What is the most stressful aspect of being a trauma nurse? The most rewarding?

Most stressful: Poor communication within the team and people not knowing their roles. Role identifying and clear communication are key.

Rewarding: Being with and comforting patients and family during their most vulnerable and painful time.

The stress of having such critical patients who are so so young. Having family and friends have died in the accident that sent them to you. A woman who lost her 13 year old daughter, and has a TBI, she would forget her daughter died every time she fell asleep and we would have to tell her all over again a dozen times a shift... drug addicts and felons brought in who try to attack you (and sometimes succeed. People in pain that you just can't ease, addicts who scream and throw things when they don't get their way. Calling a family and telling them their 16 year old was shot and was in surgery. Having a woman who was beaten and raped 3 doors down from the man police shot who was attacking her, or the drunk driver who hit a man's wife yelling, complaining, and hitting his call light repeatedly while you do CPR on her. A man coming in with a swastika on his chest who refuses to work with anyone Black or Latin.

But -

Saving someone's life by catching PE symptoms on a 19 year old. Getting dinner sent to the floor by the mother of man who we cared for for weeks. Taking someone downstairs to see their kids for the first time since their accident. Hugging a woman who just found out her family is okay. Taking care of someone KNOWING your impact will change the rest of their life. Honestly, with all the bad, looking back at it, I mostly remember the good things. The adrenaline, the purpose, doing good and knowing I was good at it. Trauma Nursing is like ER nursing, you're built to love it or hate it.

most rewarding?? Early retirement

The carnage, the human suffering, and how to deal with overwhelming stress while operating at the highest levels of medicine..A great team is essential..and the availability of your fellow workers to comfort each other allows us to carry on...fighting death is a nasty business..comforting your comrades is true, real, medicine.

Dealing with family and experiencing surreal situations that may affect you for the rest of your life. I found it to be incredibly interesting. Dealing with family with the MD regarding death life or limb loss is the worst.

When a patient dies.

For me the most stressful is when I have to take care of a trauma patient who drunkenly killed others. Worse when children are involved.

The next would be rape victims.

noisy levels and how to handle stressful environments/ because we need more women being wives to go in there like that for nightshifts of nursing spousal lock ups and be in the same room together for family programs

I did about 20 years of ED/Trauma in a number of capacities. The most exciting part of my career and the most depressing time of my career. While I would not trade it for anything Twenty years is too long. When I was asked to write a couple vignettes for a book on critical incident stress debriefing I realized I had some degree of PTSS or PTSD from my time doing the care i was doing. You get addicted to the adrenalin rush. It has been 20 years since my last Trauma work I still feel the rush when I talk about what we did. The knowledge and learning served me well when I young the ARMY resreve and taught what i knew to fellow RN, and medics who went on to serve in the Gulf wars. IT helped save a lot of soldiers.

Most stressful aspects were not understood in the early phase of my career ... it was exciting being in competition with the Grim Reaper...and many times we won -- were able to send pt to the OR then later hear they are thriving.

stressful taking care of 2 victims from the same MVC one a DUI driver with poorly maintained pickup truck who crosses the centerline causing a head on collision in which the bed breaks loose swings around and takes part of the skull of the driver of car 2 exposing the brain, Both set of victims are brought to the same Trauma center and I end up taking care of the both the driver and the expectant patent. in adjoining rooms. The driver of the truck has a concussion and is constantly yelling out "I am in pain, do something!! then goes through the circus that occurs with any early TBI MVC patient having short term memory loss of repeated asking and asking what happened and how they got hurt, and who it happned ,where am I why am I here....ad nauseum.

then I step next door and with the expectant patient start decerebrating, and terminal breathing

both are in their mid 20's

My way of being able to sleep nights was to watch as movie (dating my self here) Rambo where the violence could all be come part of the movie and once the movie ended I was able to turned off own feeling and sleep well.....

If you do decide to go into trauma make sure you have a prePlanned counseling/debriefing/ safe place to decompress. and believe me the cool bar named "The Recovery Room" is NOT your friend.

The stressful moment is when there are few hands to support.
The rewarding aspect is when there is a strong team, teaching and being thought,and given the opportunity to grow and gain experience.

Most stressful is as fallow. Lack of organization, communication , support from staff, preparedness
and to do efficient performance during and caring for a trauma patient .
Most rewarding thing is to be able to save the life of that person !!!..