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What does the normal routine of a nurse consist of? Has Covid-19 made the medical facilities less busy (due to people staying at home) or has it kept its level of intensity?

I'm very interested in working in a fast pace environment like the ER. I like the idea of how you'll be able to see all types of cases everyday. And how to deal with the patients and they are needing in the moment.
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Jodi’s Answer

Hello Paola, I think you will get a different answer to your question depending on the area of the country the answer comes from. I am in RN in an ICU in Odessa, TX.The ICU can be very paced too. Probably not as often as the ER. Our area has been hit very lightly so far compared to some of the northern regions. COVID has still drastically changed our normal here at the small hospital I work in. We have 10 beds in our ICU and normally average 5-9 patients. The majority of our patients come in through the ER. Since the middle of March, our ER and ICU have been a lot less busy. The ER here may have 0 patients in the AM and then 11 in the afternoon. Our census in ICU has been 1 - 2 on average and then one day we may suddenly jump to nine. (This does not include Covid patients) A lot of our hospital staff has been put on furlough and even nurses. We currently have 0 Covid patients, but when we do we have a separate ICU for them and they get a one on one nurse. The most we have had is 2 patients at one time on that unit and they have all been on ventilators. When we have COVID patients we can be short staffed due to needing 1:1 ICU nurses. We have been cross training med surg nurses to ICU so that if the need arises we will have plenty of trained staff. Hopefully the aTX heat will work in our favor this year and just burn up the virus. We can only hope. I hope this helped answer your question.
Thank you comment icon Thank you for your response. Paola
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Judy’s Answer

Nursing is a very diverse field and the location of the job such as in a physician’s office VS a hospital change the nature of your duties. There are nurses that work in surgery, or other specialty units while others work with worker’s compensation, for insurance Companies etc. I agree that the ER, ICU and Cardiac May be the most exciting. Bedside nursing in the hospital is rewarding and will give you basic knowledge as you gain experience. Most institutions will pay at least Part of your tuition for higher degree if you remain at the institution for at least one year after completion of the degree. While traditionally going to a 4 yr BSN program may seem best for some people, older students out on their own may want to go after an associate degree faster and then work a year sooner as an RN. You can take on-line classes to get your BSN while earning a full time salary. I was able to work full time while earning my MSN in 2 yrs. I then moved from the hospital after becoming a NP to a physician’s office. There are also graduate programs that you can go straight from RN to DNP. In my 60’s now, I work as a clinical educator for a large cancer drug company. The possibilities are endless.
I took similar classes to prep for my first degree as a dental hygienist. In some cases I had a greater level of difficulty compared with nursing school.

The Covid pandemic has put healthcare in an unprecedented position. All my nurse friend at hospitals are crazy busy and have been overwhelmed at times with the sheer number of patients dying. Plastic surgeon and GI offices have not been working very much based on essential procedures only during this time. This will be changing gradually. My daughter is a 32 hr a week infection control RN in New Orleans. She worked 60 hrs a week the first 3 weeks of the pandemic and was working hard to get everyone tested, the CDC notified 2 X daily etc. They literally rebuilt the waiting room of their ER to enable any one with Covid symptoms to put on a mask and be put in isolation immediately for them be triaged more closely while regular ER pts entered a different door. In the first week they added 55 ICU beds. So yes, Covid changed everything but it was a lesson long in coming. Virtual office visits have rocketed. Anyone with a fever thought to possibly have Covid 19 never went to the MD office. A Doctors’s order was faxed to a testing center and their test would usually take 3-4 days to result. Only if the pt. has low O2Sats and short of breath were they admitted.

Judy recommends the following next steps:

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Thank you comment icon Thank you so much for your response. Paola
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