Emergency Nurse Week does a great job highlighting the impact that emergency nurses make in our community, and the extraordinary care that they do. They are the first line of defense for health, wellness and definitive care before the patients go to the medical surgical, telemetry, stroke, cardiac, labor and delivery or obstetric gynecology and intensive care units. They see patients that are burned beyond belief, drownings incidents, traumatic injuries and full arrest. They aid in stabilizing critical patients on the way to the operating room and initiate life saving measures. They are ready for the next industrial accident, fire, hazmat or mass casualty incident. They see people at their worst who are broken mentally, spiritually, and physically. These emergency nurses deal with every crisis a second at a time, minute by minute.
They think outside the box, outside of comfort zones and work as a team expeditiously to resolve emergencies, and help save lives. They do this while on an ambulance as a critical care transport nurse, staff medical tents for large events, in the air as a flight nurse for civilian or military, support law enforcement and search and rescue teams. They are educators that precept the new grads. They are the safety net of your community who stand fast, day or night, ready to make an impact on your health.
It is a great week to highlight your local heroes in emergency medicine. Feel free to smile or even thank your local emergency nurse, for they just might save your life one day. I wanted to thank all the Emergency Nurses out there who make a difference. Whether it is on a rig expediting care under lights and sirens, either abroad in harm’s way serving in our military’s nursing core, or a flight nurse in the air under the helicopters’ propelling wings of angels. “Thank you for all the extraordinary things that you do in emergency health care, you truly make a difference every day in people’s lives.”