7. Emergency departments don’t always hire nurses straight out of school.
The reason is that new nurses take upward of six months to get oriented, so that basically means six months of training before a brand new nurse can start working. Some ER nurses start off in intensive care, telemetry, or maternal child health to gain experience before applying to work in the emergency department. Another way to get a foot in the door is to start as an ER department tech, which offers on-the-job training and can give you the experience you need to be an ER nurse. Some nursing students also do a preceptorship, where you can shadow a nurse for a few months while you’re still in school. I’ve taken on students for preceptorships and several of them have been hired in the end, so it’s a good way to make connections and prove you can do the job.
8. Sometimes, patients will treat you like a punching bag.
There’s a lot of what we call “violent verbal abuse” in our department. Patients might call you names, or take out their frustrations by yelling at you. I think everybody just has to put on their armor before coming to work but it does affect you. It helps to be part of a professional association where you can vent to other nurses at the end of the day, or just talk it out with somebody who understands the environment.