Happiness... to an ER Nurse

An ER nurse is of a special breed. Our sense of humor is off-beat and off-centric to most, especially to those not in the nursing profession. But even among other nurses, we have acquired an unfair reputation; we are branded as aggressive and rude, and most in-patient nurses regard as too cold and not as caring.

Hey missy, if you have to deal with the never-ending traffic and the constant stressors, you probably would have run far far away like Speedy Gonzalez. Just try to spend an hour in our shoes.

Maybe we are crazy, maybe we are just adrenaline-junkies, but we have learned to appreciate the little things that make life in the ER not just tolerable but have actually induced a chuckle or two. To survive, we found delight in the simple pleasures of ER life.

Tongue-in-cheek humor; anything to brighten the day and to lighten the load.

Happiness… to an ER nurse:

1. Being relieved on time because your relief found parking on time.

2. Having the right team with you, although you were short-staffed.

3. Receiving a thank you from that difficult patient who almost made you forget you’re a nurse.

4. Saving a life because you dared to question a wrong order.

5. Seeing the hallway filled with stretchers; that means the ED is empty.

6. Getting patients with great veins.

7. Finishing the shift without being cursed, hit at or hit on.

8. Getting a typed list of medications at triage instead of two bagful of medications that needed to be sorted out.

9. Changing the child’s pain scale from 10 to 0, and finally getting a reprieve from the demanding parents.

10. Connecting the dots on a puzzling case in the ED and coming up with the presumptive diagnosis before the doctor did.

11. Witnessing the facial droop disappear after the thrombolytic did its magic.

12. Catching a baby before it hits the floor, especially after the mother initially denied she’s pregnant.

http://filipinonurses.org/index.php/2013/09/19420/