Ep. 67 | Morgan Hagan, RN & Ashley Hamrick, RN Emergency Medicine

Transcript

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Behind every emergency department is a team of people committed to helping patients through some of life's most critical moments. Welcome to what brings you in today. I from GMC health. I'm Cara Brockwell and I'm Erica Bennett. And today we're joined by Ashley Hamrick and Morgan Hagan, two emergency nurses as GMC health. So Ashley and Morgan, what brings you in today?

Well, we are here to just share a little bit about what we do in the E.R. and to kind of share with the community what our days look like. And yeah, highs and lows of being an emergency room nurse. Awesome. So let's just start out, I guess, if you want to introduce yourself, like, say, what led you to nursing?

How you kind of got here, each of you separately. Yeah. I'm Morgan. I was always that little kid who dressed up every year as a doctor for career Day. But as I got older, I realized the doctors don't do what I want to do. I want to be the one at the bedside taking care of the patient, providing true care to the patient instead of assessing the patient.

And then the nursing do the work. So that's how I ended up in nursing. Okay. And I'm Ashley. I would say kind of similarly, I have always loved working with people. I started out in a pharmacy sort of path career. I did a technician for a long time, got into pharmacy school, and right before I was due to start, I just kind of had this realization.

Same like, I really like the science behind the pharmacy. But what I love is getting to be at bedside, helping people hands on care. So I kind of switched my path last minute. Nursing offers so many different specialties. What made you guys choose emergency nursing? I think that the excitement that initially it was the excitement, you know, you watched Gray's Anatomy, you see the GSA come in and you're like, oh my gosh, that is so crazy.

I want to be in the craziness. So initially, that is what made me choose choose emergency nursing. Now it's become so much more than that. But that was the initial thought. What about you? I think I am very, for lack of a better term, scatterbrained. And so I kind of thrive in this like chaos. I need the pressure.

00:03:36:00 - 00:03:43:09
Unknown
Like, that's just where I do my best work. So, Yeah, just drew me there.

00:03:43:11 - 00:04:15:01
Unknown
I didn't look at this. I'm gonna suck at this episode. We're gonna have to cut this part out. But anyways, okay, because y'all kind of answered that one. Okay, I got this. Okay. All right. So working in an emergency room, what are some of the biggest misconceptions about getting emergency care or that you see from people that come I think probably is the expectation that we will always be in your room.

00:04:15:02 - 00:04:40:04
Unknown
And unfortunately I have to tell people all the time, hey, look like we're going to do our very best to take care of you no matter what it is. But if we've got an emergency next door, we're going to be there first. And if it's all hands on board, you're not going to see us for a while. But I always kind of remind people, you know, if it was you or your family member in distress, you would want us to stop everybody else's care and be there for you.

00:04:40:04 - 00:05:00:15
Unknown
And that's what we're going to do for everybody. So it doesn't mean we don't care about you or we don't care about getting your pillow or your blanket, but it means that we are needed somewhere else in this moment. I also think that emergency medicine you. It's it's the worst day of your life. But that might not be the worst day of somebody else's life.

00:05:00:16 - 00:05:25:04
Unknown
So you have to think the people that you're not seeing, you think that you're the only one getting care. So you're not seeing somebody who's dying next door. So can we cut this? I'm sorry I missed you. Okay. Let's go. Go with it. Let me think how I want to work this. Yeah. No, because it's it's I mean, you know, I get what you're where you're going with that.

00:05:25:06 - 00:05:45:05
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. And that was going to lead me after that was going to be like, maybe we can just start from there, then you can get back to that. But, I'm sure emergency care can be very taxing on your own mental health. And you see a large variety of patients coming in every day. They're coming in and they're to them.

00:05:45:05 - 00:06:18:05
Unknown
They're having an emergency. And that could be a variety of things from a true emergency, what we clinically diagnose emergency. But how do you handle the the mental health aspect of seeing some pretty traumatic things that can come in? Yeah, unfortunately we do see some pretty traumatic things. What's super important for us is being able to cut off our emotions in that moment, and only being able to work with the forefront of our brain, you know, coming down after a hard trauma, a pediatric trauma, it can be really difficult.

