Working in an emergency room as an RN is iextremely stressful. Why then do I choose to do it? Because there is a knowledge base there that covers all aspects of the human body, its spirit and it's mind. It is a place to learn prioritization, depersonalization, and patience. It is special when one can go one more step and learn empathy and compassion. They are difficult feelings at times to touch, to feel.
The patient populations and their diversities can be overwhelming. There are 'regulars' that come in only to test you one more foot. There are 'group' types that come in that take all the patience you have. Still you are there for the patients, yet they are not always caring of that fact.They may just want drugs or a meal or simply attention. They may need a place to stay or a place to come to get cleaned up and the have their wounds tended. They may only need to get away from uncaring family members or abusive ones.
Someone once told me that 90% of ER patients are not that ill and that the other 10% need the ER's services. Interesting. I am seeing differently. What I do see are patients who have BEEN sick chronically and just decide to come in on any given day for any kind of treatment. Some don't even know how sick they are. Some leave when they find out without being treated.
We still have the problems of the patients who have no insurance who come to the ER for the smallest things and those without insurance who wait too long to come in and are very seriously ill. It is a chronic problem for the taxpayer but something all ER's must do based on EMTALA laws. No patient is to be turned away for lack of ability to pay.
What is aggrevating is the number of patients who are on methadone but take none of their other meds to be well. Addiction is an ugly animal. Addiction effects a good portion of our clientele in one way or another. What many do not know is that due to computerized medical records, physicians can track months and years back where a patient has been and for what. A physician then can tell who is drug-seeking through visitation patterns with various ailments. Interesting stuff huh?
Nurses are now more aloof of being abused in an ER setting. Demanding or manipulative, aggressive or violent, patients come in all shapes and sizes of psychological states. And then there are those patients who are just mean by nature who feel you owe them something when you just met. But there are those patients who are kind and appreciative of everything you do for them. My mother was one such type of patient. She is the angel who watches over me as I trudge through the cacophony and conundrums.
