The Emergency Room

*There are some sensitive issues talked about in this post, please don't read it if you don't wish to*

For clinicals the other day, I was in the Emergency Room.  It was very interesting to see what some people thought constituted an emergency.  The following are reasons why people came into the ER:

• A cold sore that was "tinglin" on the upper lip
• An anxiety attack (caused by stopping medication)
• Dropping a bookshelf on the great toe with only a pair of socks on
• Starring the windshield in a car accident because of not wearing a seat belt.  

Now while some of these actually do constitute coming in to the ER, the cold sore was my favorite.  It was fun to see the ER from the side of the nurses and doctors for an entire day, instead of being a patient there.  I had to go to the ER about a year ago for cracking my face open on another kids face while playing basketball (it helps you get in a little faster if you leave the blood running down the side of your face).

  I now understand what causes some of the long waiting in the ER.  I also understand that as a nurse in the ER, you have to keep a good sense of humor.  If you don't, you will get weighed down and not be able to do your job in some cases.  

I've talked to a lot of ER nurses, and most of them feel like when an 80 or 90 year old person dies, there really isn't an extreme amount of sadness/grief.  They feel like they have lived a good life, and been able to spend many, many wonderful years with those that they love.  There is another reason why this is though.  That's because they also have to see babies and little children brought in who, unfortunately in many cases, were horribly abused by their own parents.  In cases like these, the baby or child sometimes do not make it.  It's a whole different world when this happens.  The staff will sometimes have a meeting together and have to work through the immense grief of such cases together. 

It's so terribly sad when something like this happens, you really never know what or who is going to walk through those admitting doors next.  It could be a mass murderer or rapist from prison that you have to provide excellent care for or it could be someone who looks like or reminds you of your own parents or family member.  

It was a great experience learning from the excellent nurses in the ER.  I am so excited because I get to go back there again next week again for my last clinical of the semester!

If you want to read an interesting article from the Reader's Digest, click on the link below.  My dad told me about it, it is titled, "50 Secrets Your Nurse Won't Tell You."  I found most of them to be true, but some of them did not seem very accurate to me.

http://www.rd.com/slideshows/50-secrets-your-nurse-wont-tell-you/

Thanks for reading!