Is ER nursing for me - new nurse, 50

[rabiamirou, BSN]

I am a first year med-surg nurse who wants to try something else eventually. I am planning to shadow in the ED and in L&D this year. I am not enamored with med-surg but I do see how it is developing my skills at assessment and time management. Also learning to communicate with doctors. I would rather do that first in a med surg unit than try to learn all of it in the ed.

I am interested in ED because of the range of skills that you can learn and because of the interaction with the other members of the team. I floated to the ER as a CNA in a critical access hospital while I was in nursing school. I liked the range of ages of patients and helping the docs with stitches, getting new critical patients set up with cardiac monitoring, doing the assessment on trauma patients, & listening to nurses precepting new hires, all of it rang bells in me that I liked.

I have a question for ED nurses - I am a first year nurse at age 50. Do any of you have experience with new nurses who are older. I worry I wont be fast enough. I am not trying to bag on being older. I am looking for examples of other people my age and level of experience who have done well in the ED.

I am a bit worried I will be prejudiced against by managers because of my age and lack of experience as a nurse.

Thanks

[Kuriin, BSN, RN]

No difference between an older versus a younger nurse. You will encounter some that are fast and some that are slow. Be optimistic, eager to learn, and ready to get hands dirty.

[amzyRN]

I've worked with older new ER nurses. One was 49 so almost 50 and she was great, she learned faster than I did and I'm younger. So age doesn't really matter that much, what matters is the ability to endure the load that is common in most EDs. I've met 60 and even 70 year old nurses and one thing they had in common is physical fitness and mental fitness and flexibility. In my experience, the ED is more labor intensive and more high stress than the floor. I've never worked in the ICU before but from what other ICU nurses have told me, it is less physical than ED, but equally stressful and mentally challenging.

In the beginning, everyone is slow because your skills are developing. Speed will come with practice. What is important is that you don't try to rush so much that you jeopardize safety which is always your priority. It will take time before you can perform at the same level as some of the seasoned ED nurses so try to be patient with yourself.

[GM2RN]

I was 49 when I graduated nursing school, tried ICU right out of school, twice, but didn't like it, took a float position at a different hospital a few months later and was 50 or 51 when the opportunity came to take a full-time ER position. I spent the next several years there and would never have given it up if not for my son needing full-time care at home last year. Now I am learning a different area of nursing but I will always consider myself an ER nurse at heart.

[Heylove, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

What I experienced as a 42 year old new graduate nurse that started in psych, is that most people did not realize I was a new nurse. This was a challenge as I had to ask for help with things that are pretty common knowledge for experienced nurses.

Now I am considering a change to ED. I just applied within my organization, and although I'm excited, I anticipate having to learn a whole lot new information in a short amount of time.