Rural ER Nurse Day In The Life

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[ourhome]

Rural medicine is medicine of the highest order. I come from a background where the nearest hospital was at least a 40 minute drive. There was one MD for two counties; his clinic was his living room and his wife was a nurse. They were amazing. ❤

[ada]

This lady is BADASS! I have so much respect for ER nurses as a med surg float that has to float down in the ER sometimes but especially this lady in particular and all the rural ER nurses out there. Literal life savers on the front lines.

[cactustree]

CNA=certified nurse assistant; ED Tech=emergency department tech...Rural ER Nurse=god

[chromeo]

That woman is a superhero. You’ve got to be one badass human to run an ER without a Doc or support staff.

[tammypearson]

My last job on the road has been a rural 12 bed critical access facility. It has one room for the ER, one for an intensive patient, and 11 standard rooms. The staffing at night is usually one RN, one LPN, and a nursing assistant. When we have something bad coming in (EMS, Sheriff, State Trooper gives heads-up), we call in xray, lab, or anyone else we can reach. We always fly someone out if the weather is decent... we cannot keep someone that bad. Just like big hospitals, we have protocols that direct us to start IVs, resuscitate people, etc. I've been that only RN at night, although sometimes blessed with another new RN. Its an interesting experience working in these rural places.

[solitarelee]

I wound up in a rural WV ER while traveling last year, I thought I'd wandered onto a set. The nurse couldn't (didn't?) talk, and the doctor was a caricature of a southern fellow. Absolute strangest ER experience, but still leagues above any ER I went to while living in NC lol! The rural medical staff are really a different breed.

[denisetarabori]

I’ve seen this beautiful fabulous RN here before. And I have such great respect and admiration for her like nobody’s business!! My nursing cap is off to her (actually long gone from days of yore.) Freshly licensed RN back in the mid 70’s I worked in a very small rural hospital in the mountains of PA. We had the whole house to care for on evening and night shifts. I was the RN charge nurse, whole house, right? We had Docs on day shift and sometimes part of evenings, but only a resident upstairs sleeping if we needed them on nights and a Doc on call if it’s was necessary . 2RN’s 1LPN and maybe a CNA if we were lucky. Fortunately we had excellent ambulance service for serious ED patient’s. Anyway, I retired a few years ago, but to this day, I still feel her struggle.

[muypyld]

No doctor, no pharmacist, no RT, and likely two to three floor nurses to cover ER, acute care, and swing bed. Small town paramedics are also significantly under appreciated.

[WhiteTiger]

Rural reality! I'm in the NY Catskills. I get it, totally! I work in a disability agency (not one of the nursing staff), and as an employee, as well as a local resident, I have the highest respect for our local doctors, hospitals, nurses and volunteer EMTs.

[mesalily-TeHWoRld]

Thanks for everything you are doing! My daughter is a CNA, sophomore in college working towards her RN. I have said this so many times are a rare and special breed of humans. It's more of a "calling" imo and not for the weak. Utmost respect for all of you. THANKS AGAIN❤❤❤

[UneekSaltyAF]

Girl! I'm a Labor and Delivery Unit Secretary. Just listening to you explaining what your night is like...you do it all! You are amazing!

[binc]

Wow so grateful to live right next to the hospital

[lillianbarclay]

I always felt so guilty going into the er st night for seemingly simole things (tho they weren't)
My most recent time i was 17 going into urgent care after theowing up a lot and running fever. They then tell us since we odnt have an appointment (at a walk in clinic) we couldnt be seen so we went to the childrens er and i was so embarrassed being there just because i was theowing up and running fever but i have auto immune disorders so we wanted to get checked just in case, i had the flu and was bed ridden for a week after i went to the er

Those nurses made me feel so welcone and that i wasnt overreacting and i had nothing to be embarrassed about. I will always be greatful for those nurses thag night

[justcallmejessz]

In an ER situation. Id choose an ER nurse over a doc! 110% of the time!

[AndiSchneider]

This is why I can’t live in rural areas because I would die. With a central line and having a high infection risk like I do it would be very scary to not have docs there for a sepsis code. It’s scary when it happens in the city hospitals.

[thedarkside]

No money in the world can compensate what she does.

[bcaye]

I've worked there, as an RT. It was my boss and myself. Once he went on vacation and I worked 80 hours in one week.

[GrammaNay]

Sounds like our L&D department in our small town critical access facility!!!

[silverdoe]

In Sweden that would be illegal, a doc (or veterinarian) must be present in the building. They typically hide in radiology or sleep.

[amandah]

Nurses really do all the heavy lifting and they need more recognition.