Hi!
Come on in.
Sorry, we gotta take off.
Whoa sh*t, whoa stop, whoa geez!
Just wait 'til I start asking questions.
[LAUGHS]
Britt, you're a med-surg nurse, that transferred to the ER, right?
Yes
And how you are liking it?
I will never go back to floor nursing.
Ok, yes, when I first met you, I just right off the bat, I was like you belong in the ER.
People have told me that.
Emergency nursing is just totally different.
It's a completely different type of Nursing.
It's like when people get up to the floor, they already got an idea what's going on.
You know if you send me to telemetry floor, its something cardiac, and we're watching their heart, you know,
we'lls end them to med-surg, it's not maybe we just need to watch them overnight or whatever.
Obviously they are going to 9 if they are you know anything like me.
[LAUGHS]
In the ER all of the above, its everything.
Everything
Babies
Its heart attacks, strokes
Babies are the worst.
Babies…in different places.
I mean when I was studying for my CEN, for covering stuff like frostbite, aquatic
animal attacks, drowning, AV shunts, prolapsed umbilical cords.
Like it's anything that shows up to door.
Don't you know that you just put them back in? Prolapses? Put it back in.
Just hold it.
Put it back in and call for the doctor.
Sometimes you gotta right upstairs with them.
[LAUGHS]
It's anything that could possibly go wrong with the human being, that shows up.
Yeah.
The thing that really got me into the ER was the life saving aspect that of it
it's what got me into nursing was wheni was actually watching a life get saved, when I was just shadowing, ya know.
I was like, "Holy, sh*t. I gotta be apart of that."
You know what I mean like.
When you are on the floor, comfort care, when you know someone is dying, you've got ativan,
you've got your morphine.
Ativan, morphine.
And you are kind of expecting everything, so in ER how do you deal with an actively dying
person, that you are trying to save but you know the universe has different plans for them.
Its really really hard, a lot of it depends on would they have quality of life anyway,
do they have any family at the bedside, which a lot of the time, these people don't have family.
So hop over right.
No no you are fine, you were just this lane.
Stress wise ER is got to be one of the top specialties as far as stress goes, how do
you deal with that, on the job and then off the job.
First of all you have to have good co-workers and a sick sense of humor.
[LAUGHS]
Because you have to be able to talk about this stuff.
For me its exercise, because I will just go for it.
Therapy is huge.
I'll walk into my therapist office and it will be like oh this is what f*cking happened and
then I walk out thinking I did what I needed to do. I've processed it.
A lot of ER nurses though wont do therapy because you have this mentality of like I
am a bad ass like nothing can touch me, I can do this.
No
I think a lot of people in general in the world have that attitude.
Yeah, but
Like I can take on this world unlike yeah No,
No, No
You need to talk to someone.
Even if you don't think at the time, it affects you, its going to pop up at one point
yeah
or you find...
You gotta subconscious that you even have no idea whats going on back there.
You're fine until you get home and then you can't fall asleep.
You have got 12 hours of insane sh*t that's been happening all day.
For me what I would do is go to the gym, I do something like swim or exercise, that would
kind of get me out of the ER mentality.
Dogs
I come home and I just b*tch to my dogs.
[LAUGHS]
Honestly, they're not gonna judge me and then I can walk away from them.
Not bad
Just saying
[LAUGHS]
Just saying, you b*tch about your job, you give them a cookie.
Where are you DASH a car sick
Oh really you actually get carsick?
No I have gotten emotion sick since I was a kid, although I used to be able to go on
roller coasters, now its like...okay ginger candy, I got a meclizine, I have some coffee,
lets do it.
You are very sweat, you are very funny, you have got tattoos.
How do you think that the perspective in the patient's eyes, when you are giving them care and however it does,
how do you remedy that?
It doesn't just happen in the hospital, it happens everyday walking around being fairly
heavily tattooed but the thing that I do is I walk in and I don't even talk about it.
You have to walk in confident, and you have to make the patient feel safe, regardless.
So the second they feel safe, they are not going to sh*t if you have tattoos.
It kind of puts a little bit of chip on my shoulder, and it makes me wanna do that much better
when someone is judging me because of tattoos which you can tell.
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah oh yeah
They don't have to say a damn thing.
Absolutely, absolutely
and you know they are judging you because you got tattoos.
oh yeah
So, that kind of lights a fire under my ass to prove to them I am not a drug dealer…
yeah, yeah, yeah
I am not a gang member…
but that's where peoples' heads go, ya know it's like--
So you prove them wrong
Exactly
You prove them wrong with your competency, your care.
