What thrills you/what terrifies you?

[Philly85]

I'm not a nurse yet, hopefully will be attending next fall, but I'm interested to hear (from people in all specialties), what ONE thing gives you that thrill? What can you just not get enough of?

Conversely, what one thing causes your stomach to drop to the floor in dread/terror?

It could be a specific procedure/skill or a more overarching situation.

Whether you are a new nurse or have been on the job for years/decades, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks!

[dah doh, BSN, RN]

Thrilling: working with a good team that shift! Catching something early so we can treat it ASAP before it becomes a code situation! Feeling super satisfied when I watch my previous orientees succeed!

Terrifying: July & August...when the new interns start and think they know it all...

[RNperdiem, RN]

Thrilling: The endotracheal tube is out, the patient is out of bed to the chair, transfer orders to the floor are in and the patient and family are happy.

Not my favorite thing: The patient who looked so good when you waved goodbye to them comes back to the unit in a rapid response or code, goes downhill fast and dies.

[LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN]

I just left Occ Health and one of the most thrilling things was getting someone who chopped a finger/hand/toe what have you off in a machine. Of course I don't want anything to happen to anyone but it's just wild seeing someone walk into your clinic (We were inside a factory) all nonchalant with three digits missing lol.

What made my stomach drop in occ health would be when we would have to deal with the union higher ups, that's no fun for anyone.

I am back PRN in LTC while I am school and everything is just frusterating, not trilling or stomach dropping.

[Wrench Party]

Thrilling: when my patients' lines and drains get pulled out day by day and I see steady improvement to discharge.

Terrifying: that awful emergency code sound that stops lunch in its tracks and the entire breakroom is clear in under 10 seconds.

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

I'm a newly minted ECMO specialist and I'm still thrilled and terrified on a daily basis.

[LV3677]

Thrill: catching an emergency before it happens, unstable patients, learning something new about a diagnosis or medication.

Terrifying: new residents, new nurses who don't ask questions, and looking over to see a patient pulling out their ET tube.

[nurse42long, RN]

Thrilling - seeing the crowning head emerge with each push

Terrifying - not seeing the rest of the baby emerge, due to shoulder dystocia

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Thrills: good teamwork with my coworkers consistently, anticipating and preventing a kiddo from crumping, being able to handle and stabilize an acute, or trauma kiddo.

Terrifying: acute and crumping kiddos; ineffective residents/doctors.

[AlwaysLearning247, BSN]

What thrills me is having a good team to work with and not being short staffed. What makes my stomach drop is having a heavy patient load and needing to do a million things at once without any help!

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Terrifying: Floppy babies

Thrilling: Trauma surgery

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

Thrilling: coaching mom as she pushes and watching her make progress with each push; watching a mom and baby figure out breastfeeding; helping parents who have been trying to conceive for years finally deliver their first baby; helping parents who have experienced loss through their first healthy pregnancy and delivery; coaching mom through labor pains when she wants to go all-natural; having an awesome delivering doctor/midwife; watching baby's head crown and realizing that soon, a baby is going to be born!

Terrifying: cord prolapses, uterine ruptures, shoulder dystocias, purple babies, floppy babies, hemorrhaging moms, DIC, HELLP, eclampsia, bad staffing, lazy surgeons/midwives.

Both: emergency C-sections, catching a cord prolapse, resuscitating a baby, triage patients, precipitous births, coffee at 0400.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

Terrifying: Bedbugs! We had a patient with legit BEDBUGS on the unit last week! Anything that's creepy/crawly that gets brought in with the patient freaks me out. Also had a patient who was on the vent at home and always brought his home vent with him... and all the cockroaches that lived in his vent circuits...

Also terrifying - having a moment of perfect clarity with regards to a patient getting ready to crash, but being unable to get a physician to agree with you in time to do anything about it. That feeling where you're just waiting for the patient to code... you know it's going to happen, but nobody is helping you stop it...

Thrilling - any sort of bedside procedure. I love line insertions, lumbar punctures, chest tube placements, bronchoscopies, EGDs, and even got to see a ventricular drain placed in the brain recently. Love that stuff. :)