00:06:18:11 - 00:06:37:16
Unknown
But you have your support group, your friends that you can speak with, kind of like go over it, decompress a little bit. And then just making sure you have a good routine at home, you know, something that makes you happy. You have to have a fulfilling life outside of work before you can put all your put your all into work.

00:06:37:18 - 00:06:59:05
Unknown
I think so too. I think just being well-rounded as your own mental health coming in, you know, with a fresh brain is really important. And then obviously, like Morgan said, just having your friends, like the people I work with are so many closest friends. And so you've been there through something extremely traumatic. You each know what each other went through.

00:06:59:05 - 00:07:23:19
Unknown
And just having that to sort of debrief and to talk and, you know, let your feelings out. I think that helps a lot and then helps you not necessarily bring it home or let it consume you. So it's almost a little bit of detachment in a way where you can say, like, this happened, I did whatever I could, I did my best, but I didn't cause this and that, like kind of helps me understand the situation.

00:07:23:21 - 00:07:50:17
Unknown
And that's the more challenging aspect of the career. But what is the most beneficial thing, like what drives you every day when you're coming into work to be like, I'm, you know, doing what I'm being called to do. I just I don't think that we can help everybody, but I genuinely enjoy being able to help the people that we can and just make a difference in their day, even though they're having the worst day of their life, being able to be there for them on that day.

00:07:50:18 - 00:08:12:01
Unknown
I absolutely love my job. It's like very tiring. There are days where I think I'm crazy for doing this, but I think overall it's really rewarding. Like Oregon said it's just it's a really great job. It's always, always changing. You help some wonderful, amazing human beings. You meet people you would never have met outside this job and I just love it.

00:08:12:02 - 00:08:33:15
Unknown
It's a great job. How would you describe the personality of somebody that thrives as a yarn? Like you said earlier, scatterbrain, we all say that about ourselves. But I'm like, those are my people. You fit in here like you can do ten things at a time. Stop all ten, go do this task and then get right back like you never missed a beat.

00:08:33:15 - 00:08:54:12
Unknown
Yeah, people. And then quick critical thinking skills as well. So in the ICU they do a different kind of critical thinking. You know they do long term over 24 to 48 hours. Whereas we're doing in the moment. We need an answer within a minute. So I think it's important that you have those quick critical thinking skills, adaptability. And then scatterbrain.

00:08:54:14 - 00:09:15:07
Unknown
How long have you both been working here at SMC health? I've been here for about five years. I've been here too. Oh, right. All right. We're in the process of building out a new emergency and trauma center. So what does that mean? What excites almost about that, facility and your ability to be able to deliver? I'm excited.

00:09:15:08 - 00:09:35:01
Unknown
I think it'll be hopefully help, like flow. And I mean, just having a new building, more rooms to help our community. I think that's exciting. And it'll come with some challenges, of course, but you're going into it with the same team and we know that we can, you know, take on these challenges and and do what's best for everybody.

00:09:35:02 - 00:10:01:04
Unknown
Yeah. And I think it's important to remember that we as a community take care of such a large area. It's like closest to us is going to be Archbold, Tallahassee and Albany. And all of those are over an hour drive away. So you're thinking even if we split the difference, we're not just taking care of Lowndes County. And I think that this E.R. will provide us with the opportunity to be able to take care of our community a little bit better, because we'll have a lot more space and rooms to do so.

00:10:01:06 - 00:10:20:22
Unknown
Agree. That is one thing that we've seen year over year is when we're seeing more and more patients, but they're not just coming from county, so they come from all of those rural communities. And then even other hospitals often have to transfer their patients to our emergency room and then get them settled, because we have more specialized services that they may not offer.

00:10:20:23 - 00:10:47:23
Unknown
So as the community grows and as a region grows, we're their referral center. So you're definitely caring for many, many different people in addition to being located on I 75. Right. I'm sure getting a lot of those traumas and car accidents and things like that. Definitely. Are there any patient stories or patient experiences that stand out to you that you could share with us?

