New Role Consideration

I worked ERs both big and small during my career, but things were different then.  We had people who were delayed, but it is so common and drawn out now (for patients) that they gave it a title...ER Boarding.  It is a dangerous practice for both patients and nurses.  Nobody "owns" the patient.  My husband was boarded  while waiting for an inpatient bed, twice during his terminal cancer journey, and it was a nightmarish experience.  The first time we didn't know who his nurse was for many hours, until I made a scene at the nurses station.  He got no attention at all...his IV ran dry and the battery on his monitor died...and nobody noticed.  I gave him all the nursing care he got that 11 hours.  The next visit he was boarded for 28 hours.  He had an inexperienced overnight nurse...and during that time his liver tube was dislodged and the skin broke down on his fragile coccyx...leaving him with the start of a bedsore that grew to the size of a baseball during is last days.  Also the care that I had been giving him at home was not given in that ER...again, I did most of his care.  That nurse should not have been assigned to a complex patient like my husband.  As a retired nurse with some experience in both BEING an ER nurse and observing how ER nurses are forced to function now....I would say YES, you are crazy to pursue that.  

I echo what Kathy said. Nursing is not what it used to be. I am 70 yrs old. I had been away from bedside nursing since 2012 and actually retired since 2022. My experience is ICU.  I made the silly decision to go back to nursing and thought I'd try something new like an observation unit with overflow. I worked 2 dayshifts and knew I couldn't do it. It's just not doable for me. I had an hour each way commute, I've been taking care of my mother who is also an hour away, and also in school online for my Masters in Forensic Science (just for for fun). 

The point is, I did not think it through. I loved nursing when I started in 1979, paper charting and all. I will miss it.  

I graduated nursing school when I was 59 in 2014 so not that long ago and culture in hospitals was pretty much the same as now. It was a second career after being downsized from a legal secretary/paralegal/office manager.

My first job was in an inner city trauma hospital. I was on the observation/tele unit which was almost as bad as the ER there but patients had an assigned nurse (7 per nurse...short staffing and seriously, HUGE turnover).

I started my 12 hour shift at 7p and didn't sit down, bathroom or otherwise, until 2a, every shift. It was horrible but I actually stuck it out for 4 years.

Then I moved to home health. What a joy to deal with one patient at a time. I stayed there for 4 years before having to retire due to back injury/surgery. 

If  I had to it do over, knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't have taken that obs job but I will tell you I learned a LOT there that helped me in home health. 

There is Epic now.  I don't know what they have in the ER you would work in.  I  think it might be difficult to land a job in the ER without recent hospital experience.  I don't think it's a matter of age, but of knowing the system and being able to learn quickly.  I was asked at 40 if I would be able to "keep up." in an ER and at another job, "what would I do about child care on an odd shift"  I retired at 73, but as an NP, the last 8 years as a travel nurse, so I kept up fine. It might be a good choice to start back on a medsurg floor to learn the system.  Just my opinion, others here might be better qualified to answer. 

im 59 now too, doing ER for the the past 32 years, im still in it and for the most part, I like it; don't know how long you've been out of the bedside but nursing has changed so much.....nursing care is still the same; but for the most part charting is now paperless.

There is protocols now for sepsis, MI, strokes and steps to be met.  Before, we just knew what we had to do without those protocols, now its just written down step by step.  So care is still the same.

Most hospitals have their own training programs for their specialty units at least where I work; they usually take in house people first and preceptorship is about 6 months.  ER is not easy, theres good days and bad days.  The only way to find out if you're going to find out is to just go and do it. Then you can say, I tried it.  You don't want to always wonder down the road and wish should have tried it.  Good Luck for whatever you decide to do.