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Come home, shower the day off, hang with my hubby and a cup of tea. I thank God He kept my staff and my patients safe and always remember........tomorrow is a new day.

Unfortunately, this happens in many hospitals. When I'm calling report, I know what to expect so I try to disarm the nurse from the beginning of the call. Before I even say I'm calling report on Mr. ABC, I ask them how their day is going. Sometimes its nice to just take a moment out of the chaos and connect on a human level. Most of the time I get a negative answer, "it's horrible" "we are soooo busy" "this day can't be over fast enough". I genuinely try to empathize and let them know its not pretty down in the ER either. By now (the majority of the time) we have connected enough to realize this isn't a battle between floors. It's not my personal choice to give the floor nurses "more work" by sending them another pt. I don't have a choice when I have to triage my 6th ambulance in the last 4 hrs (and I certainly would not take it out on EMS). This is the path we all have chosen (for better or for worse). There have been times when no matter how I try to ease the situation I can still hear the overwhelming frustration in the nurse's voice. At that point, I'll acknowledge it and say "how about I give you report now and not send the pt up for 10 minutes". That usually works and the nurse sees that I am not enemy number one. And what's another 10 minutes anyway? It gives me just enough time to triage the ambulance coming in to the hall bed...lol! There have been rare occurrences when nothing works...that's when it's just a personality problem and I have no issues being all business at that point. As for report, I try to be thorough but not go overboard. Name, DOB, Allergies, PMH, where the pt is from, CC, my interventions and re-evaluations, VS, admit dx and any safety concerns, everything else is in my notes. If it was a code I'll include pre-ER circumstances. Our computer system allows the receiving RN to view labs and radiology reports, but I will still report any criticals. I always ask if there are any questions and most of the time I get a "no"...and sometimes I even get "have a nice day" :) One other note, don't ever be intimidated to call the floors for advise. How often do we initiate 24hr urines in the ER? Whatever the question, I call the related floor...just like they rely on us for rapid response, difficult IV's or hard to place foleys. I'm always calling the lab or pharmacy for questions too. I work with nurses that have been in the field for 30+ years and they still wouldn't consider themselves an expert. The only constant in nursing is change...we are always changing and learning. And lastly, you seem like an amazing ER nurse...be confident in what you know, be confident in what you don't know...and NEVER let anyone take your joy

All of the above and my favorite...incarcerated male with cellulitis...and no, I don't mean a skin infection :)

In our ER we are required to be certified in BLS (Basic), ACLS (Advanced Cardio), TNCC (Trauma), ENPC/PALS (Peds). In addition our hospital requires department specific web based competencies we must complete each year. Best of luck in your endeavors! :)