When you have people who are tattooed, that are able to show their art, the more comfortable
you are, the better care you are going to get.
One of the things I loved about working in the ER, I was able to wear the top I was comfortable in.
Yes, I never wear scrub tops, I can't stand them.
And that was important to me because I always kind of had large lats, so when you are
in those, when you are in those scrub tops, it's like fat guy in a little coat style.
Fat guy in a little coat.
[LAUGHS]
If you have unhappy staff, you are not going to retain them and they are not going to do
their best work, because they are not going to be happy and comfortable and confident there.
Absolutely, yeah
For kids when they come and they are scared, I show them my tattoo and I have them point
certain things out because they're really colorful.
And also patients who have down syndrome, I don't know what it is but they seem to
just be really drawn to it.
Really?
And also.. little old demented grammy.
Really?
like this...
Really?
Who are the only people I will ever let me touch them because then you get other people,
that are like, oh that's great!
Touchy, no touchy.
Yeah
Don't touch me.
Yeah you gotta draw the line.
It's confidence. It's confidence and making your patient feel safe.
You're in ER, you said you're built for it, is there anything that you miss about medical-surgical nursing
My co-workers,
like do you know what--- well your co-workers, yah.
I mean other than the co-workers, I did like doing orthopedic post-op.
So its not the bed alarms.
Oh F*CK
Bed alarms, OH GOD! I forgot about the bed alarms!
I get reminded everytime I bring a patient to the floors, I hear "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
and I'm like.. this elevator better f*ckin show up soon.
It's brutal and the pagers
Oh.....oh.....
Ugh.
So I got my first year of experience in the ER. Inpatient nursing is entirely different.
If you only have been an ER nurse, there's this huge learning curve but I don't regret for a second
working on all of the medical, the telemetry, ya know behavioral health.
Everywhere I went-- I did some training in cath lab and I.R.-- all of that.. was all helpful.. because
it makes you more well rounded.
Yeah, I don't regret it at all.
Well I think the only other thing that I could see you doing is doing something like flight nursing.
or something that's.......
I get too motion sick...
Oh yeah that's....
I would puke all over the patients.
[LAUGHS]...Oh my God, yeah.
Sorry you are intubated and BLEHHH!!
If I could get over the motion sick kind of stuff, maybe.
By the way your manbun is quite on point today.
Is it? It's on point? Ok, good.
I feel a little inadeqaute.
Nice
But I am impressed.
I am liking.
Just so ya'll can see it.
[LAUGHS]
Okay, so the specialty wise, what would you never wanna work in.
Ohhh neurology. So much pee!
I dont want to see more penises or vaginas than I already see or *-holes
in more than one sense.
But I mean, I just dont have any interest in it and I couldn't do school nursing.
One I would get bored, and two I would be like: "Swollen ankle? You're fine."
"Put some ice on it... go back to class."
I have honestly thought about doing school nursing.
Yeah, I think you would be good.
Moms would be like
"My kid is sick, I'm gonna come see them cause i want to see Nurse Stefan."
[LAUGHS]
I honestly, I was thinking, I was like, I wanna wonder how many *mumbles* single moms are *mumbles*
[LAUGHS]
How many parking tickets have you gotten or speeding tickets?
Speeding tickets? It's been f*ckin years.
So, how to you get away with this?
What do you mean?
Are a fast driver? You strike me as a fast driver.
Well, see, I used to be a bad kid, so I am…I am…I am really keen on looking
out for the cops and so I am always kind of looking about a mile ahead.
[LAUGHS]
So, when you say bad kid...
I mean like, you know, lets just put it this way, if my sister didn't put my parent's through enough hell..
Lots of nurses are very apprehensive about trying out new specialties but have
that kind of urge to...
It's hard enough to take that lead, they just got you know lots of fears, or whatever they
don't think that they could do it.
Transitioning into a new specialty, what kind of advice would you give them.
If they are already a nurse, I mean I would say shadow, go to the manager.
Just walk down there and say hey I am interested in this, can I shadow someone.
Most people will be like, yeah of course.
Because then you see a first hand, but honestly if you just have that gut feeling, you wanna try
something very specific, just go for it.
One of the things with the float pool is I was a little nervous about that, because ya know
like, you are changing floors all the time.
You are changing the people you're around all the time and you are changing-- you don't know where anythings at.
And travel nursing in the same way.
Change, change can be scary as hell but once you do it, once you try it.
You almost never regret it.
Even it was a bad experience...you know…
You learn from it...
You learn from it yeah, its not that you are trying to get a specialty and all of a sudden
you can't go back to your old specialty.
Yeah...
