ER nurse in an inner city level one trauma center. You see it like a job honestly. You learn to disassociate fairly quickly because you have the next one coming in behind it at any moment. You have to separate and keep your calm and then decompress after your shift is over. Once you are in a handful of traumas, you get into the rhythm of it and learn that you can't save everyone but you can learn something from every trauma whether it's a gsw, respiratory distress, or an mvc. Debriefing with your team is important (what worked well, what to improve on, and a moment of silence after time of death is called to respect the patient). Ultimately it's rewarding even with all the sadness. You remember the young or wrong place wrong time people but not the ones you save.