AJK2004

I will be going on 10 years in the ER in March. I have done the trauma center thing and have been in a nice suburban ER for the past 5 years. Here's my question: Is there another specialty that ER nurses fit into well? Have you left the ER not because you hated it/burned out, but because you wanted to try something else? I love the ER but feel like I don't want to do the same thing forever. I did the CEN/trauma cert thing a long time ago, so that's done. Got the BSN. Thinking about a Masters, but not sure what to focus on. All I know is management is not for me. I feel like once you stay put in the ER, you get used to a certain type of flow and thinking that's not present at most places. Is anyone out there dealing with this too? Thank you.

I am an ER nurse, so I apologize if I didn't get all of your abbreviations. You OB RN's have a language that's all your own My sister had post partum cardiomyopathy because I think they pumped too much fluid into her. I think she was retaining prior to labor, facial swelling, she had protein in her urine, BP wasn't too bad, but higher than normal. Legs were very swollen. Was never diagnosed preeclamptic. Before she got her epidural, they gave her a liter of fluid W/O. That epidural wore off, completely stopped working, so they had to re-insert (does this happen often?) they gave another liter W/O before the next epidural. Several hours later, she never dilated and had to have a c-section, so guess what? They gave more fluid. A few days later she got home, baby was fine, I went over to her house and she looked like a space cadet. I checked her pulse, it was 30! She said she felt like she was going to die:uhoh21: When we got to the ER her bp was 180's over 100's. hr was low 30's. The thing is, she was never high in the hospital or bradycardic. So I don't think anyone missed anything. I guess my point is just because most mom's are young(she was 32) doesn't mean they can tolerate enormous amounts of fluid, I see it in the ER too! My sis got some Lasix and went to tele, but she was very "jumpy" Was she prone to having a seizure at that point? Because I don't think the tele nurse knew, and neither did I for that matter. She would fall asleep and then startle herself out of sleep. Is that called hypereflexic? Can that happen post partum? It freaked me out(I stayed overnight just in case). Should she have been on Mag? She's totally fine now, baby is almost 1, but she did have alot of palpitations, PVC's for the first 6 months PP. I don't think she will have anymore children, though. Thanks for any input!