I’ve been trying to write a post about nursing but it keeps sounding more like a post on nursing burnout, so I guess that’s just where I’m at right now. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Although it’s not really nursing burnout, it’s more healthcare “industry” burnout. ((and yes I use that term intentionally… IMO our current “system” is less of a system and more of an industry which is where most of the problem lies, but that’s way too long of a post to go into right now lol)) So instead of a blog post I decided to throw together a few facts about my nursing career:

1) I’ve been a nurse for almost 10 years, all at the same hospital.

2) I started as a student nurse assistant during my senior year of college in high risk OB. Then as a new grad RN I started in general medicine… and then made my way to the ED, and now PACU… mostly nights until PACU but we are staffed 24hours/day so I still pick up nights whenever I can. I just think the hospital is a nicer place to be at night.

3) The ED was my favorite type of nursing. I loved putting all the puzzle pieces together and figuring out what was going on. However, it was not my favorite environment. Sure some of the patients can be difficult and downright abusive, but at least in my experience, it was the staffing that frustrated me the most. ((Because if there is one place in a hospital it should be okay to “overstaff”, it’s the place where you never know what may come through the door and when you will need said staff, IMHO.)) Staff turnover//burnout rate was SO high, and I feel like that’s also the environment where experienced staff should be valued and retained because again… you never know what’s coming. ((These are all MY OPINIONS 😉😉 lol))

4)) The PACU has been my favorite environment to work in. Patient turnover and acuity is very similar to the ED ((HUGE variety… from quick outpatient procedures to bigger ICU cases)) which I like. I also work with a great team and have been lucky to have SUPER supportive managers in the PACU (especially after my delivery with Taylor) and they care a lot about staffing… so those things don’t hurt. 😉

5) I went from full time nights to per diem after having Mason… but I’m not the per diem you never see. I’m the one who you think is full time. Lol — I hustle hard, being casual just let’s me work around Russ’ work schedule so that we never have to use daycare.

PS… you wish you looked this good at 5am on a night shift. 🤣🤣🤣 KIDDING!! #hotmessespress

PPS…  am I the only one who thinks they embroidered this backwards? Shouldn’t it say Emma, RN?! 🤔😜