ED_Chris_RN

I see all sides to this as I have seen both sides at work. I think that you do in a way owe something to your new company for hiring you as a new grad but in reality I think you should follow your heart. If push came to shove a company would drop you in an instant to protect their interests. But if you walk away with plenty of notice, I would say at least 6 weeks for a busy floor, then I think you are doing the best thing for you and the company. Because if you are not at a place you want to be, you are hurting yourself and may even be hurting the company and patients because of an unhappy disposition. You only live once, follow your heart and do what is best for you, in the long run that is what is best for the company and the patients as well.

Well I had to marry my college for 2 years. Now I am out of school and getting a divorce. I am happy about it though, long time coming and being a nurse affords me the ability to take care of myself.

I have been using it for a year in two different hospitals. I LOVE it. One hospital has a much better setup, but both are easy to navigate and make my life so much easier!

Our EMR Triage screen shows us all this information. We get a quick verbal breakdown but you can see all the info on one screen.

It is good you have realized this before you started working there as an RN. ED is definitely not for everyone!

I work in the ED and I find it is very easy for me to separate myself from death and children. I feel empathy for them but I am able to stay detached from situations enough to not take my work home or get depressed. I never would have thought I was cut out to be this way. I guess you never know what you are capable of!

Thank you! I see what you are saying. I found that my first few times on the floor I was nervous but I really found my rhythm in a short amount of time. If you really feel like it is where you want to be shadow at the hospital you want to work at to get a good idea. I got to shadow at my hospital which helped me pick it over the hospital I was working at as a tech during school. Good luck!

I started at my local hospital while in nursing school as a NCP (CNA). I floated to every unit but I excelled in the ED so they decided to make me a tech. I worked as a tech until I graduated. I remember my first day in the ED as a NCP, I went home and cried. I never wanted to go there again. But after my second or third time floating there I quickly found I never wanted to work anywhere else. It isn't for everyone, but it is certainly for me. I think the qualities of mine that help are that I am incredibly energetic, I was in the military so I handle change and crisis very well, and I have the ability to not get emotionally attached to some very sad situations. I also do not bring my work home with me. Good luck!

My ratio is 5 to 1 from 7a to 11a and then 4 to 1 from 11a to 7p.

I am sorry for what you are going through. When I was in nursing school I had two former Army medics in my class and a bunch of Navy Corpsman (Military Area). I learned a lot of valuable things from these people, especially when it came to triage and EKG reading, but by far the most valuable was skills. They had a lot of tricks for getting IV's started and a wide array of other things which I will always remember. As a veteran myself, I would hire you in a heartbeat!

I am a new grad and I work in a Level 2. I love my experience thus far! I think it is all about getting paired with the right preceptor for you, some people just do not mesh. I saw a bunch of my coworkers struggle because their preceptor/preceptee relationship was pretty bad.

I treat all my patients the same no matter what. But I will say that our doc's tend to check and see what type and how many narcotic prescriptions people have gotten, if they appear to be "drug seeking". In a few cases I have seen patients who have gotten a ton of prescriptions for various drugs come in and want more, but ended up leaving with a prescription for Motrin.

As an ED nurse and a former ED Tech I am very insulted by this comment. Sure we don't handle ADL's on the same patients all day long but we do CPR for hours on end, deal with people at their worst as far as mental status goes and we make split second life or death decisions on a daily basis. I would love for any of the people who feel this way to spend a day with me.