Trauma!

I got a call to set up an interview at a hospital 20 minutes from the new house for a position as a nurse in their Emergency Room.  It's a huge, 600+ bed hospital with a Level II Trauma Center.  The prospect of training and working in that environment is very exciting to me.  I figure that if a job is going to beat me up as badly as nursing does, it had better at least be exciting.  They provide one-on-one orientation with an experience preceptor, lots of certifications and specialty training, etc... which is good given that I have only a bit over a year of acute care experience under my belt, and a tiny bit of self-doubt in the back of my mind about transitioning to emergency nursing so early in my career.

Despite that fact, my rational brain thinks I'll do well in the ER... this past year or so of working on telemetry/PCU has prepared me well, and I'm now truly confident in my abilities when it comes to handling crises.  Bleeding out from the rectum with a blood pressure of 60/40?  Severe crushing chest pain with a positive troponin and cool, clammy skin?  Blood sugar of 35 and unresponsive despite multiple amps of D50??  I'm cool as a cucumber.  Trauma is a different can of worms from what I'm accustomed to, but the principles are the same, and I have no problem handling large amount of blood and guts.  I'm sure that with some training and time to adjust, I'll be able to do an excellent job of it.

I'm interviewing on St. Patrick's Day, and was told to wear scrubs so that I can shadow a nurse in the ER and get a feel for how it goes.  I'm counting on the luck of the Irish to help me put my best foot forward after working a 12-hour shift the night before!