nightbrightener

I've seen a few coworkers wearing benefit scrubs and the cut is decent. personally Dickies scrub tops with the red fabric on the inner collar have the best cut and drape for me, pants i just don't care, need to be able to move fast and loose cargo style works for me. I like nice fitting clothes but the day i see a guy in "skinny jean" style scrubs i may commit violence lol. And yeah, all scrubs are glorified pajamas but if i'm not gonna shave before work i can at least have well fitted clothes lol. If you have big arms or a barrel chest some of the stretch scrubs might work well. amazon a couple, try them one and return what doesn't work

Just some thoughts, as a charge nurse i would never just change an acuity level. MAYBE once ever 2-3 months I will call out and ask why someone was made a particular ESI code if it seems low or high, sometimes we hit the wrong button or the nurse see's something that isn't conveyed in the chart. But I would never tell a triage nurse the had to change an ESI level or do it myself , it is there clinical judgement. Based on the presentation I would have said 2, but can completely understand the rational for 1. If they were talking, pink, and upright (short of GSW to the chest) I will generally make them a 2. Level 1's i am riding the chest or bagging, or holding pressure on the arterial bleed as we run the litter back with the patient. But with those vitals it would have been an EKG being done while I called the charge to find a room. For a thin, tiny febrile women those vitals are not that scary, in and of themselves. But physical exam and hx definitely weigh in.

I've gone through crocs, trainers, boots, but the best shoes I ever found were Chacos (they are better known for sandals), they last for years, have great arch support, but flexible soles, good treads and incredibly comfortable.

Male specific advice, may piss off some people.... If you have never worked in a field that is majority female, you may have to get used to a fair amount of gossip and cattiness, some more cliquish behavior than you may be used to, in my and friend's limited experience. You MUST make sure you reign in your ego, it is not about you, it is about the job and the patient. Practice your soft skills, they ARE hugely important. You can't control whether someone else is umm "tetchy", but don't take it personal and just do the job. When I see guys shoot themselves in the foot it is usually because they come off as cocky, argumentative, and as know it all **holes. Be nice, be helpful, be humble, and depending on your background it may take some getting used to. But well worth it.

Yes I like my job, yes i like the money (but want more). 9+ years as an RN, all in the ED. Tough, rewarding, fair amount of autonomy, flexible schedule, fun coworkers, sounds like a win to me. it can be emotionally draining and you need to be able to compartmentalize without shutting down emotionally, it can be a challenge. But I don't regret it and would strongly suggest it if you like working with your hands, interacting with people, can handle chaos and a fast pace, give it a shot. Having said that saying nursing is like saying cooking. It means nothing without detail, line cook at Denny's vs chef at a high end bistro, different worlds, coworkers, pay etc. Same thing with nursing, ED tends to attract one type, Hospice another, OR another, once you get a feel for what you like to do every day there is probably a nursing specialty that fits it. I do feel the market is getting more saturated in certain area's but it is always cyclical.

I skimmed through the comments an the side topics and just to give you the perspective of a guy who did trade work (arborist, mason tender, landscaper). restaurant work( line cook, server, bartender) and now 9 years in as an RN. Chill man lol. Yes there are girls who will seek out and date police officers, firemen, service men etc... the same way there are guys who will only date blonds, certain builds/measurements, no kids etc.. but most people don't care, AT ALL. If you are employed, confident, competent, (and good looking helps) you'll be fine. Honestly as a straight male working in the RN field, it is a lot like working in the restaurant industry. Most of you are young, most are single, and most are up for grabbing a drink and hanging out. without getting too blunt, it can get downright incestuous at work on some floors lol. I am off the market now but it was umm, not a challenge to meet people as a male RN when I was single To put in in perspective... yeah we had a lousy GSW trauma, had to hold the guy down, we pulled a gun off him, he took a swing at one of our nurses and was psychotic so we tubed him to get him to CT. (sound feminine to you?) Or how about... I got to talk to a guy who did his 20 in the navy while we prepped him for surgery for his bowel blockage, he was serving during vietnam on a swift boat and had some interesting stories. It's perspective and to a lesser extent specialty that matters, not the RN field. I mean one of our ER RN's who is now one of our hospital educators was a marine sniper back in the day. I agree there is an appeal to most women for a guy to be masculine, but in my experience that means not whiny, able to take care of himself, works for a living and is confident, none of that is excluded by being an RN. If you really feel that insecure about the profession try getting into one of the specialties that tends to attract more men like TNU, ICU, ER, Flight RN, OR, just to name a few. And FWIW, I ride and wrench on a bike, rock climb, have some ink and piercings, still go sqweee when i see a kitten and like to cook and garden. it's not an either or thing, just relax :) and having done construction/tradework, one of the biggest things we complained about was the lack of women around us, so there's that lol

