Being an emergency room nurse is like being in an abusive relationship. You go to work and are subjected to verbal and sometimes physical abuse. The conditions are sometimes so bad that you tell yourself this is it...I have had enough. I am getting out.Then you have a few days off and you talk yourself into going back. Oh, its not so bad. What other job can I have several days off in a row? That was just one of those AWFUL days. I like my co workers. What else am I gonna do?
So you go back, having refreshed yourself a little bit. Then the of your patients calls you a motherfucker....that drunk pees on the floor....that snotty woman in room 6 puts her light on for the 5th time
in the last hour. You can't believe that you thought this was okay. You look at the clock, thinking about how you are gonna make it through the rest of the shift. You do. You go home.
REPEAT PROCESS.
REPEAT PROCESS ad naseum.
You have a case of Battered ER Nurse Syndrome, my friend.
Thank You! I have been using this analogy for years when people ask me what working in the ER was like.
ReplyDeleteI'm a lucky one though, I walked away from my ER and hospital abusers. Not sure how I was going to pay the bills or if I would every be able to afford health insurance again. Friends and family calling me crazy for leaving "such a good job."
Well, 2 years out I'm turning away calls for my services, making almost the same rate of pay, fabulous insurance thru ACA and - gasp - every holiday off!
Not to mention the patients are much nicer.
So don't listen to your abuser! Your skills are marketable and wanted by business that actually will value your expertise.