00:10:48:01 - 00:11:15:21
Unknown
There are a lot. There's a lot of money. I feel like when I was brand new, I was, like, still a student. This is a long time ago. I had this patient that coded. You know, we coded him for a long time. Anyway, he didn't end up making it, so we were literally sort of doing postmortem care, and I saw a pulse in his carotid, and I was like, you know, I'm a student.

00:11:15:21 - 00:11:34:08
Unknown
I'm really scared. I don't know what I should say, what I shouldn't, but I still told them we got everybody back on. And sure enough, he had a pulse. And so we, like, restarted everything. He didn't end up making it after that, but I think, like, just in that moment, it taught me how to be an advocate.

00:11:34:08 - 00:11:54:08
Unknown
Even if you are scared or you don't quite know, like this is where it's at. It's like speaking up for somebody who maybe couldn't speak up for themselves. And so that I remember that story just, kind of like gaining some confidence and gaining my voice to be able to help other people.

00:11:54:10 - 00:12:19:15
Unknown
I wouldn't say that I have, like, one particular experience. But I will say that I graduated during Covid and, you know, it was a really hard time during Covid. Ashley was already a nurse at this time, so she knows how bad it was. But I feel like taking care of those critical patients, like as a brand new nurse and learning how to manage BiPAP and critical drips immediately straight off of orientation was super helpful to me and my career.

00:12:19:15 - 00:12:37:11
Unknown
And that also just solidified like, this is what I want to do for sure. I want to take care of these critical patients and be there for these moments. And luckily, it's not as bad as it was then, but I think that formed me into the nurse that I am today. I'm sure that was so difficult. That's like your first experience right out of school.

00:12:37:12 - 00:13:02:16
Unknown
It was not easy, but it made me who I am. Yeah, emergency medicine continues to evolve. How do you see things? You know, things that you're able to do differently even since you've been here when you first started? Like, are there any kind of techniques or new equipment, new things that you're able to utilize to care for patients in your space?

00:13:02:18 - 00:13:24:09
Unknown
I think that, like, we have amazing management and they're constantly evolving whenever we bring a problem to them. Right now, they're working on getting us new stretchers because we've been having issues with these. And then they're also bringing a lot of technology into the new E.R.. One of the things that, I can't remember how many of the trauma bays, but they have X-ray equipment in the trauma bay.

00:13:24:09 - 00:13:50:11
Unknown
So instead of them having to wheel the X-ray in there, we can get it from the ceiling, which is super amazing to me. So I think we're constantly evolving and trying to bring in that new technology for safer patient care. Yeah, I did see that. I was able to tour the new E.R. the other day, and that was one of the things that they mentioned, and they showed how it's going to be, like, attached in the ceiling and just even be able to take out that those few steps, and that will save time.

00:13:50:11 - 00:13:59:15
Unknown
And, it's just less that you have to worry about when you get there. I'm excited about it. You know how many times I've hit my head on the X-ray?

00:13:59:17 - 00:14:26:08
Unknown
Well, you're working in tiny rooms with a lot of moving pieces, especially in trauma situations where it's like there's so many people around responding at the same time. Yeah. Something we talk about all the time is like, when do you go to urgent care versus the E.R.? So I'd love to hear from you guys. Like what? What kind of emergencies should patients call 911 or come to the E.R.?

00:14:26:10 - 00:15:05:07
Unknown
I, I think, like anytime you're concerned about something, obviously a life threatening any anything related to your horror or anything related to brain, anything related to vasculature, those are obviously super important. I think the biggest things that will see are like cold cough, those kinds of things that maybe could be seen at urgent care. And we do have our express care area where we can move people quickly through those that, you know, they can kind of be seen like urgent care, but it does hile up when there's a lot more people that could go to our care that don't.

00:15:05:09 - 00:15:29:16
Unknown
So it ends up delaying care for everybody. Yeah. And unfortunately that's kind of like it's not predictable like the flow. You know, I mean you can have an influx that the E.R. is not predictable. There's you can get an influx of non-emergency patients at one time, and then it's kind of, so proper utilization of the resources that we have in our community.

