Vent here.....I should repeat that this is a vent....
I get really tired of non-medical, non ER nursing, etc., questioning our (ER RNs) compassion because we vent and complain in a forum, where patient confidentiality is still upheld..... but where we can vent to our hearts content...... How we feel about the ER system, our not so enjoyable experiences in the ER...... How we hate some aspects of our jobs.
Don't we deserve to be able to complain without our compassion being questioned? It's not like I have ever seen any ER nurse complain about legitimate Emergency Care....I really have only seen the bogus stuff we complain about that makes our job of taking care of the true illnesses harder. I also think that if any of these people who complain about our compassion were a patient in the ER and required our instant care yet we said to them....listen, I have a guy here with a hang nail so you'll have to wait cause his hang nail is just as important as your heart failing.....we would get a whole new attitude.
These people who accuse noncompassion do not have a clue....and it adds to the frustration. I just want to have them shadow me someday.....Where I'm resuscitating a 5 year old, push all kinds of drugs, intubation, comfort the family, chart like I'm writing a novel, need a pee break only to get some attitude from your other nonEmergent patient and their family that they have waited 2 hours for an update. You're standing there with that full bladder and holding back tears from the previous patient's room and as a nurse you should keep your composure. So, if we want to come in this forum and vent about our bad day and the loser who jumped you and you still had to stand their with a smile on your face, use therapeutic communication to diffuse the situation...God forbid PressGaney gets a complaint.....I think those non-medical, non-ER nursing people who complain need to back the heck off. There is no other specialty like ER nursing....And I think ER nurses ROCK!
It is sooo hard sometimes. We had a lady that had esophageal varicies and was spewing blood like a water fountain--we are squeezing in the prbcs as fast as we could until the surgeon could get there to band her bleeders(we are level 3, so no surgeon on site after hours). Well, Mrs. Entitled who was a soft admission for mild dehydration had just been admitted and was waiting on us to take her up. She just so happened to be the CEO's neighbor, so her daughter thought it would be appropriate to call Mr. CEO to get HIM to expidite the patient's transfer upstairs. THe CEO then asked (I kid you not) to speak to the nurse. The patient's daughter then comes in the room and says Mr. CEO wants to talk with you (the AUDACITY!!) My bestest friend from work marches her fanny out to the phone (PPE head to toe) and tells the CEO that Mrs. Entitled is stable and comfortable and that we had a REAL emergency on our hands and unless he would be willing to call in some more help, Mrs. Entitled was going to have to wait!! Man what a rush!! He was understanding and told the daughter she would have to wait. Who'd of thunk it. But I am sure she didn't have to pay a dime due to inconviences suffered in the ER.
Even before I was a nurse, if I saw people running in and out of a room in gowns and shielded masks covered with blood, I would have enough sense to know something serious was going on. People have no clue.
Well, the state I live in, it is against the law set forth in the Nurse Practice Act to call yourself a nurse when you don't posess those credentials. Not sure about CO, but portraying yourself as a nurse when you're not can have legitimate consequences. You are a NURSING STUDENT...big difference. Calling yourself a nurse and saying you're entitled to be on this site will not make any of us value your inexperienced opinion any more. All done :)
What is going on here. Now I need to photocopy my license in triplicate to post and view here. I am a nurse!!! I didn't say I was an RN. I am a nursing student as well. I am an EMT-Intermediate on top of it all. What next?? Must I bow down to the almighty ER registered nurses to post on here?? I hope to never walk in any of your shoes if it leads to the attitudes expressed on this forum. Thank You.
I guess this thread got started in response to a response I made under a different topic. I retract the compassion statement if that makes you feel any better sometimes it is easier to write stuff out and hit send without my internal editor filtering certain things out. I didn't mean to bash anyone in particular but some of the things you read in here are pretty harsh, you have to admit.
On another note some of you also made assumptions about my experience in an ED based on my comment. Just so you know your assumptions were wrong. I am not an RN, but I do have almost 4 years experience working in both an ED and on an ambulance. I see these patients you rant about and I also see the attitudes of the staff, nurses, doctors, and support staff. I sometimes find their attitudes and demeanor in front of the patients to be quite undesirable. I've seen and heard things in front of patients that would make you realize why the complaint department has staff. I have no problem with ranting, but keep it out of the view and earshot of patients. I'm not saying this is not an appropriate place, but be ready for comments since this is an open forum and don't take it too personally.
I like this site and will continue to lurk here. You write your true feelings and I will continue to do the same.
Please don't flatter yourself. I did not start this thread because of anything you said. I started it though because of judgements from nonERnurses such as yourself. I shouldn't have to be "ready" for comments from someone who has no clue what it's like working in the ER as an RN. Not a medic, not a tech.....AS AN RN, with all the repsonsibilities that go along with it.
What is going on here. Now I need to photocopy my license in triplicate to post and view here. I am a nurse!!! I didn't say I was an RN. I am a nursing student as well. I am an EMT-Intermediate on top of it all. What next?? Must I bow down to the almighty ER registered nurses to post on here?? I hope to never walk in any of your shoes if it leads to the attitudes expressed on this forum. Thank You.
I work with two wonderful LPNs in the ER, but they have limited responsibilities and are not even allowed to assess patient's anymore as of 2007. They are not assigned any patients, nor do they have responsibility for their care. They are only allowed to complete tasks within the scope of their practice. But if they came on this site, they too would echo their frustrations with their ER jobs and their disappointment with nonmedical people or nonER posters generalizing all ER nurses as uncompassionate from venting posts on a website. Your big broad brush strokes are insulting and inappropriate. So refrain from doing it further thankyou.
You know I was an RRT for 14 years and the things I saw in that field were rough. My last 8 years I worked in a 31 bed trach unit of patients who were coroners cases. It was hard work and my fellow RRTs and I would vent like this as well. When I wasn't an ER nurse I would never dream of telling an ER nurse she had no compassion because she vented to me. Nor would I tell my best friend who is a hospice nurse and can really say some things that make my eyebrows raise. My point has always been the same. This is an ER nurse vent thread. Please take that into consideration, and if you can't be compassionate towards our efforts to vent where we consider a safe environment together as ER nurses, then just read please, there's really no need to comment.
kimbernurse
39 Posts
It is sooo hard sometimes. We had a lady that had esophageal varicies and was spewing blood like a water fountain--we are squeezing in the prbcs as fast as we could until the surgeon could get there to band her bleeders(we are level 3, so no surgeon on site after hours). Well, Mrs. Entitled who was a soft admission for mild dehydration had just been admitted and was waiting on us to take her up. She just so happened to be the CEO's neighbor, so her daughter thought it would be appropriate to call Mr. CEO to get HIM to expidite the patient's transfer upstairs. THe CEO then asked (I kid you not) to speak to the nurse. The patient's daughter then comes in the room and says Mr. CEO wants to talk with you (the AUDACITY!!) My bestest friend from work marches her fanny out to the phone (PPE head to toe) and tells the CEO that Mrs. Entitled is stable and comfortable and that we had a REAL emergency on our hands and unless he would be willing to call in some more help, Mrs. Entitled was going to have to wait!! Man what a rush!! He was understanding and told the daughter she would have to wait. Who'd of thunk it. But I am sure she didn't have to pay a dime due to inconviences suffered in the ER.
Even before I was a nurse, if I saw people running in and out of a room in gowns and shielded masks covered with blood, I would have enough sense to know something serious was going on. People have no clue.