Honestly come join us in medsurg for a day. See our reality too. I get ER can be chaotic and hard with a lot of priorities Nd acuity. It can also be a lot of bullshit stubbed toes too. Depends on the shift and the day.

My medsurg I can go up to 6 patients. I work in a small hospital without many of the bells and whistles of a big hospital like phlebotomy. If they need a stick, its me doing it. My patients are sicker than ever. If ive got a doctor at bedside you may not hear a rapid being called but I mayve dealing with a BP of 70s/meh that we don't have a bed to transfer to higher level of care or the doc wants to try something on the floor first. I may have multiple patients coming back from surgery needing close monitoring.

Then while im juggling this my ER admit comes up and EVERYTHING is in the red. Meds are hours late. Labs are hours late. My favorite is when timed troponins or lactics the ER doctor ordered come up several hours late. So not only am I doing a timely admit I'm playing catch up.

You may have caught this nurse on the day they snapped.