00:15:29:17 - 00:15:49:18
Unknown
Super important. We actually just filmed the episode about that. With Partnership Health Center and the Department of Public Health. To offer different things, really getting people to be more proactive with their health so that they don't end up in the air. Or you can save the E.R. for the. Yeah. And I think a lot of it is just the education piece of it.

00:15:49:19 - 00:16:12:20
Unknown
Like, people may just not know. And like we talked about earlier, just everyone feels like their situation is emergent. It can be scary. No matter what you're going through. And it's not to minimize that at all, but it's just the education and the proactive. Like you said, having an established primary care doctor where you go for all of your routine stuff is really, really important.

00:16:12:22 - 00:16:37:05
Unknown
As nurses who work in this environment every day, what makes you the most proud about the future of emergency care here at SMC health? I would say that all of the new technologies and buildings that were getting, and then I also feel like we have like a wonderful medical director and management tier to back us and that we would know we know that they're there to help us.

00:16:37:10 - 00:17:03:09
Unknown
They're not against us there with us. We're one team. So we're all fighting for the same thing, which is patient safety. So that does make me really excited. I don't have to fight against somebody to get what I need to take care of my patients, and they're always there to help us. Yeah. For sure. And that kind of goes back to that, culture of safety, where you feel comfortable to speak up when you say something that's not wrong or when you're trying to advocate for your patient.

00:17:03:10 - 00:17:23:00
Unknown
So that definitely gives just, you know, validation to anyone as a patient. Like they know that you feel like comfortable for that if you were to see that. Oh for sure. And so it makes me a little more comfortable. Integrity is a big thing with us. We want to make if you have if you make the tiniest of mistakes, even if it didn't cause a problem, we want to report it.

00:17:23:01 - 00:17:45:22
Unknown
We want to know. And it's not punitive, it's just educational. Everybody can run from it. Yes. Make us a little bit better. Yeah. All right. As if community members listening today, if they could take away one message about the people behind the issuance, they are the people in their work and caring for the people every day.

00:17:46:00 - 00:18:02:02
Unknown
What would you want them to know? I want them to know that we're there to help them. Sometimes it can feel like I have seen it where the patients feel like it's us versus them, but really, we're there to advocate for them. We're there to make sure they get the patient, the best care that they can.

00:18:02:06 - 00:18:27:07
Unknown
I don't want anybody to ever leave feeling like they didn't get a proper diagnosis, or they feel like we brushed them off. The doctors and us are all there to back the patients, and we want to make sure they get the proper care. I totally agree. I would just say same like we're on your side. We want what's best for you and just being able to work together and and, yeah, we are there for them.

00:18:27:09 - 00:18:57:00
Unknown
And likewise, if you're, if there were new nurses coming into the nursing field, what would you say about, you know, you want to encourage someone to potentially explore career in the air? I would say try it and don't give up because it's super tough to go in. I didn't start out as an emergency room nurse. I started out for the first like four years or so on a medical floor because I was so scared, and it took me four years to gain the courage to just try.

00:18:57:01 - 00:19:27:07
Unknown
And so I think, just be brave. Do your best. Have a good attitude and don't give up because it gets better. And there's a lot of good people that can be there to guide you and to share experiences and, just facilitate your learning, so I agree. Sorry, I don't know where I was going. Well, also, like, what other specialty or support services do y'all lean on the most in your day to day?

00:19:27:08 - 00:19:51:23
Unknown
Definitely. Respiratory. Respiratory. Pharmacy. Our docs even sometimes the other floors like pediatrics will come down and help us a lot. Yeah. Yes. All the imaging CTS, X-rays I mean we really, really are so thankful to have all of the other specialties. I feel like we can call anyone at any time with the question. And it's like, how can we help each other?

Yes, and I love that. Yes. For sure. All right. Well, I think that's all the questions we had for you guys. Thank you so much for joining us. Yes. Thank you. Y'all got to get back to saving lives. That's right. Excited for the new E.R. and help you all do your jobs better. Help us take care of the community.

Even better. All right, well, we will see you next time. You can subscribe to slash podcast.

00:20:20:20 - 00:20:21:03
Unknown
Thank.