New PCT for a month and first night in ER

[Rebel83]

I started working as a PCT about a month ago because I thought it would be good experience before I start Nursing school in January and I think I've learned so much. I actually really enjoy my job and working with the patients. I've had no medical experience before this job and I am trying my best to catch on and be there for the nurses and anticipate what they may need before they ask for it. It's hard to get to know a lot of the nurses I work with because more than half don't really talk to me and just ignore me. However, there are a few that are really nice and actually enjoy teaching me new stuff so I try to gravitate towards them. I've been getting positive feedback from my manager so I must be doing something right.

However... That all changed last night. I got to work and was told I would be working in the ER for the first time. I had the biggest smile on my face, I've been waiting to work there. After school I hope to get into trauma and eventually Life Flight or Air Ambulance. When I got there my heart was beating out of my chest. I walked through the ER doors and it was like walking into a brand new world. I loved it! That all changed in the span of four hours. I honestly never felt so horrible about myself. It's like I couldn't do anything right. I was told to do something by someone only to find out it wasn't want someone else wanted. I was told to take paper work to Fast Track only to get there and look like a fool because I wasn't told to also bring the patient. I even walked in on the ER nurse laughing about me because I called someone and mispronounced their last night wrong. I was told to transport a patient to another part of the hospital and when I asked the Nurse how to get there she would just roll her eyes and tell me never mind. I tried to explain that I was new to this area and I don't know my way around and rather then get lost with the patient I would like to know where I was going. I feel like I was just thrown in with no information and couldn't help but fail. Four hours later I was told to go sit in a patients room because we had slowed down. I felt so bad about what a horrible job I did that it has almost turned me off from wanting to work in the ER again.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this before?

[Lilredhen1]

I've not experience that specifically, but many other less than pleasant things thru life.

Having thick skin is an advantage, especially in the ER.

[Stephalump]

I'm so sorry. What a stressful first day - and I'm sure even worse since you'd really been looking forward to going there. ER is SO different than the other areas of the hospital. It's more chaotic and less organized - at least from an outisders perspective and has a different flow. You couldn't really be expected to know how the heck any of it works without training. I'm surprised you were even floated there without any prep.

Our nursing program isn't even allowed to give meds in the ER anymore because someone made an error. It wasn't his fault - the nurse just handed him an aspirin and told him to go give it to one of the pts. Well the guy went into the wrong room, had none of the safety checks we're so used to on the floor, and gave it to someone who had a hemorrhagic stroke. Talk about a bad day. But it wasn't that he was incapable...just in a totally different environment.

Anyway, keep your chin up. Next time you'll know better, so you'll do better. And definitely go back next time you have the chance! No matter where you are or who you are, you're going to have humbling days where you feel like an idiot. If you run from them, you'll have to run from everything eventually :)

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

That is unacceptable. However, I have noticed different shifts have a different breed. Some people are mean and nasty and others are nice. As for the mispronouncing names, I am horrible at it! My front desk clerk and I have laughs with my pronunciation since I get carbon copies and it can be hard to read.

Don't write off the ER but if someone is ******** at you, tell them you're new here. Give it a month before you make a decision. I honestly will not work with the morning shift more than a few hours if I can help it simply because they can be mean and nasty. However, the nights used to be like that.

[funtimes]

You had one semi bad shift, and from the sounds of it didn't do anything particularly bad, just little stuff that any one new to that unit would do. We had one really snotty know it all ER nurse at a hospital I worked at that would bring up admits and totally ignore the tech, to the point I would ask her a question, she would look me directly in the eye, and totally ignore me. If it was a new tech she would make some nasty comments ABOUT them in front of them, without ever actually talking TO them.

One time she brought a patient up and we were going to move them to a new bariatric bed we just got. She was trying to figure out the controls and side rails on the bed and having zero success. She finally snapped and said how does this damn thing work! I looked her straight in the eye with a smile on my face, and didn't say anything for a little bit. I finally shrugged and said your guess is as good as mine, and then proceeded to do everything she had been trying to do, making sure I emphasized how easy it was.

It finally occurred to me she was probably trying to mask her own insecurity by the way she acted all the time.

Like someone else said, it often varies depending on the shift or the individual nurses working that day how things go. Some units or shifts just have a feral culture, and you go back another time and have a totally different experience. I transport to many different EDs as an EMT, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why the staff are consistently rude and snotty in some, and really nice and helpful in others, regardless of how busy or slow they are at the moment.

[studentnursemon86]

Don't judge the ER on one bad experience. I've been working in an ER as a tech for over a year now and I had to go through a month of orientation. Once I was off orientation I was still learning new things. Is it possible to ask your supervisor for more training there in case they float you there again?

It really is not the place to be if you don't know how they operate. It's not your fault you weren't oriented properly.

[cauru]

I (as a floor tech) also got floated to the ED never having been oriented there...I was probably just as confused as you, but thankfully everyone was really nice. Now I actually love working there. Don't let your first experience deter you!

[Covaryx]

I'm a Float Pool tech. My first night was exactly like that. But do not feel bad, you were given no training or orientation for that. The 2nd time will be easier. And you'll be a pro the 3rd time.