Like An Open Book

At the end of last semester, each Med/Surg student had a perioperative/ER day that I may or may not have previously mentioned.  We were at the hospital from 0600 to 1830 splitting our day between the operating room and the emergency room.  

So I wanted to tell you about  

the day I decided that I don't want to be an ER nurse.

My day started in the pre-operative area, where I was assigned to a patient undergoing a robotic assisted bilateral salpingo oophorectomy (translate:  robotic ovary removal).  The patient and her husband were lovely and I enjoyed meeting them very much.  I was able to experience the whole interdisciplinary "well-oiled machine" that is the perioperative system from pre-op to PACU.  It was fairly cool.  The actual procedure was super cool.  Not my first choice as an RN, especially the long sterile surgery in the OR, but I think I could do pre-op or PACU if my options were limited.  I miss the continuity of care though as patients are stamped and processed through the machine from one nurse to another, to another.

Then I went to the ER.  The Emergency Room.  Where the waiting room was packed full of sick, tired, uncomfortable and unhappy patients.  Twice while I was there, a doctor or nurse had to go into the waiting room and apologize to the angry patients and explain that all of the beds in the ER were full, as well as all of the beds on the floors upstairs in the rest of the hospital.  Ugh!  I found the experience so chaotic and uncomfortable.  

Even two successful first-stick IV starts weren't enough to convert me.

I find the human body fascinating.  That being said, the human brain is something different altogether.  I have absolutely zero experience with psych patients, or even persons diagnosed with mental illness.  To treat physical symptoms is something I am learning well, but what do you do for someone who is so sad that they have tried to end their own life?  How do you fix that?  There were several psych patients in the ER that night, and I'm sure I had something similar to a "deer in the headlights" look on my face through the entire shift.  I'm not really looking forward to my mental health rotation, but I'm sure I will learn a lot. 

Yeah, I'm not very good at hiding my emotions...or even my thoughts.  My face is like an open book.

Anyway, I now have the utmost respect for the ER nurses who do intake assessments and triage patients and mitigate repeated complaints and manage the filled beds in the rooms and lining the halls and face the ambulance bay prepared for anything.  You guys do great work in a chaotic, stressful environment and my hat's off to you, but you probably won't see me in the ER if I have another option.

I am so thankful for the whole experience.  I had great experiences with all of the nurses, doctors and paramedics I worked with and I was able to see a lot of things that I will learn from, and never forget.  I find that I learn the most from hands-on experience, and I am looking forward to my dual clinical rotation this semester for more lessons!