Jahna

Hello All, I will be moving from GA to the Leonardtown, MD area in the summer and I need some advice. Would it be better to research travel assignments first or is there a facility that stands out above the rest? I have 6+ years in ER nursing and I would like to stay in the ER, but I'd keep the option of Cath Lab or ICU open as well. Where do I even start? Thanks for any advice. K..

I am grateful that I will be able to leave my baby with a very trusted friend and caregiver, so I have no worries about his safety, etc. while I am at work. I AM a little worried though about my return to work itself. I work in the ER and (pre-baby) I was one of the strong ones. I have given zero thought to work during my leave. I haven't picked up one trade magazine, haven't given any thought to lab values or protocols, yadda yada. I go back to work in 2 days and I am little worried that it may not all come flooding back to me. I have a few questions: -is it like riding a bike, i.e. - will it all come back? -for the moms/dads, what were your fears about returning to work?

I would only add ketamine to this list. In Peds, this drug is one of the go meds for moderate sedation procedures.

Same here. The situation at the ER that I work in sounds eerily similar to the original posters' note. We work hard, and the vast majority do actually care and have great bedside manner, even with the most minor of complaints. Yet, it is quite clear that @billyboblewis has no earthly idea of the actual state of things or he would not have made such an egregious remark, I hope. He had a bad experience, it seems, and has chosen to paint all ER nurses with the same brush. Typical and sad. Also, I have never seen an ER that had a "light" workload. That has to be the funniest thing I've read today.

Lilarox, I also feel like I have to defend myself. I, too, am an ASN grad and I am currently about halfway through to my BSN. I took this route because the thought of graduating with a mountain of debt produced way too much anxiety for me. As an aside though, I've met quite a few LPNs who are far better prepared, knowledgeable and competent than their BSN counterparts. So while the BSN sounds like some kind of holy grail, I resent when people try to diminish someone else's accomplishment or reasons for taking the path that they did. To the OP, while in Nursing school, I took a job as a float pool Unit Clerk and I worked on literally every floor and unit of the hospital. It was then that I decided that I wanted to be either an ER or ICU nurse. The higher patient acuity, level of critical thinking required, and the overall camaraderie of the nurses on these floors was (and still is) very attractive to me. I ended up working in the ER after graduation and will continue to do so once I complete my BSN.

Thanks for your kind words. I suppose I just couldn't shake the feeling that we're both somehow expected to fail.

I've been asked to orient a nurse to our department who has been a nurse longer than I have and has even been a charge nurse at one point. She has re-located to our area and so now, here we are. Thing is, a few people have worked with her at her old facility and it seems she has an awful reputation - not professionally, but her personality. I've worked with her twice so far and other than a very flat affect, I'm yet to find the 'w'itch that people have made her out to be. I know that we all have a mean streak, and I will admit that I tend to take the Polyanna approach (I try my best to give people the benefit of the doubt and let them show their colors versus pre-judging and hanging them without cause) but I can't shake the feeling that we're both being set up somehow. Other co-workers keep asking me "so whadya think of her"...and because I don't have any juicy bits to offer, they seem genuinely disappointed! It all seems so childish to me. Why hire her if they think she will be disruptive? Or is it that they think I am so naive that this is truly a test for me? I don't get it.

Most of this stuff will only come through time and experience. The books don't teach you everything. Anyway, I think you should always have a little "fear". It's the cocky ones, who think they know everything, and thereby forget all that's at stake, who run the most risk of making a critical error. Don't be afraid, be mindful. I think you'll be okay.