This is based on my personal job and ER coworkers, as well as their memories of first ER job interviews. There are generally not clinical questions as part of the interview process in all our experience since the expectation is... you don't yet know how to ER nurse so why would we give you clinical scenarios? I get the idea that it tests your clinical judgement, but that would like asking me to trouble shoot a swan ganz cath or how to take care of fresh post op open heart. That is what orientation is for. However there are a bunch of standard interview questions, what are strengths/weaknesses, tell us about a thing you struggled with, how did you solve etc... That is not to say the amzyRN is not correct, just not something myself or other nurses have seen in our facility or the few others my nurses have worked in. Conversely, asking intelligent questions about orientation, progression from floor assignment, to triage to trauma, etc seem to be well received. Basically attitude counts for most of the decision once your CV passes HR. We can teach you how to nurse if you can think critically, we can't make you a hard working, decent human being who can handle stress and isn't an ***hole. Seem smart, squared away, high energy and motivated basically lol. Good luck!

In my experience most hospitals will have groups of people who volunteer, ask around, we have some who go to Haiti every 4-5 months. They will have the infrastructure set up already. Churches/Religious Organizations are a great idea if you are comfortable in a faith based environment. The internet has a plethora of options for volunteer/vacations with each one having a different emphasis in terms of work vs fun, and many have multiple reviews to check out. Personally the only issue I have run into is liability insurance that covers you overseas, depending where you go and with who might be an issue. If you are in say the Niger and helping starving children I doubt they care, but say Costa Rica, might be a different issue. The biggest thing I have found is that some are bare bones, you are there to help, period. And there is nothing wrong with that. Others are more morning clinics and afternoons at the beach type of trips so just figure out which you want and start searching. good luck, it is an awesome thing to do.

We do have volunteer greeters, it is mostly college students or retired people. They generally offer warm blankets, bring wheelchairs as needed to patients and do general customer service skills. Most work in the lobby, a few work on the floor itself and do much the same, offer blankets, drinks if able and for a while we had a cart with magazines and books for patient to read that was wheeled around. Honestly it seemed to go well for the patients, and our customer service numbers (PRESS GAINEY) have always been good, but no real "medical" exposure for the greeter, and honestly most of the nurses were not super receptive to being told the patient in bed 8 wants pain meds, when in fact you don't have bed 8 and they are a seeker anyway. We use a pager system to call them when they are being roomed so if they roamed off the pager should still work, if not, good luck tracking them down since we get enough patients it would be hard to remember a face for the name. It will get you exposure to the ED, but honestly trying to get in as a registration or patient care assistant/tech would probably get you alot more exposure. Role suggestions: offer wheelchair on arrival or form parking lot if practical offer warm blankets while in waiting room offer drinks- messy because pt's NPO until seen by doctor wheel patients back to lobby offer magazines or books (although cross infection/contamination an issue) bring visitors back to rooms

For me it was an easy decision. Do i stay on the floor and smile and nod at new policy directives, then ignore as much as possible while giving the best care i can, and check a few boxes in EPIC... OR do i go to an office and try and sell chicken SH** as chicken salad to my floor nurses knowing my job is contingent on getting them to do this months stupid middle management idea, falls blankets, no oxygen in the hallway, PEEP round documentation rather than going in the room and just doing their job etc. Most of the ideas have some basis in fact, just often not in the reality of working in a packed ED. I will always try to support my managers in terms of my attitude and the care I provide, but refuse to shovel that sh** downhill in terms of policy buy in. Just a thought. now if the issue is that you are sick of the bedside... new floor, advanced practice or office are all options, they just have their own hassles.

This was said to me by a seasoned nurse shortly after I started, it helped me so I'll share it. Similar to the EMS statement above... "They are meat you are doing a task on, after the task is completely successfully, then consider the implications." Basically trick your mind into just doing a job, then take time to think through the code after the fact. Saying they are someones father/mother/child to yourself in the middle of a code just ensures you do your job worse. Bring your A game intellectually not emotionally. Flustered is bad, the job is not about you being a good person who feels things intensely, it is about doing interventions/tasks to save a life. Now afterwards be human towards the patient and family but in the middle of a code is not the time to get emotional. I would agree that cleaning the room after the patient is handed off or pronounced gives a few minutes to decompress and can be helpful. For me personally, getting involved at a task that is difficult focuses me, i double down and ignore distractions like blood spray and screaming.

