Why you love/hate ER

Faby · Jul 28, 2002

Hi. I've been reading all these posts and I realized that nursing in ER is the same all over the world. I love it I've been in ER for 8 years ( about 8 years ago ) It seems to me the most challenging nursing area., where you see the results of your actions inmediatly. You can also learn a lot. I think the most challenging patient and the one I love to care is the "multi traumatized", is this how you call him?

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jul 31, 2002

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

we call them a lot if things, trainwrecks, to plain old trauma patients. Here they call them PORTs. priority one response teams, cute name. Just means ya gotta work

ibweebles · Aug 21, 2002

well said everyone but my 3 most disliked er's is the, "1 wheelchair rollover at the nursing home" we send out a ambulance so the NH nurses won't have to pick the patient up off the floor and put em to bed. we get em and nothing is wrong but we have to see em and treat em -- and more than likely keep em since they came in by ambulance.

another 1 is also NH related - get a call of a nonresponsive pt at local NH and that they are a full code, we get em and they are "wide eyed and bushy tailed" and talking to us and telling us that the NH is so boring they wanted to get out for a few to see what was happening in the real world.

the last 1 i dislike is the mothers that come in with a baby in their arms and tell me that the baby has a 104 temp, and when i take it i get a 97 temp. they tell me that they haven't tried tylenol or advil or a cool bath or anything to help lower a temp just picked em up and brought em to the er. but they swear that the baby had a high fever, " i just know it" . but don't know how to read a temp on a therm.,,,,, then find out they don't even own 1 ! ! ! ! !

well so much for my grumbling but thought i'd add my thoughts --- have a good day and keep up the

Jen911 · Aug 21, 2002

Originally posted by ibweebles
the last 1 i dislike is the mothers that come in with a baby in their arms and tell me that the baby has a 104 temp, and when i take it i get a 97 temp. they tell me that they haven't tried tylenol or advil or a cool bath or anything to help lower a temp just picked em up and brought em to the er. but they swear that the baby had a high fever, " i just know it" . but don't know how to read a temp on a therm.,,,,, then find out they don't even own 1 ! ! ! ! !

Oh, I call those the "afebrile fever" patients! :chair: :nurse:

CEN35 · Aug 21, 2002

dunno??????? :confused:

me :)

RNFROG3, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2002

petite flower-nuh a middle Indiana has more then their faair share of shallow genes!

I guess I love the pace-on med/surg I thought I worked really hard but it's nothing when you don't sit eat or drink(OR PEE) for 8-12 hours. Some nights I really think a leg bag would be a great asset, along with some roller skates! So if you don't like work, ED is not the place. I love night shift and the great staff I work and learn with every night. I love making an impact in a short period of time, making boo-boos better on little ones.( My son even made me give him his tetnus shot , after stepping on a nail, because he thought mom could do it better.AWW shucks!

I love the challenge and the bringing people back from the edge and comforting the families when we can't.

I dislike disrespect any anytime for any reason. People who come to our ED because its close but they have special insurance that won't pay our hospital -they would have to travel another 5 miles and they are non-urgent and sometimes frequent flyers.

I dislike sickle cell because its so hard to separate those in crisis from those drug seeking. My biggest dislike is holding patients in the ED because we run out of beds(especially critical care, ICU and CCU. What the floors don't realise is they handle 2-3 of this type of patient our load per nurse on a bad night could be doulble or triple that--and we are expected to maintain the same level of care( Several weeks ago I had 2 vent pts and 4 chest pain r/o MI) I slept like a baby the next morn! One other thing- I hate trying to do bed changes from incont patients on these blasted teeny carts. The floor has it so much easier in that respect!

Like others have said-you'll either love it or hateit--but you never know till you try. Make sure to ask many ?? during orientation!

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Aug 24, 2002

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

I love the way it gets me out of all those speeding tickets.

doo wah ditty

Flo1216 · Aug 25, 2002

I will graduate RN school in June and I can't imagine working anywhere but the ER. I know it is possible to be hired into the ER as a new grad and I know a lot of people don't agree with that but if I have the opportunity to work there as a new grad I will. I have been a CNA for 2 years and there is not one unit in which I have not worked and ER is still my favorite.

Flo1216 · Aug 25, 2002

The only thing I hate about the ER is that they send up the pts to regular floors dirty. They have CNAS down there. I had a CNA tell me once, " We don't wash pts-we have to draw blood and do EKGS. Yet everytime I work down there as a CNA, I find time to wash pts. It's bad when even the CNA'S think it is beneath them to wipe someone's ass.

