Help! Need Your Thoughts and Maybe Pep Talks!

[MeganAK]

I know that the same theme has probably been posted many times on this forum, but I am posting again because I feel like I need your thoughts and we are all different! I have been an RN for four years, was an ER Tech for three, and an EMT for five. As an ER tech, I loved the ER- had a great team to work with, and just generally loved my job. As a nurse, I spent my first three years in an extremely rural hospital in an Alaska Native community. After moving back to 'the real world' outside of Alaska, I got my first job as an RN in the Emergency Room. I hate it, and I am absolutely torn up about it. I love my patients, most of the time. I love being a nurse, most of the time. But I feel burned out after 6 months. I feel that I need to be superhuman to complete all the tasks required of me. I feel grumpy about the lack of teamwork and backstabbing. Most of the days that I am working, I have no tech to help, I have too many high acuity patients for what I feel I can handle, and I come home tired and empty. What have any of you found in the ER- have you had to learn to love it- or did you just love it? Do you feel like the stress level is so unhealthy that you are shortening your life every time you walk in the door? Do you worry that one of your patients could die or be injured because you have way too much on your plate and no help? Thoughts, please! I wanted to make myself hang in for a year, just to see if it would get better, but I am running on empty and I am only half-way there!

[EmrgncyRN05]

MeganAK-

Calm down. I realize the stress of the Emergency Room can be a bit overwhelming, I have been an ER nurse now for more than 15 years. When I first started out, I remember feeling just as you do.

You will learn a lot, and soon, you will feel much more comfortable. On the topic of not having help from your other employee's, talk to your surpervisor and see if they can be talked to. A smooth-running Emergency Room, is a team effort.

Don't stress yourself out. If it's too much to handle, and you feel burnt out to the point where it's affecting your patients, you may want to consider switching to another department or a better emergency room with a much better team.

Good Luck and Keep Calm!

[RoyalNurse]

I've been in the ER for a few months now, and it's a big transition for me as far as teamwork goes. I used to work on a very cohesive unit where everyone would help with a new admit, intubation, code, or any sticky situation, we only had 10 patients. Now it's not that people don't want to help (except for a few), but they're too busy taking care of everyone else who's vomiting, screaming in pain, etc... But we almost always have a tech, and the charge nurse and managment will pitch in and help if they need too. Our PCD will actually come down, change into OR scrubs, and take people to xray or up to the floor.

I feel most of the time like I have too much on my plate, but I chalk it up to being new in the ER, but I rarely feel unsafe, like someone's going to die because of my assignment. If I felt like that once, I would be having long talks with management, and if nothing was done, I'd be looking at a new job. Are there any other hospitals in your area?