One Question?

mother/babyRN, RN · Mar 3, 2002

Hi there,

You can probably tell I am an OB nurse, but I used to work PCU and then and now we get floated to the illustrious ER. Ours is a moderate sized community hospital so definitely NOT 21 rooms, however, we have our share of crap (no constipation pun intended, by the way :) ). First float down there some years ago I was interviewing some pleasant old lady and asked her what had brought her to the er. She looked at me, smiled, and said "Fireballs of the Universe." I thought I had misheard her but she said the same thing not two seconds later at my next query...

I went to the desk and confronted the charge nurse as I figured they were probably playing some prank with me ( I would be the good natured one they would do that to) and she checked the chart..It was fibroids of the uterus...That same evening I had another woman tell me she was on Latex and rabbit pills (lasix and verapamil..) THEN they send me to triage and a drunk came in, starting to be combative. I said "Hey, You listen to me!" Put the damn bandage on that cut and sit the hell down!" (Still don't know WHERE that came from). He looked up at me through his hazy eyes with blood dropping down his face and answered, "My, you are a good looking woman," and passed out...(entire staff is cracking up at this point.)....Those ER nurses drive me nuts when they are bugging me to do a FH "right now", since we are also, in effect, an er of sorts, and I don't profess to understand how the same people who save lives amazingly all the time can not or will not get comfortable with maternity patients...Still, I love them and there are no better nurses out there...As much as they bug me at times, they are a great group and I HOPE if I come to the ER it is their nurses who get to me first ( the good ones, of course..) I applaud all you do...Come help ME in delivery sometime! :)

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2002

Howdy yall

From deep in the heart of texas

shuckins if I know why you work Er. I think all of us Er nurses are a little nuts. We gotta be. We go from holding somebdies hand while they are getting sutured to wading in blood,puke,excrement,etc to trying to calm down a hyperventilating anxious patient who thinks they are dying. Its always the same while at the same time its always different. Dont ask me to explain that one. I never even applied for the Er where Im at, I just ended uo there, and have been there 14 to 15 years now in charge. You get a lot of verbal abuse and the occasional physical abuse, you get the patient who apologizes for passing flatus while you are inserting a foley or an IV and your stuck in there. Meal break and potty breaks are infrequent at best. You go from start to finish. Personally I wouldnt have it anyother way

Keep it in the short grass,yall

Teeituptom