How is life within the emergency department? within the ER, time moves quickly and there’s not lots of your time to regulate. One minute, you would possibly work with a critically declining patient who has been during a major car accident. Next, you’ll see a patient with a coronavirus.
Every day within the ER is different, and ER nurses must be able to adapt and reply to new situations at a moment’s notice. Although working within the ER may well be too fast-paced for a few nurses, it’s an incredibly rewarding field.
Today on the HCC we interview Beau Dupen, an RN from Royal Darwin Hospital.
A Day in the Life of an Emergency Room Nurse in Australia
Where are you, and what is daily working life like for you right now?
I am in Darwin, working at the Royal Darwin Hospital Emergency Department. Daily working life has changed a lot. Our Department has had a tremendous response and reacted accordingly to all of the global changes. Daily work is in some ways very much business as usual with responding to the continuing demand for emergency presentations, however, there is now an additional function of the department which prepares and reacts to COVID-19 related concerns. This means that there are huge structural, clinical and personal changes that all staff are experiencing.
What have you found to be the single toughest nut to crack in this situation?
What can workplaces do to better support FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES during this time?
What impact do you expect this crisis to have on the global jobs market?
This is an excellent point and something that should not be overlooked. It’s imperative that we value less acknowledged people such as cleaners and store people. Minor changes in the public mindset can really influence this, for example, referring to cleaners as Public Hygiene Workers may help people consider their role differently.
