Experiences Working in the ER

Published Jul 8, 2009

446 Posts

Specializes in ER OR LTC Code Blue Trauma Dog.

Remaining focused and having the ability to prioritize, re prioritize, assess and constantly reassess the situation is key when working in the ER. :)

Remember this phrase...

"Take your own pulse, before taking your patient's pulse." before rushing in to help in any situation.

Can't even begin to tell you the number of times this little phrase has helped me over a 10 year period dealing with just about every situation imaginable. You DO see a LOT of things over that period of time... Trust me.

(For example, let's do the med math...:) There are 8 hours in an ER shift, 7 days in an ER week, 30 days in an ER month and 365 days in an ER year. Now multiply that factor by 10 to get the idea of the number of situations I have been dealing with here.)

The ER is sometimes like working in a war zone and there are times you simply run out of adrenaline and yet you have to keep on going... I recall instances when I was going from one code blue right to another. (IE.. OK I have done CPR on patient "A" for 30 minutes and he's pronounced dead at 1430 hrs. Ok .now let's move on to the next code in progress at 1431 hrs. and do CPR for another 30 minutes scenerio... My poor aching back ..

I am going to come clean here and tell you I no longer work in health care anymore. I am actually an Executive Director for a national company now. However, there are times I still have dreams of working in the ER from 1989 - 1999. I think it's PTSD. I just deal with it. I enjoyed my work but there is no way around the idea that you never think about your patients ever again. When you do this kind of work, you become part of a fraternity for the rest of your life whether you like to or not. I still have vivid memories of patients. In fact, I can even remember some of the patient's names - even to this day... :)

I have saved many lives and yet I have also watched many of them die before my eyes while holding their hand. It's an exercise in human reality very few people get to experience or even realize. I now work in the field of business, and yet I feel the people I am working with everyday are completely clueless and completely out of touch with such human realities occurring in the world. I am thinking only Nurses could possibly understand. Anyone else feel like this in similar situations?

You do feel empathy for all your patients and you quickly realize what you are doing to help them, actually becomes part of who you are... Anyone else feel this way?

Now that you understand the person I am, I hope you already are or become this person someday.

I feel I have offered a lot of thought for discussion. Please share your own life related experiences associated with working in an ER and how it has affected your own life.

Welcome to our fraternity.

My Best - Charles