses me.

Thank you all for your responses. I'm sure it will just be something I have to experience to know if working in an ED is right for me. I will def. give it my all to accomplish this goal. And thank you for your advice about becoming a tech before hand to gain experience. Your responses have been super helpful.

To Veron...: I'm not sure what you mean by being a poor tech by having that as my mindset. However, I can assure you I was a very competent and compassionate technician. Also I am not sure how you disagree with being able to replace a pet but not person. It's simple- you can get a new dog if yours dies but if your mother dies, there's not a shelter where you can pick up another. I know each pet has a special place in our hearts but you can get a new pet to have an equally special part.

And if your child dies, you just have another. Easy peasy.

I'm with veroniicaxoxo. I wouldn't say the loss of a pet is anything comparable to losing a child or a mother or a husband etc, but my pets all mean something to me, and getting a new cat doesn't replace the loss of our family cat, Daisy, who died suddenly at a very healthy 14 years old from rat poison exposure.

Anyway, there are lots of ER nurses who don't like to deal with kids. It's not really unique, but maybe you'll turn out to have the right amount of detachment and coldness and caring and corny jokes to be able to deal with the kids. Or you can try to find work in an area where children have their own hospital so rarely present to the ER you work at.

I do have children of my own. I also have pets. I honestly don't know how you were a tech if you used this mind fill. People do not buy or adopt new pets to replace they acquire a new one because a house is just not the same without a pet around its not replacement. Also I have lost a child due to prematurity and the feeling is horrible and you can't get out of bed for days. However none the less you must get out of bed and continue with life or kill yourself those are the options you have. Grieving is grieving there are not two definitions one for pet one for people. Ive seen owners have no children and be alone no spouse no nothing and loosing that pet was loosing a child to them.

Question for you, I made a great deal of money as a tech I switched to nursing because its what i wanted to do however I was making close to 30 an hour. Were you a tech that was trained on the job or did you go to school for it? Because Ive seen single parents make a wonderful living off of it.

I do have children of my own. I also have pets. I honestly don't know how you were a tech if you used this mind fill. People do not buy or adopt new pets to replace they acquire a new one because a house is just not the same without a pet around its not replacement. Also I have lost a child due to prematurity and the feeling is horrible and you can't get out of bed for days. However none the less you must get out of bed and continue with life or kill yourself those are the options you have. Grieving is grieving there are not two definitions one for pet one for people. Ive seen owners have no children and be alone no spouse no nothing and loosing that pet was loosing a child to them.

Question for you, I made a great deal of money as a tech I switched to nursing because its what i wanted to do however I was making close to 30 an hour. Were you a tech that was trained on the job or did you go to school for it? Because Ive seen single parents make a wonderful living off of it.

Like I said, I agree to disagree. I loved working with animals and I've met several shelter workers with your mindset but few techs. Maybe the loss of so many patients I became hardened?

I did on the job training at a day practice that I worked for 3 years in Texas and 3 years at a night/weekend emergency clinic that was in the same area. I chose nursing because I loved learning so much about medicine in general. My salary for the area was high for vet techs but was def. not 30/hr. I knew techs that worked for the vet school that didn't make that, so I assume you're in an area that has a high COL?

I did it for years it has nothing to do with loosing so many, I worked emergency general, and large animals.

Like you said agree to disagree but one final question which has probably answered your own question right from the beginning "Maybe the loss of so many patients I became hardened?" Is that going to happen with people too maybe you'll be on this board in a few years telling us everything is replaceable?

I did it for years it has nothing to do with loosing so many, I worked emergency general, and large animals.

Like you said agree to disagree but one final question which has probably answered your own question right from the beginning "Maybe the loss of so many patients I became hardened?" Is that going to happen with people too maybe you'll be on this board in a few years telling us everything is replaceable?

I'm not sure how I've deeply offended you, but I'm no longer following this thread.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I think there is some degree of tolerance that one builds overtime to deal with the grind of an emergency department. You will see children......LOTS of them. Although most of the time they will be just fine. You will see death. Lots of it. The Emergency department is the entry point of everyone's emergencies and tragic ends.

Humanity is messy. People are messy. Humanity can be ugly. People can be ugly.

Humanity abuses animals.....animals don't abuse animals. Humans abuse children. Then who becomes the animal?

You learn to deal with the sadness. You learn to deal with the shear humanness of it all. Sometimes I think we are kinder to our animals for at least we end their sufferings and love them enough to let them go.......humans aren't always that kind to their loved ones.

Personally, none of my pets can be replaced. I think the greatest injustice to owing a pet is that they don't live as long as I do. A question I will ask my maker someday.

But we all have different opinions. We each have a right to our opinions.......but we need to be respectful of each other's opinions.

AN supports a lively debate....however.....

This means you are free to disagree with anyone on any type of subject matter as long as your criticism is constructive and polite.

Additionally, please refrain from name-calling. This is divisive, rude, and derails the thread.

Our first priority is to the members that have come here because of the flame-free atmosphere we provide. There is a zero-tolerance policy here against personal attacks. We will not tolerate anyone insulting other's opinion nor name calling.

Our call is to be supportive, not divisive. Because of this, discrimination, racial vilification and offensive generalizations targeting people of other races, religions and/or nationalities will not be tolerated

OP check out this thread......https://allnurses.com/emergency-nursing/lost-my-first-764793.html

ED nursing is not everyone cup of tea. YOu may think it's the best right now....but school may change your mind. Leave your options open.

I know as nurses we are passionate about what we say and believe. But, We can agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

Did not say you offended me just pointing out the irony in that statement.

Specializes in Med Surg, Home Health, Dialysis, Tele.

You just started nursing school, so you have plenty of time to figure things out. Nursing is great because it has so many areas to choose from. You may think right now that you want the ED but once you do clinicals, you figure out that just isn't your cup of tea. Death is not a fun thing for a nurse to experience,but it is part of the cycle of life. Everyone deals with it differently. By graduation time, you should be able to figure out what area of nursing you prefer. :loveya:

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