ER Nurse Insanity: The Traveling Years

Well, it's official. I'm off orientation and on my own at the new job. It's a little nervewracking, but overall I think I'm doing okay. There's still a lot to learn and I've had a fairly vanilla ...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/11/november-22.html

I successfully ran a rapid infuser during a trauma the other day, and a coworker was surprised it was my first time ever running that particular one. Which was extremely unexpected, because I fel...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/10/october-24.html

It's been two months since I started my new job, and there hasn't been a single shift where I've regretted making the move. Sure, there have been days that were overwhelming and it's definitely h...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/10/october-18.html

It's been quite a long time since I've been the noob at work, feeling lost every day and like I'm drinking from a fire hose any time someone teaches me something. This new job has me feeling such...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/09/september-2.html

I had to go to the new hospital today for all of my pre-employment stuff screenings and fittings. It was strangely exciting to be back, although I have two more full weeks off before orientation ...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/07/july-27.html

What's up, yall?! Hopefully everyone still has all their fingers after this July 4th holiday, yes? Actually, that's why I'm updating so soon again - I got a job! In a trauma department, where peo...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/07/july-6.html

Road trip and race time! This was my second half marathon, done through the Vacation Races company. Their whole bit is to host races by National Parks and have stupidly scenic routes. It really w...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-21.html

Hey guys! Remember that time that I was fed up with the unsafe staffing levels, unhappy with my job, and just generally over the whole thing? Well...I quit my job about a month ago and decided ...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-20.html

A half-naked lady is brought in by EMS after being picked up from outside a gas station. She's loud and twitchy and disheveled but also surprisingly re-directable and coherent. I'm trying to figu...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2023/01/january-12.html

I can't believe it's been six months since the last post...although I keep saying that every time I go months without posting, so maybe I should stop being surprised at this point. The past few...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/12/december-9.html

A staff bathroom in the ER - placed head-scratchingly close to the ambulance queue spot in the hall and also the charge desk - broke the other day. Something with the pipes, or sink, or whatever,...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/07/july-1.html

I promised y'all a followup post to the spicy email saga, so here we are. And yet the fall out was much, much different than I expected.  Let me preface this by saying that I generally frown u...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/04/april-7.html

One of the reasons I'll never be in administration is that I am completely incapable of keeping the spiciness at bay enough to be a Real Professional Adult (tm). I know this about myself and it's...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/03/march-22.html

It's no secret that one of the worst parts of the ER is dealing with the awful, terrible people that come in. Not the "I'm having an awful day and so I snapped at you guys" kind of people, or eve...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/03/march-10.html

We had a terrible, horrible trauma the other day - think Kill Bill style knife injuries and attempted murder. The staff working was incredible though. We genuinely saved a person's life, and whil...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/02/twosday-22222.html

I think six months is the longest I've ever gone without posting since this blog was started. It's been a rough, tough two years of pandemic and honestly that's just taken the wind out of my post...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2022/01/january-27-2022.html

This past 4th of July holiday was awful. Not to celebrate, mind you, but if you were sadly at work like I was then it was just the worst. We had more traumas and CPRs and critically ill people th...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/07/july-25.html

YOU GUYS. My plant life and ER life collided in the very best way this week. A patient came in, and she recognized a few of us that took care of her a while back. She happened to work at the nurs...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/07/july-21.html

We recently had a very drunk middle aged dude come in for an MVC, because of course he was shithoused, high, and driving extra fast. As people do. Anyway, he dislocated a hip out of socket and it...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/06/june-26.html

Hello! I've been away from blogging these past couple of months because it seems like there's no time! I've been wildly busy with work, gardening, sitting outside in this Texas heat in order to s...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/06/june-23.html

I've had more foot-in-mouth moments over my decade+ of nursing than I can count. Somehow for all my momentary embarrassment I've never been truly shamed by them because damn if they don't make hi...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-13.html

Good lord y'all, springtime got away from me there. It's been a busy few weeks since the last post.  Work is...work. We're pretty firmly out of the winter COVID surge and back to our normal ba...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/04/april-21.html

 Y'all, I did a charge dayshift on Tuesday. DAYSHIFT. I'm honestly trying to remember the last time I worked a real, honest to god dayshift from 7a-7p. I can't think of it in the past 5 years, s...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/03/march-18.html

Can you believe it? One whole year since the WHO declared COVID a pandemic. One entire year. Shit's wild. Things are getting better here in Texas. Our positivity rate in the hospital is down to...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/03/march-11.html

Remember that time one post ago when I was like "this is the best snow day ever!" and we had a cozy fire and cheese board and I snuggled with the cats and the husband while watching the snow fall...

http://themountainsarecalling.blogspot.com/2021/02/febrrrrruary-21.html