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    Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse
    Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse
    Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse
    Ebook120 pages1 hour

    Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse

    By Elizabeth Paul

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    About this ebook

    a gripping memoir of the life of an emergency nurse in a regional trauma centre.
    what really goes on behind those waiting room doors? these are true stories taken from memory, reflecting upon my experience as an emergency nurse through my own eyes. the reality of working in such a volatile and unpredictable place brings with it excitement, suspense, highs and lows. this book is not for the easily squeamish and does contain medical language.
    stories from the emergency department that will stay with the reader. entertaining and sobering, this book should be read by anyone wanting a nursing career.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElizabeth Paul
    Release dateNov 18, 2012
    ISBN9781301056101
    Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse
    Author

    Elizabeth Paul

    Elizabeth first started her nursing career at the age of 17 and always had stories to bring home over dinner. These stories and Elizabeth's love of writing created a impetus to write down her amazing experiences working as an Emergency nurse. Elizabeth currently lives in Melbourne with her husband Steve and has many more stories to tell.

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      Book preview

      Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse - Elizabeth Paul

      tmp_5a06dabc754afa0957cc35216ee43200_icEpKv_html_30487e66.jpg

      Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse

      By Elizabeth Nicholl

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2012 Elizabeth Nicholl

      All Rights Reserved

      Published by Elizabeth Nicholl

      Cover designed by Scarlet Trugers Design

      www.scarlettrugers.com

      Editing by FirstEditing.com

      A gripping memoir of the life of an emergency nurse in a regional trauma centre.

      What really goes on behind those waiting room doors? These are true stories taken from memory, reflecting upon my experience as an emergency nurse through my own eyes. The reality of working in such a volatile and unpredictable place brings with it excitement, suspense, highs and lows. This book is not for the easily squeamish and does contain medical language.

      Stories from the emergency department that will stay with the reader. Entertaining and sobering, this book should be read by anyone wanting a nursing career.

      Dedication

      To my family

      Thank you for your support and encouragement and listening to all my stories

      About the Author

      Elizabeth Nicholl qualified as a registered nurse at the age of 21 and has worked in a variety of settings such as vascular surgery, trauma orthopaedics, hyperbaric nursing, community nursing and the emergency department. Liz has worked in emergency departments in both the UK and Australia and has many dramatic and interesting stories to tell. Liz has always had a love of writing and after a time working in nurse education, she decided that it was time to share her experiences of working as an emergency nurse in order to educate others about the realities of emergency nursing and also to share the highs and lows of such a role. Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse is her first book.

      Authors Note

      These are true stories taken from my memory, reflecting upon my experience as an emergency nurse through my own eyes. The reality of working in such a volatile and unpredictable place brings with it excitement, suspense, highs and lows. This book is not for the easily squeamish and does contain medical language, which has been simplified as best as possible into layman’s terminology. A glossary has been added at the end of the book.

      For reasons of respect and patient confidentiality, certain names and details have been changed to give anonymity to the people involved; however, these are real people and real events that I have had the privilege to be involved in. This book gives a behind-the-scenes look at what really goes on behind the waiting room doors. It has some confrontational stories about the realities of ill health and unfortunate accidents. It describes the highs and lows of a nursing career in the emergency department. I hope you enjoy my collection of short stories and that it gives you a better appreciation of what may be keeping you waiting in the emergency department waiting room.

      Table of Contents

      APNOEA

      CARDIAC ARREST

      ALWAYS WEAR A SEATBELT

      OBJECT RETRIEVAL

      A WALKING HEART ATTACK

      HORSE AND HOUND

      FIGHTING

      CHARCOAL

      CARS AND BIKES

      WHITE POWDER

      WORK INJURIES

      FALLING

      TACHYCARDIA

      ASTHMA

      MY DAY WITH THE PARAMEDICS

      ANAPHYLAXIS

      SCARRED FOR LIFE

      DEPRESSED

      KNIVES

      ALCOHOL

      BUTCHER’S KNIFE

      STOCK CAR RACERS

      GLOSSARY

      Apnoea

      The emergency room has taught me the hard way to expect the unexpected. Anyone can walk through our doors twenty-four hours a day, whether we are short staffed, equipment hasn’t been restocked or have three cardiac arrests one after the other. On the whole, I believe emergency nurses perform their work with an innate calm and a stomach of steel.

