What would a job as an ER nurse be like? 10pts for best answer?

I am an ER PA, but I know a lot about life of the ER nurse, as I have worked in a dozen plus different ERs. What you do DEPENDS on what level of care the ER provides, for one. A level 1 trauma will see more trauma; a level 3 will not see much at all. Some ER s are divided so trauma goes to one and medical goes to another (the LAC+USC ER that I tained at had 5 separate ERs: Trauma; Medical; minor/ortho trauma, and Peds, and OB ER). The nurses work 12 hours shifts (3 one wee, 4 another in the ERs I worked in). Not all day is the guts & glory; many days its pretty ho-hum dull (belly pain,belly pain, weak & dizzy). The nurses usually have 3-4 patients to take care of. They hook up the automated vital machines, do EKGs, start IVs, with blood draws, give meds, do urinary caths, may run some labs (or not if there is a separate lab tech); undress the patients, answer questions (alot of that), get water, food etc, document everything (a lot of that as well), suction mouths & lungs, some take patients to xray, CT scans (certain cases), assist the doc , PA, or NP with procedures (like hold for LP; etc); set up sterile trays, assist with ortho procedures, dress wounds, triage, intake assesment, help with cardiac codes (along with the respiratory therapist etc). Change diapers, put nasogastric tubes down, help clean rooms (its is a team approach). This should help you start!

Schedule for most nurses (ER or any dept) is 3 12 hr shifts a week, either day or night (7-7). Pay is good but varies by location. Here in NY I'm getting $30/hr. And we do NOT just "follow doctors orders"!! We are highly trained to assess patients and intervene on their behalf. In an ER, the nurse does the incoming assessment and determines what the problem is and triages the patient. Nurses spend most of the time with the patient, while the doctor is only there for like 15 minutes! I was an EMT for 4 years while I went to nursing school and I originally thought I'd want to be an ER nurse, but right now I think I prefer to NOT be seeing the patients straight off the street. At least on a floor they're already clean and in bed with a gown on and an IV going :) I was hired on a cardiac telemetry floor as an RN before I even graduated! I start next month (I just graduated with my BSN). You might want to check out my favorite nursing forum, http://www.allnurses.com They have tons of info that you might find useful, as well as a Minnesota section. Also, remember the show ER? They actually did a pretty good job of showing what it's like, and what the nurses do. And while there IS poop and vomit, more often than not the RNs are very busy with RN stuff and the cleaning up is delegated to the patient care techs (PCTs) or the CNA.

After 3 years of training as a nurse, you have to get used to being abused by those you try to help. You will be cleaning up vomit, faeces (posh word for sh*t) urine and any amount of blood. You get to be the emotional punchbag for all in the dept, ad get no reward other than the pay at the end of the month. You get to work unsocial hours ( forget a social life). You get exxposed to all manner of diseases (HIV, AIDS, Haepatitis A, B, C) You get to be threatened with your registration taken away when you do anything. Endless hours of paperwork Backache even though you are not meant to lift the 25 stone bloke who thinks you are a piece of crap and needs you to wipe his pus ridden ar*e again. You get to be suspicious of all people due to manipulation of your sense of right and wrong You get to show up at WORK - and thought of as a sex object by all manner of people You get hit, punched, slapped, bitten (with and without teeth), spat at, peed on. Undermined by managers And then the good bits Going home alive after a shift where you tried to help but were frustrated by the system.... DONT DO IT I did and love it (all the above I have seen/experienced)

I have experience here, so I'll tell you. You start urinary cathitors, do EKGs, chest compressions, blood draws, push emergency meds, sutures/staples, clean up vomit/feces and do whatever the screaming ER doctor says (and yes they really do scream at you) Many times you have to console family while they watch you try and save their loved one's life and deal with them when their family memeber doesn't make it and then you have to be able to document everything that happened in the room and you always have to bring your A game.