Smiley68

I have an experienced perspective on this. I'm a nurse of 10 years with 8 of it in the ER. I was a new grad in the ER but had years of tech and HUC exposure prior to that so felt very comfortable. I never worked "on the floor" so always either discharged my pt home or "fixed them up" to send them to the floor or ICU. All things were stat and once and very exciting and challenging nursing. After needing a change, I now find myself as an orientee to the ICU without ever having "floor" experience. I struggle daily to organize my day and anticipate my pt's needs and short/long term goals. I have only 2 patients but find that I regularly fall behind in charting or getting orders processed fast enough to be efficient. I have to ask basic questions about what things require orders and hospital policies daily even though I've worked at the facility for 10 yrs. Although I never had any interest in working Med Surg or PCU, I know that if I had the experience or organizational skills of multiple patients/mult meds/multiple doctors on one case I wouldn't struggle nearly as much as I seem to now. I don't regret one moment of working in the ER but just wanted to share my thoughts.