      On this particular occasion, I clearly remember coming into the area around the nurse’s station at handover time. About ten nurses at the desk were either waiting to be told about the patients they were taking over the care of or eagerly waiting to go home after a tiring shift. This day the waiting room security door was open, giving a full view of the waiting room and check in desk, down a long corridor ending in the paramedic bay and entrance to the emergency department.

      All the nurses were looking intently at the white board, discussing the progress of the morning patients, and handing over information to the afternoon staff. Suddenly, there was a commotion behind us coming from the main entrance, and we all looked to see what was happening. A large woman with dishevelled hair and clothes hanging off her shoulder ran towards us, stumbling and gasping for breath and clutching a mound of blankets. She was red-faced with hair stuck to part of her face. She wore a look of sheer panic as she stumbled awkwardly through the waiting room. A man, also out of breath and panicked followed, behind her as the women continued her determined path towards the nursing station.

      The woman continued to clumsily run straight through the waiting area, a distance of 10 meters, still gasping for breath and clutching her blankets. We all turned to face her but couldn’t see what was wrong in the seconds it took her to get through the waiting room corridor. I felt she was moving in slow motion. Finally, she barged her way through the half open security door and shouted, Help me! My baby’s stopped breathing!

      Swaddled in the baby pastel blue blanket was a limp baby hanging in his mother’s arms. The baby was the colour of the blanket, blue and motionless.

      Her panic passed over to me for a second and thankfully a male nurse immediately grabbed the baby out of the mother’s arms and ran in the direction of the resuscitation room. With the lifeless baby in his arms, he kicked open the doors and hurried inside with a stream of followers.

      The resuscitation room has three trolleys for patients and one was specifically for paediatrics. Unfortunately there was an elderly patient in it, having her broken arm repositioned. We all cursed under our breath as we ran past this bed and to the last bed in the resuscitation room.

      The nurse lay the baby on the bed, grabbed a bag valve mask off the wall, putting it over the baby’s mouth and nose and switched on the high flow oxygen. There was only adult equipment in this trolley area and consequently, the mask seeped oxygen over the whole of the baby’s face.

      I swiftly followed him and pulled the emergency alarm to get the doctor’s attention. We already had a crowd of nurses assist as they had seen the baby come in. Another nurse called the paediatrician to assist in the baby’s resuscitation while another nurse talked with the mother and father and gained information about what had happened to the baby.

      The baby looked tiny on the adult size trolley and the male nurse’s hands covered most of his head as he administered oxygen. I began snapping the popper studs on the baby’s jump suit, to gain information on colour, movement, temperature; I touched and felt for a pulse, looked for a vein and assessed the need to start CPR. Other nurses brought over the paediatric trolley with all the equipment in it and like a team of worker bees; we continued our assessment in silence, quickly and efficiently with everyone taking a role.

      The adult oxygen mask was quickly swapped for a paediatric one, which fit snugly around the nose and mouth, with the male nurse keeping the baby’s head at the correct angle for best airway patency. The baby was blue and cold and still as a calm lake; it was unsettling to be in control of saving this baby. I couldn’t locate any pulses but my own throbbing pink fingers touching this cold baby, hoping and wishing to find some sign of life. I began CPR with one hand and two fingers, lightly depressing the baby’s small chest.

      The paediatric equipment trolley was brought nearer and the circulation draw was opened. Now that the baby’s jumpsuit had been removed, a doctor was feeling for veins to site a cannula into a vein. He was poking the stubby cold arms of the baby to locate any vein that wasn’t hidden deep under his baby fat; he applied a tourniquet to the baby’s upper arm and laid the blood taking equipment on the spacious trolley between him and the baby.

      Nurses began attaching electrocardiograph dots and leads. The 12 leads were placed strategically around his small chest, two on his arms and two on his legs. In the calm hub of activity, worry was relieved with a beep, beep, as a pulse had been found by the cardiac machine. I stopped CPR. The mother, who was being comforted by a nurse, gasped a huge sigh of relief. She was still getting her breath back from her rush into emergency and now had a fresh sense of hope that he would be okay.

      His parents stood at the bottom of the trolley absolutely flooded with emotion, hugging and holding hands. Their precious baby had stopped breathing for

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