Need help

[hearttaylor83]

 Hello, 

I have been a nurse for 15 years. I have experience from psych, med surg and quite a bit of ICU. I work currently in the burn/trauma ICU in Detroit. I have been there 3 years and some change. I just had to ask for a raise to be where I should be with experience, and I got it. I have a lot of close colleagues, would even call some friends. The hospital itself is a joke. Very under staffed, never enough supplies, my manager is terrible. A lot of things aren't done per policy or even safely. I drive 1 hour and 10 minutes one way. I do like burns and trauma. We get our fair share of them at times, other times patients are step down .. and they stay weeks or months. There isn't much room for growth there. A lot of favoritisms.
 I got an opportunity in ER, I do not have experience in ER but it has always interested me. The hospital has much better reviews/ awards even. It is 20 minutes from my house. Pay is the same. Unsure of the benefit package yet. 
why am I so scared to leave my current job ? Should I move to something new ? I feel like it's a good opportunity but I feel torn. 
any advice would be great 😊 

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I think it's natural to be scared of that move, especially if you're "comfortable" in your current role - meaning your nursing ability and not necessarily the environment.

One thing to consider - ED nursing isn't like any other nursing job on the planet.  It's generally fast paced and requires global thinking and very strong prioritization skills.  There simply isn't time or resources to focus on the minutiae that you are likely excellent at dealing with as an ICU nurse.  The name of the game in the ED is - stabilize and move the meat.

My sample size is small, but in our ED (fairly busy, but far from the busiest in the area) we've had a handful of floor nurses switch to the ED.  The only ones who have been successful have been ICU nurses.  The medsurg nurses generally flake out within a few weeks, unable to deal with the chaos.  I'll never forget the medsurg nurse trying to orient in the ED who threw an absolute temper tantrum at the nurses station because someone was sitting at her computer... dude this is the ED, no one has their own computer.. 

[hearttaylor83]

@FiremedicMike

thank you so much for the good advice !!