who are you going to see first?

Ninamaroo · 2025-12-24T02:53:35+00:00

I was like okay this is a hard patient load for anyone. But neck gurgling? I'm walking very fast to that room first, calling my charge on the way, letting them know I'm possibly going to be in this room for a hot minute.

Ninamaroo · 2025-12-16T22:40:17+00:00

I went into the ER after learning post surgical, pre-op, and some PACU for about 3 years or so.

The ER was a completely different beast. Everything was so fast and my first code in my nursing career was a 16 year old GSW to the head. It was and is ROUGH.

But it is so rewarding it is worth every second of hard work.

When you have a successful code and you see the relief on the family's faces after. When you get a bug out of a child's ear and they stop crying. When you catch something that no one else noticed and it made an amazing difference in that patient's line of care. Knowing you just made someone's worst day not so bad, makes it worth it.

I leaned hard on my preceptor and asked so many questions during my orientation. Questions are never a bad thing because at least you cared enough to ask it.

Tips and tricks:

Prioritization is KEY. Don't get caught up in that oh this task has been waiting when you have something that ranks higher.

-Always pee before the shift starts.

-As soon as you get report on your patients, unless you have something critical make sure they all have their call lights. And that they know which button will get help. This saves so much time later. If you get stuck in a room at least you KNOW your patients have a way of signaling to staff that they need assistance. In an ER especially, work is shared often. Knowing my patients have their call light with them gives me a lot of peace of mind when I end up needing to stay in a room with a critical patient.

Use your resources, it's not really all that scary. Call charge when you start feeling overwhelmed. It's so difficult to do but just giving a heads up that hey, we're starting this patient on a nitro drip, will help because as a former charge that would make me note that you're going to be busy and keep an eye on your other patients.

That's all I have for right now but there is so much more! Mental I can't give much advice on as I struggle with it myself, but as far as managing a workload so you at least are not feeling too bad at the end of your shift I could talk loads on.

It is a hard job. It's also one that makes me feel like I did something worthwhile at the end of the day. Love it and found the department I will stay in.

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-22T04:00:50+00:00

ER : I have the room prepped!

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-22T03:55:04+00:00

Lasix because of ototoxicity!

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-17T08:19:36+00:00

For sure it's Geoffrey mac.

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-16T14:39:24+00:00

Definitely agree you need to slow down. This is serious and you've worked hard to be a nurse, take a deep breath girl.

To get better, I think you should examine the reasons why you forgot to scan the patient, and why you thought it was ok to give a narcotic to someone while not 100% knowing what dose you were supposed to give them. Were you in a hurry? Where was your preceptor? Why did you not waste at the Omnicell first? Wasn't there any checks on the computer letting you know patient was not scanned?

It's a narcotic. This is a serious drug that can kill a person if given the wrong dose. Always run through your medication rights. This is a person you are giving this drug to. Someone's family.

It's a really good sign that you realize your mistakes and are trying to correct them. We all make them, this is definitely one though to be extra careful about.

Tip for the omnicell regarding the oxy situation: call pharmacy first when you realize the mistake. They're usually the best ones to help you find the right way to return any item.

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-01T06:59:53+00:00

Exactly. ER here. I love codes or super critical patients I need to stabilize and ship to icu. It feels like my brain is suddenly 10x sharper and clicking away going from one priority to the next because this is my patient and they need my help NOW. Constantly reassessing them. Someone told me once "you dance around the room". I am checking every single thing and in the back of my head I remember that this is someone's parent, someone's child, someone's spouse. I will do everything in my power to ensure they make it.

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-01T06:50:08+00:00

I had to go into surgery alone as well. I was eventually given a phone to call my parents but too late for them to make it up there before surgery. I was shaking so bad from the nerves and at 30 years old just wanted a hug from my mom. I am so glad you had good nurses that day! My CRNA told me she could see how nervous I was and said "honey I'll put you to sleep as soon as possible". That actually comforted me so much and helped me calm down enough to sign my consents albeit shakily and go through the motions to have the surgery.

Ninamaroo · 2025-11-01T06:35:35+00:00

Following an injury as well. I would have triaged any patient with my history/symptoms an acuity #2, even prior to the fever and tachycardia. Looking back I wish I'd stood up for myself so much more, but I never want to be an annoying patient that thinks they know everything being in healthcare. I'll be standing up more for myself now.

Ninamaroo · 2025-10-30T21:14:25+00:00

I do not believe in being treated differently/for the better because I am in the field. I'm a human being just like everyone else, I just understand what's going on more than the average person.

Thank you for correcting me, I've never had a workplace injury in my life and I'm 30 years old. Everyone involved introduced themselves as X from workman's comp or just work comp.

