ER Day 2 (Feelings)

Today my preceptor was the Trauma Nurse, she documents and assists in any traumas that come in. Struck out on that front, but we did run around helping out everyone else.

I got two more IV's in on the first try which felt great, but I'm just waiting for my beginners luck to leave me for someone else.

A patient in the hallway was getting very agitated and needed to be restrained, I saw one nurse who was designated to restrain her head, start massaging the pts neck instead of forcefully holding the pt down, which totally changed the pts demeanor and calmed her down. I thought this was such a great idea, but when I looked around me I saw every other nurse rolling their eyes.

Later...neck massage nurse had another patient who they were going to need to restrain...confused and kept trying to get out of bed, not very redirectable since no one spoke his language, sitter wasn't helping much. Old Neck Massage had our confused man set up with some televesion that she pulled up on the computer in the pts language. It totally worked for a while. Again, I thought, wow what a great nurse, she's really trying to do everything in her power to not restrain this guy. She did end up restraining him in the end, but a big debate ensued about how many restraints, and my nurse along with every other nurse there thought Neck Massage was out of her damn mind and should have restrained this guy forever ago. Neck Massage is new to the ER, but not a new nurse, she has been a floor nurse (not sure where) for some time. The more seasoned ED nurses kept saying, "you're not in kansas any more hun". Not sure how I am left feeling, my gut says that Neck Massage was in the right, but I see the logistics of where the others are coming from. You can't let a patient like that suck up all your time trying to reroute them so you wind up ignoring your other patients and falling behind.

I am having fun in the ER, despite being constantly terrified of screwing something up. All the nurses and support staff have been incredibly friendly and supportive. I think as I get more comfortable in the setting I'll have even more fun. But, I think I'm more of a Neck Massage at heart, and less of a Seasoned, and thats okay. I can have fun in the ER and decide its not for me.

That's one of the hardest parts of nursing school for me, struggling to accept where my strengths are, and accepting that my interests and skill set are not necessarily hospital material.