#newERnurse

[defbrutalwbfl]

Feeling Nursey

Only being a nurse for 9months I rarely feel confident and secure in my day to day care, also being a new nurse in the ER I especially feel insecure about my time management and being sure not to miss anything crucial on an assessment. The last two days of taking rooms and hallways I have felt like I'm coming into my own, and I have been truly caring for patients. This may sound weird, I mean I've been doing this for the last 9 months right? It's different though, I feel like I have been keeping up, able to care for multiple patients and not feeling completely overwhelmed and stressed out, and not questioning every tiny thing I do (although I still question why am I doing this to learn and think about what I'm doing and if it acceptable for this patient), completing tasks and charting within a timely manner, communicating with patients and providers well to initiate care and advocate for my patients. Also, I can see the bigger picture of the patient, what's going on, and what needs to be done. School was great, but it prepares you mostly for the test, the real world throws you into the jaws of actual people and they are far from textbook. It just felt good. I haven't really felt accomplished, confident and satisfied with myself as a new nurse yet. It was nice to feel as though I can do this and I will be as great one day as I strive to be. I love what I do and excited to continue to grow and continue to feel nursey. 💊💉❤️

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how I felt the first time a patient’s family sent a thank you card in to the department specifically named ME the nurse, the doctor, and the other staff for our care of their loved one.

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when anyone who’s not an ER nurse asks what its like to be an ER nurse.

“do you like it?”

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first time I had a pt in his early 40s, otherwise perfectly healthy, with pancreatic cancer, coming in septic with complications from his whipple surgery..

and then listening to his wife get choked up explaining the past 2 months since the diagnosis, and when she finally lost it when she said how they were told by his PCP to make it their best christmas ever. And I finally lost it too.

and then after I had composed myself, and went back in to hang another med, and talk/listen some more with the wife because she said it helped her, and I found out about their two young children.

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when an incredibly sick patient, who ended up intubated, and was consuming basically all of my and my pod partner’s time and energy, finally left for the unit.

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what it seemed like the first time I had a patient with a really, really bad GI bleed.

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when I’m barely staying afloat with my 3 patients and the sorter calls to say they’re sending me an ambulance.

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when my patient crashed in a matter of minutes and needed to be intubated and I had to hit the staff emergency button.

and how I feel about the staff that came running to help:

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when something’s going very wrong and I have to call the charge nurse for a bailout.

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when I was called into the room by family members of my cardiac work-up pt with non-STEMI EKG changes saying he was nauseous, and he was suddenly white as a sheet, diaphoretic with a pressure of 63/24 and there was too much “wtf do I do?” going through my head to say anything reassuring out loud.

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After being an ER nurse for several months...

Still have no idea what I’m doing, but if no one’s dying, I’ll figure it out.

but if one of my patients really is dying..