A Career in Nursing: The Middle

 

It took me a while to get my groove on in nursing but when I finally caught on, I learned that working in healthcare can be extreme, aggravating, thought-provoking and heart-breaking - all in the same shift.

I learned to differentiate the sounds of a cry of mourning, the cry of pain and the cry of attention.

I learned to have fun at work.

One night, while having a smoke (yup) in the medication room of the Telemetry unit where I worked, one of the docs suggested I work in the ER.

Me? An ER Nurse? Why not? 

ER Nursing was my life for about 20 years. I loved it and I loved my fellow 'Adrenalin Junkies', 'Trauma Mamas' and  the like. Ours was a club like no other. The ER requires physical stamina, quick reaction times and integrity.

In anticipation of the changes that were bound to occur in ER Nursing - I chose to participate in an ICU Training Program and when the time came, I left ER Nursing behind me. It was a painful decision but I felt it was important to step away from the ER while I was still on top of my game and had a decent attitude. As I've always said, "ER Nursing can suck the life out of you...if you let it."

And then I became an ICU Nurse.