ER Nursing

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What is it like to be an ER nurse? How does it affect you mentally, emotionally and physically? I am considering a career change and need information and advice.

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

There's a whole specialty discussion area for ER nurses--check it out! :D

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

I have been a nurse for 31 years and the majority of my career was spent in a large county hospital ED with over 400 patient visits per day. The city I lived in had a lot of gun violence so we saw a lot of trauma. We also saw all types of interesting diseases that you would not otherwise see. Most of our patients were poor and many were immigrants. Most did not get health care until they were really sick so you saw a lot of illnesses that were in their final stages. It was the most wonderful learning experience that I have ever had and I would not trade my time in the ED for anything. It was fun and I learned something new every day. If you get a chance to do it, do it and go to the largest emergency department that you can find.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I love the comraderie.

The chance to see and learn an amazing amount of different things

I love being in a department where the nurse has a huge amount of autonomy

I love being able to make someone who is scared out of their minds feel safe and cared for

The chance to work side/side with many different types of doctors (neuro, ortho, plastics, surgeons) as they take care of our ER patients

The teamwork

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