Even a level 2 trauma center will get you exposed to a variety of patients. We ship out bad burns, pediatric neuro and pediatric cardiac, occasionally a dissecting AAA, everything else stays in house to the OR, ICU ,TNU, or IICU. Level 1 handles everything but even a level 2 can see you cracking chests in the trauma bay, depends on the hospital and patient population. Like earlier posters said, ER is rough and ready, many go on to NP and trauma NP, but TNU or ICU will see them longer and be more involved in the healing or resolution of their injury, until they get stepped down anyway. The big thing is that regardless of level 1 or 2, you will be primarily an ER nurse who after a year or 2 does traumas in the bay, if you are lucky. So for immediate exposure TNU/ICU may be better. Decide why you like trauma and what part you want to be involved in, then take it from there.

I charge frequently so get the joy of both passive aggressiveness from the floors, irritation from my staff, and irritation from the floors at the rudeness of my staff. Some of it is just systemic and lack of understanding on all sides. Yes there are lazy/rude floor nurses and lazy/rude ER nurses. But honestly most of the genuine knock down drag out fights I've gotten dragged into have been over personalities, not pertinent clinical issues. When I charge I find that a relaxed but firm approach works well for giving report, don't make it personal, no one wins. If I don't know, say I don't know, then just wait them out. The thing that still sometimes chaps me is that often the delay is at the expense of a patient for convenience of floors. But there are work arounds. For example in our hospital if the floor is unable to take reports (barring critical care floors, or a code on their floor) we will send the patient up with a note with the nurse's number and they can call with questions. But conversely, if the floor asks for five minutes due to chaos and we are not blowing up, I will cheerfully agree and accommodate. I can tell just in the last 5 years how much different/better the vibe is just because I stress civility and demand it for both my staff and the floor nurses I interact with. As an aside, make friends/ be a team player with the nursing sups, you will get a huge amount of benefit in those confrontations with floor nurses.

Sometimes there is just a mismatch with preceptors and personalities/teaching styles. Personally the facts the preceptor is telling you are correct, in regards to needing to get things done quickly (just a general fact) but his tone seems lacking at best, especially in regards to his "i wouldn't do what you did". That to me is a red flag because if he can't give you a better answer, he couldn't do any better himself. Personally I would see how the 2 weeks go with the other preceptor, I know a number of our nurses have been given an extension to orientation or another preceptor. Honestly, from an experienced nurse standpoint, sometimes it is just seeing if a new preceptor see's the same "deficiencies" your current preceptor sees. And in my experience the answer will often be no, they are happy with what they see from a new nurse perspective. The fact that other preceptors you have worked with are happy with your progress is encouraging. And sorry but this needs to be said in my opinion. You are not being set up to fail, you are in the ED, there will be days where you never get caught up, especially early in your work experience. That is normal, find a way to deal/prioritize your tasks. BUT it doesn't mean you are bad at the job, it is just the nature of the beast, and with time you will find the shortcuts/get up to speed. Some ER nurses and floor nurses are just not nurturing types, I personally will happily work with them, but working under them can be taxing. I am hesitant to say complain to management, that is not how I operate, nor do i think it works, but I would ask for an honest appraisal from them over how they think you are progressing. Generally I see that by the time management advertises, interviews, hires, and trains someone they are more than willing to give them numerous breaks to find their groove before they want to go through the whole process again FWIW. And for what it is worth hang in there, the issues you're having do get better, and they don't point to a lack of aptitude, just time management and experience. I would just try not to turn it into an adversarial relationship with your current preceptor due to a sense of persecution. just my thoughts

I don't do it, many of my co-workers do. They generally last about 1-2 years before quitting. Many are messy he said/she said, psych issues, drug issues, behavioral issues, it can get exhausting for them. Also and this is per them, maybe 10-20% are "legit". I realize this is very loaded, hence me quoting. but many times they complete an exam which is at best "questionable" per them. In addition, often ADA's or DA's are disrespectful, refuse to prosecute, or their are other legal and procedural gripes that make them feel the job is not worth doing from a time and sanity standpoint. If your department has any nurses with this cert I would ask them since a huge component seems to be dependent on resources and departmental support as well. We act as a clearing house for SAFES from surrounding hospitals so see a fairly large amount, but don't do a great job supporting the SAFE nurses in my opinion.