AngelGirl · Feb 24, 2003

ER is the best place for nurses who are also amateur inventors. You get to be very creative in meeting needs. Some shifts, you feel as though every resource you've ever stored away has come to the surface to help you solve a host of pressing problems.

Working as a team and being there for one another is a must. I work in a County Hospital with limited resources, and sometimes feel as though I'm a member of a well coordinated **MASH**Unit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!My Dad spoke often of his time in the Navy on a Destroyer in the Pacific during WW2. He cried when he recounted stories of relationships he developed with buddies on the ship. Those same relationships are built every day in E.Ds around the world. In the rush to meet the most pressing needs of our patients, we bear together the pressure to get those most immediate needs met. In the midst of such battles, we also cover for each other, taking flack in turn, knowing that soon, someone will do the same for us.

Teamwork is essential. Without it, you might as well just close up shop and go home!

And then there's the EMS crew. In my area, we've determined that a prerequisite for being hired by the EMS is that the male applicant must have "Extreme Good Looks." They are gorgeous! Besides that, they do an excellent and extremely professional job. Looks, in this case, are deceptive. The men have brains AND they use them.

I don't like slow shifts, unless, of course someone brings popcorn and sodas and we can all tell stories.

I don't like failed pediatric codes or failed any type of codes. I'm here it WIN.

I don't like obnoxious patients or their visitors. I especially don't like having visitors stand in the halls looking around BEEP!!!!!!!!!BEEP!!!!!, or allowing their children to run loose in the halls (Hey, it's a County facility. It happens. Shallow end of the shallow pool.)

I have, however come to terms with the fact that, as a nurse, I am the magnet. Obliging visitors, who try to get out of my way are forever drawn right into the path I am trying to take. Magnet. What can I say? Must mean that I'm "attractive."

Chiaramonte · Feb 24, 2003

I am loving the ER likes and dislikes!! Agree with them all!!

I also am a charge night nurse in this rural community hospital ER for 9 years coming from a level 1 trauma facility that I worked for 11 years...

I love my staff and co-workers, MD's I work with, being able to comfort and help truly sick patients and their families, the fact that I've had 5 children and can continue to retain my urine for hours and hours, my critical skills are the best ever [i can start an IV in a rock], the autonomy ...

I hate drug seekers, patients who come in the middle of the night by ambulance from far remote areas with very minor illnesses and expect YOU to find them a way home, psych patients who have been drinking all day and can't be admitted to the psych unit until they sober up and therefore remain in the ER for HOURS and HOURS, the way psych criteria changes on a daily basis dependent on the staff accepting the patient at that time, parents who bring their children in filthy with dried nasal secretions and fevers that don't have a thermometer nor have given any tylenol or motrin because they wanted us to see how high it actually is and actually is only 98 rectally;swarms and swarms of visitors who insist on crowding into our small patient cubicles even though you've reminded them several times only 2 visitors at a time; certain female patients who fake abdominal pain just so they can get a free pregnancy test compliments of the government...when you ask a patient if they've contacted their private MD with the same pain they've for 3 weeks in their wrist and they look at you as if you are the silly one to even consider that this might not be an emergency at 3:00 am...

Most of the time our services are needed here in this ER but it's the frustration in seeing society refuse to take care of their own health care and expecting us to take care of every little facet of their lives. We have a lot of insomniacs that come in the night who can't sleep simply because they sit in front of the computer or TV all day and nap on and off and haven't done enough to get tired at night. Also seems to be a whole generation of people lacking common sense and parenting skills. For example, we had a mother call an ambulance to bring her 3 year old from 55 miles away because small white worms were coming out of her bottom at night and were very itchy...she of course didn't have a way home on the most snowy night of this winter...

veetach · Mar 1, 2003

I am in my 6th year in the ER.. I agree with Molly and Kaycee on the first page. I think ER picks its own, I have seen many many RN's try and fail at being an ER Rn.

I love trauma, and that is my niche. I love taking care of unstable patients and seeing the change when we render treatment. I also love how fast things move and how quick you are conditioned to think and react. I love working a good OD, and retavasing an MI, with a door to drug time of 10 mins. I love working a good cardiac arrest and getting the patient back as an ER save....

I hate frequent flyers, ridiculous things that people come in for at 3:00am..(sore throat for 2 weeks, leg pain etc), I hate routine abd pain and nausea and vomiting patients. I hate how everyone has to pee, eat, get a blanket and something to drink within 15 mins of their arrival in the ED. And more than anything I HATE it when people think working in an ER is just like the tv show.