Picking your Battles as an ER Nurse

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey all,

New grad here who works in the ER. I am trying to inform another new grad about if she wants to work in the ER that she needs to learn to not pick fights with everyone. She is very sharp and detailed in her nursing practice, but has a history of challenging a lot of people while working.

I am trying to describe examples and reasons why picking your battles/fights with other staff and doctors is important in the emergency environment. Anyone have extra stories or reasoning?

Thank You!

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I could say a couple of different things (in fact, I'm sure I will ? - - might as well start with the most important):

Worry about yourself. And I don't mean that in a "you're being nosey" sort of way. I mean it as "for your own good worry about yourself right now." You have a lot to learn and the less you know about what kerfluffles she is engaging in, the better. You may even have to separate yourself a little. Make it your practice to avoid others' drama at all costs (okay, unless reasonable ethics would demand that you involve yourself - - but most of the time ethics do not compel you to involve yourself in others' daily drama).

Actually, I will stop at that.

Congrats on being a new ED nurse. Work hard to learn and be the best you can be. ??

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21 minutes ago, JKL33 said:

I could say a couple of different things (in fact, I'm sure I will ? - - might as well start with the most important):

Worry about yourself. And I don't mean that in a "you're being nosey" sort of way. I mean it as "for your own good worry about yourself right now." You have a lot to learn and the less you know about what kerfluffles she is engaging in, the better. You may even have to separate yourself a little. Make it your practice to avoid others' drama at all costs (okay, unless reasonable ethics would demand that you involve yourself - - but most of the time ethics do not compel you to involve yourself in others' daily drama).

Actually, I will stop at that.

Congrats on being a new ED nurse. Work hard to learn and be the best you can be. ??

Thank you for your reply and your well wishing in my new journey! You presented great guidelines that I find to work quite effectively as well.

I am hoping to get more examples to pass along where nurses have recognized it is important to not challenge a fellow nurse or provider (any in the ER especially)? While working I just mind my own business and don't take things personally, however I am trying to take perspective of others who experience the opposite and give the other new grad examples of situations where it is important to just let something go.

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I'm ASSUMING ? she challenges co workers about their nursing care? Not doing it the way she thinks is right?

JKL33 is right take, care of yourself. This new grad is "not your monkey not your circuse".

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29 minutes ago, brownbook said:

I'm ASSUMING ? she challenges co workers about their nursing care? Not doing it the way she thinks is right?

JKL33 is right take, care of yourself. This new grad is "not your monkey not your circuse".

Ohhhh

I think I was not very clear when first made my post. I do not work with this other new grad. For more of a back story, this is a friend back from nursing school who does not have any emergency experience, but wants to get a position in the emergency department. She is incredibly smart and great at what she does, but I cautioned her if she wanted to go into the ER that a big part is learning how to pick her battles because she had a very dramatic environment in her senior clinical rotation. She asked for examples of what I meant and I gave her some from my experience, but I wondered if anyone on here had any additional examples or words of wisdom that I may be able to pass on.

With that being said, I did integrate everything said by y'all prior to this post in a conversation with her, thank you!

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It would help me understand if you gave an example of what experiences you're sharing with her. Or what her dramatic environment in her senior clinical rotation was.

A new grad in ER picking her battles is strong language. Keep your mouth shut, (except to ask questions), and learn all you can is what a new grad should be doing in any job.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Actually, you should learn to pick your battles in any area of nursing. ER is not the only place that has differences of opinion that occasionally need to be overlooked for whatever reason

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On 9/29/2019 at 12:17 PM, bansn said:

Hey all,

New grad here who works in the ER. I am trying to inform another new grad about if she wants to work in the ER that she needs to learn to not pick fights with everyone. She is very sharp and detailed in her nursing practice, but has a history of challenging a lot of people while working.

I am trying to describe examples and reasons why picking your battles/fights with other staff and doctors is important in the emergency environment. Anyone have extra stories or reasoning?

Thank You!

Take out the word "ER", and substitute with, well, with anything. Med surg, LTC, ICU, a bakery........

She is new. If she is a PITA, people won't want to work with her.

As far as being sharp and detailed in her nursing practice- She is a a new grad. She doesn't really have a nursing practice developed at this point. What she has is an opportunity to learn, and to develop. Assuming she doesn't go around picking fights.

Picking battles in the ER? We do a lot of stuff that is not evidence based, and is pointless. We give IM toradol, which has been shown to work the same as PO meds (not counting kidney stones), we start IV's to give steroids that would absorb equally quickly PO, we give ABX and radiation exposure as customer service. If I argued eveything we do that is goofy, I would not get along well. But, when I do pick something important, I am listened to.

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