So, how did you go about doing it?
A lot of ICU and ER positions you could only get them with prior experience...
yeah...
if you're in a different field you're like
What the hell, how do I get in...
Exactly
but a lot of them are going to, you have to go to a new-to-specialty program.
Yeah
But I felt way more prepared going through that program...
Absolutely...
A lot of people don't want to do these new-to-specialty programs, it's worth it.
I did the ER residency program, its amazing.
Umhmm...yeah...
I learned so much just going through that, I totally recommend looking for that
new-to-specialty or that residency program...
yup...
but like you said shadowing...
Some nurses on my former med-surg floor, that I am saying, "come down, come down and shadow,
come to the dark side".
Yeah
It's so much fun.
Anyone in particular?
Yeah
Israel needs to come downstairs.
Ya I think Israel would kill it.
What is your thing that you cant do, okay some people cant do spit, you know saliva, they cant do
mucus, they cant do...
Trach suctioning
Trach suctioning okay, trach suctioning
Pass I will do...
Pass...
any foley, anything, I will stick my fingers anywhere, no trach suction.
Okay, no trick suctioning.
What it's called, pop or soda?
I just call it coke.
Well its not coke.
Does not matter.
What?
I mean as an adult, I say it.
What if you wanted a sprite?
Then I would say sprite, but if I had to call it one, I would say soda because pop sounds
something like that archie comic would say.
[LAUGHS]
Which is fine.
Ok so on that same token: pepsi or coke?
Pepsi if I had to choose.
Sprite or 7-UP
Sprite.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
No
No...why not?
I believe in lust at first sight...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
But love is something that grows...
Absolutely
Because if that were true, then I would still be with my 14 year old girlfriend.
[LAUGHS]
So no.
Do you believe in ghosts?
No, if there are ghosts, I don't think that I could emotionally handle that.
Yeah, okay, so...
So I'm gonna say no.
So you're going to say no...
Just to protect myself...
but really, okay
Do you believe in ghosts?
It depends on how you define ghosts, I definitely believe in spirits you know and ghosts like
Casper... I don't know...
I think Casper is adorable.
He is.
But there's been some weird sh*t that's happened to me where I've been like...
"I don't know- I don't know if I did that."
You know what I mean like, I don't know...I can't...
I don't think...I don't think that I closed that door.
[LAUGHS]
And I know people that I trust implicitly that have straight up told me they've seen ghosts.
It's hard when you really trust someone and they tell you something like that
for you to be like...
Nah.
Yeah....were they drunk or not?
[LAUGHS]
I mean...just saying...were they drunk or not?
No, they were not drunk.
Because if they were drunk, they might not remember closing that door.
No, that was me with the door closing.
Were you drunk?
No, I was not drunk.
Cats or Dogs?
Dogs
You got a dog.
Big dog, small dog?
I got both.
Both?
A 60 pound dog, and a nine.. maybe 10 soaking wet.
Are you good at drawing?
No
Not at all...
and my mom is professional artist.
My dad is very good at drawing.
I am terrible.
Stick figures...that...
Is that stick too...I stick to the stick figures...that's it.
[LAUGHS]
That's it.
Christina or Britney?
Ohhhhhh.....
Come on... bring it back.. bring it back.
That's so tough...
Christina has talent and I know people will be so mad.
No, no, I'm not bad.
But...
Christina Aguilera can freaking sing.
She can, she can, okay I'll accept that.
N'sync or Backstreet Boys?
Ahhhhh.... N'sync.
Is that because you like J.T.?
No, I like Joey and I have zero explanation.
Ohhhh sh*t.
I have no explanation.
I don't even know what that...I don't even know what it looks like.
Least favorite hair cut on a guy?
Mullet.
Okay, good
You were hyping up the man-bun earlier I was like, ya, I got that.
I have a thing for man-buns, I can totally do it.
I am...I am...I am diggin em..
rocking it...
Woman and hairstyles, what's the least favorite?
They are a lot of woman who are trying to make the mullet popular again.
Okay...
like awkward, hipster, mullets.
I clearly have a thing against mullets.
Oh yeah...I'm.. I'm...
They just shouldn't-- or the rat tail..
The rat tail.
and that could be either gender.
I...I rocked the rat tail
Stop it
I am telling you the truth, I rocked the rat tail until I was like six or seven.
Prove it
I...I saved...I saved it in an envelope, I don't know where that envelope is but I
told them, I said, "if you're cuttin it off, you're savin it in an envelope."
Oh you have the hair?
I think I have the hair...
Ohhh...
It might have got lost in the move from Philly but... who knows.
That's... thats creepy.
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