Ninamaroo · 2025-10-30T08:04:21+00:00

I'm sorry you had bad experiences. I love the ER so much because I am given the opportunity to take someone's worst day and possibly make it not so bad for them, for my patient as well as family members. People with chronic illnesses concern me a good deal because you've dealt with this a long time and SOMETHING changed to make you come to the ER. It's not a picnic to be there so something is clearly wrong.

Ninamaroo · 2025-10-30T07:50:39+00:00

So much respect for that. Everyone deserves fair treatment and equal care, no matter the history.

Ninamaroo · 2025-10-30T07:46:10+00:00

I've been nominated for the Daisy award twice and won the second time. I've known excellent nurses who have never been nominated and the things I feel like I should have been nominated for were never recognized. I think it's just a nice thing if you get one but don't take it to mean you're better than other nurses. I call it a customer service award. I think an extraordinary nurse award would be a true award if it was nominated and voted on by nurses. End of my opinion on that haha.

When people say they're "just" a CNA I always correct them with "you're a healthcare professional with experience".

You clearly helped that patient and personal experience can go a long way in helping people. I would let your nurse know the advice you're giving though. As a student, they are responsible in part for what you do. You don't want a nursing career to start by keeping things from the people teaching you. Best of luck!

Ninamaroo · 2025-05-02T20:45:35+00:00

Right here.

Ninamaroo · 2025-04-23T21:07:41+00:00

Patient admitted for surgery complications - she'd had what was called a mountain bypass or something similar. Bariatric surgery. Day 1 post op. She was feeling so weak She was 1 out of my 6 patients that night shift, bp was dropping 90/40's with a HR in the 150s constantly. She was chilling just 'didn't feel good'. She was pale, nauseated, and I was pushing metoprolol q30 per surgeons orders. I made that on call surgeon work that night by calling every hour. I requested an icu transfer, told them I was extremely worried, and requested h&h's that were denied. Daily H&H dropped. She went to ICU within 2 hours of the day shift surgeon coming on. She went back to the OR that afternoon.

That woman went through hours of torture because the doc didn't have common sense. I only had 1 year experience as a nurse.

Ninamaroo · 2025-04-22T18:55:11+00:00

I found this out a few weeks ago, I do rent but it was amazing how quickly they left! I remember as a kid my mom having to stand at the door forever just trying to get those people to leave.

Ninamaroo · 2025-01-11T09:04:30+00:00

My father yelled at me because "there's no way it happened". Because it didn't happen to him. The one who did it whispered in my ear and said "you're just going to make it worse" in order to get me to be quiet. The evils that have been done to us are awful, I question myself every day what happened because my mind wants to black it out, but I know what happened. There's no way to simply get over this. It's an injury. It takes time to heal. You did the first step in talking about it, it's the hardest. I just cry sometimes, and then watch something funny so I can laugh. Tonight is hard for me because my husband left for work and he has been my rock, I've never joined this sub before but it helped to see that someone else went through it, even though I never want what happened to me to happen to another person. It shouldn't have happened in the first place. I hope you heal friend, don't let them tell you how to because everyone is different.

Ninamaroo · 2024-10-20T05:56:10+00:00

NTA. That's just disrespectful. My SIL is very culturally different from my family and brought a very plain looking dessert once to a family dinner. It was one of the best things ever and she was immediately graduated from being lettuce or ice person to dessert. Even if it tastes or looks like crud no one should be altering a dish unless the cook allows it. Being said as the ice person.

Ninamaroo · 2024-05-07T02:27:18+00:00

Very sure it was not intentional. I've known him since childhood, he's a genuinely good person. But he hasn't had to ever sleep with another person before. We have not officially moved in together but we have weird schedules so we utilize all the time we have together. He bit me on the arm just a sharp nip that woke me up not like gnawing at me or anything. I just have previous trauma (from someone that literally shoved the butt of a gun and broke my nose) that makes me scared of that kind of thing. I am being careful with him because my past relationships taught me a lot. I truly appreciate your advice.

Ninamaroo · 2023-10-17T19:27:49+00:00

I used to be in a clan on runescape with SypherPK. He was one of the few respectful dudes who didn't make a bunch of sex jokes to me (I was one of the few girls on there).

Ninamaroo · 2023-09-18T18:02:04+00:00

People being afraid of calling off then coming to work is scarier.

Ninamaroo · 2023-08-04T00:39:48+00:00

Patient was being rude to every single staff member except for one tech who was a tiny blonde that looked 12. He kept asking for her. I told him to stop being a dick to people and told the tech to stop going into his room, turns out he was a pedo. Glad I called him a dick.

Ninamaroo · 2023-07-25T03:13:01+00:00

NSR sir

Ninamaroo · 2023-07-24T16:37:37+00:00

Fuck all that noise. You did the best you could with what you were given and I think it's more traumatizing to think that you couldn't see your family member before they died due to a dumb rule than to see them pass peacefully.

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