![]() What Did You Learn in the ER That You Will Never Forget?Įmergency nursing was one of the most eye-opening and life-expanding experiences I have done. The Charge Nurse has to constantly find ways to move people out of the department to make room for new patients to arrive. I now had to focus on multiple patients’ needs throughout the Emergency Department, which was challenging because their status would keep changing. As an emergency nurse, I learned how to care for children and communicate to their parents that I could safely take care of their baby.Īs I gained more emergency nurse experience, I became a Charge Nurse, taking me to a whole new level. A patient’s status and diagnosis can change in seconds and you have to be ready.īefore coming to the ER, I had very little pediatric experience. You never know what will come in the door. What is the Greatest Challenge Working in the ER? And since you have never seen them before, you are not quite sure if looking pale is normal for them or they have a serious problem. You cannot see their neck or chest well enough to decide how short of breath they are. It’s a lot more difficult when people are wearing red plaid collared shirts covered with their coats vs. Something I hadn’t thought about was observing skin color. You have to decide if the person with chest pain is having an actual cardiac problem or just pulled a muscle. There is no chart with test results to check. You have to rely on the story the patient tells you about their current medical situation and your own assessment skills. Each patient has a chart full of their medical history, labs, and other reports. When you work on a medical-surgical floor, all the patients are wearing blue gowns, and you know their diagnosis before you enter their room. What Was One of the Hardest Things I Had to Get Used to in the ER?Īssessing patients that I had never seen before and deciding what I thought might be wrong with them was difficult. My adrenaline was pumping, but once the team started working, we all calmed down and focused on what was needed to save this little boy. I took off running into the trauma room, yelling for the attending physician to follow me. As I turned around, he shoved his child into my arms. Once, a father ran into the ER carrying his three-year-old son, who was not breathing. I’ve taken care of a baby that was minutes old (delivered in the ambulance) to a very elderly man who fractured his hip and had laid on the floor alone for almost two days until someone found him. You may have a pediatric febrile seizure patient in one room and someone who just had a stroke in another. From a bad case of the flu to a gastrointestinal bleeder, and everything in between. ![]() I saw everything and everybody in the ER. What Types of Patients Did I See in the ER? There are plenty of certifications to achieve for those who want more expertise in areas like Pediatric Critical Care or Flight Nursing. Certified Emergency Nurseīecoming a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) was my overall certification recognizing that I had achieved broad experience managing the variety of patients that appear in the ER setting. As a trauma nurse, I learned to manage patients transported to the ER after a motor vehicle accident (MVA), a fall from a building, a shooting, or some other catastrophic injury. I also obtained my Trauma Nurse Certification (TNCC) so I could work in the trauma room. Before I did my ride-along, I didn’t fully understand how hard it is to get someone on a gurney out of their bedroom, through the doorway of a small apartment, and downstairs to a waiting ambulance. To become a MICN, you need paramedic ride-along experience. I trained to be a Mobile Intensive Care Nurse (MICN), where I learned to give orders to paramedics on the radio for pre-hospital care in the field. In addition to Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS), emergency nurses must have an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification to work in the acute care rooms.Īs emergency nurses gain more experience, there is an alphabet soup of more certifications to acquire. My input mattered and could make all the difference in getting patients on the right road to recovery. It was both thrilling and scary to be right on the front line, deciding the patient’s best healthcare direction. You need to be confident in your assessment skills and your ability to do hands-on care. The emergency room is a fast-moving, controlled chaotic place. She buddied me with senior emergency nurses and sent me to formal classes to learn the skills I needed to feel comfortable in my new role. My orientation began with the ER educational coordinator organizing a structured plan for me.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |