This is @That1Murse and I will occasionally be writing blogs here on @MurseWisdom’s blog so just let me introduce myself… my name is Humpty pronounced with an Umpty… oh wait scratch that.. LOL.
I’m a registered nurse that graduated from nursing school in2006. Within a week of graduation, I walked into a local ER (in the Midwest) and worked there for almost 5 years before I made the difficult decision to step away from patient care.. (Yes,there are nursing positions that don’t require patient care). The main reason that I stepped away was to continue my education and become a nurse practitioner and wanted to do clinicals in the ER. I am currently on track to graduate next May with my Family Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Educator certificate.
Prior to becoming an ER nurse, I was a police officer and well as a 9-1-1 dispatcher so emergencies have always been in my blood. I decided it was a lot easier to give shots then get shot at so I became a nurse.
I have a few reasons for asking MW if I could guest write inhis blog. First and foremost, I felt it might help nursing students to hear unadulterated, real stories from nurses that have been in those same seats that you are sitting in now. Secondly, it’s therapeutic to use this as an outlet for stories, thoughts, or complaints. To assist with this, I will say that I have a personal life but don’t plan to discuss it here. I think this helps to continue the anonymity of the situation and allows me the opportunity to be more frank and real then I could possibly be if my identity was known.
I will say that ER nursing is something that not everyone can do… You have to be able to go from no patients to multiple codes or traumas and then back to nothing. You will need to learn to control you adrenaline, stress, emotions, and most importantly your temper. When I would train new nurses in the ER, I would often say you are not a true ER nurse until you cry. I still find that to be true. Throughout my blogs you will hear stories from my experiences in the ER as well as nursing school and hell who knows what else.
One thing I’m often asked is “What was the worst part of theER?” I would without a doubt say coding peds and pediatric traumas. I had a particularly bad weekend one week and had 2 ped traumas and a traumatic code of a ped. That weekend I went home and just watched my daughter sleep knowing that one of those families would not ever get that opportunity again. That was also the weekend that I called my boss and told her I didn’t think I could do this anymore. I ended up taking a week off going through some debriefings and returning to work.
On the flipside, I will also tell you the best part of the ER. The teamwork and camaraderie that comes with ER work. I could tell how serious a situation was just by looking in the other staffs eyes. You learn to read each other, be there for each other, and it kinda becomes a yin-yang situation where they strengthen your weaknesses and you strengthen theirs. Along with that teamwork comes the fact that in the ER it’s not Doctors and Nurses with the docs sitting on their pedestal barking orders at the lowly nurses. It truly is a team and you become colleagues. The other best part is the “thank you” from patients and patients families when you know that had you not been there , they wouldn’t have made it. It truly is humbling knowing that you saved a life and they trusted youenough to put their life in your hands.
That’s probably enough for now, don’t wanna bore you.
@That1Murse
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