BaileyBSNRN

Hi there, Since i have started working in the nursing world i often finding myself thinking about all the changes and advances in medicine i will experience over the course of my career. It is exciting to think of all the possibilities- new surgical tools, a cure for the common cold, a cure for cancer, new technology, life saving drugs, etc. I also work in an ED where we go through an incredible amount of waste from packaging, IV tubing, wasted supplies etc so i often find myself wondering how to incorporate environmentally friendly supplies/ practices into healthcare. So my question is- what are some of the exiting changes you have seen over the course of your careers? Does anyone have any cool stores of how things have drastically changed since they started their nursing journey? And is anyone else bothered by how much waste is produced by the healthcare field !? Thanks!!

I was hired into a new grad ED residency program before I graduated and I was not interviewed. It was in the ED I did my senior capstone in and on my last day the ED director brought me into her office with the nursing manager, told me about the residency program, and told me they wanted to hire me. I was asked to formally apply and was told the job was contingent on passing the nclex. The residency program is 5 months long and has been going good so far.

Hi everyone, I am a new grad RN working in a community hospital's ED. I was involved in a very troubling code a few nights ago that involved a self inflicted GSW to the head by a police officer. During the code I performed cpr for close to 45 minutes while police in the room were watching and crying and several of the staff members were upset because they knew him personally. This was the first true trauma I have experienced and had trouble bouncing back from this afterwards. I was not overly emotional but I had trouble concentrating and felt very run down for the remainder of the shift. I kept thinking about the officer taking his own life... his family.... the whole situation with people crying, etc. I felt lucky that my preceptor and I were in the psych section of the ED that night and had already passed all of our meds and taken all of the vitals so I had some time to reflect. I had the following day off (thank god) and I felt very emotional and "out of it" for pretty much the whole day. I am hoping the hospital holds some sort of debriefing considering the situation and the fact that this was an officer well known to the department but I don't think it will happen. My question is, has anyone else experienced this after a code? And does it get easier to deal with? I do not want to lose my emotions but I also don't want them to affect me to the point that I can't concentrate at work... dangerous! I am hoping that this only happened to me because I have only been involved in a handful of codes. My fiancé is also in the medical field, (a PT) and I wish I could talk to him about some of the things I see at work (no hippa violations of course) but I know unloading this on to him will not make me feel better. Any advice on how you deal with traumatic codes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks