‘Some of the most amazing humans I’ve met are at work’

During Emergency Nurses Week, a time to celebrate the hardworking nurses who have to be ready for anything when they walk in the door to the hospital, we’re profiling two of them at the MUSC Health University Medical Center. They come from very different backgrounds but are united by their dedication to their patients and their embrace of the flexibility required to work in emergency medicine.

Kimmy Stewart

Kimmy Stewart has been an emergency nurse and assistant professor of nursing for nine years. The work keeps her on her toes. But then, so did her previous job. “This is actually my second career. My first was working as a professional ballet dancer,” she said.

“I did that for the first part of my early adult life. I started in Charleston, and then I danced kind of all over the country with the Boston Ballet and Houston Ballet. I had a really good time.”

She loves her second career as well, working in the trauma area of the Emergency Department. It requires her to be highly flexible, stay calm in the face of high-stress situations and remain compassionate as she takes care of patients and their families.

“I think one of the things that made me not afraid of emergency medicine is that I don’t get nervous. I never got nervous when I was a dancer. I could be on stage in front of a million people, and I’m fine, and I don’t get nervous in the ER either.”

Stewart does appreciate the teamwork involved in emergency nursing. “I think the people I work with are definitely what keep me coming back every night. I spend more time with these people than I do my own family. And I can honestly say I trust them with my life,” she said.

“When we’re working on a trauma, I know exactly what my partner’s going to do because she and I work the same shifts. We work the weekends for like two years now, and I know what she’s going to do before she does it,” Stewart said.

“It’s teamwork like I’ve never experienced before. Some of the most amazing humans I’ve ever met are at work.”

One of those amazing humans is Jae Arda, a former Marine who once thought about becoming a veterinarian but pivoted to nursing. She loves the variety involved in emergency nursing. “It’s always something different. Always something new. Which is what I like the most about it. I still learn something new pretty much every day I work, and I’ve been doing this for about 11 years now.”

It’s easy to learn something new every day when each day brings brand-new patients. “It’s possible to see anything from somebody who probably could have waited a month to see their primary care doctor – but for whatever reason, they decided that today was the day they were going to come in and try to see somebody for a med refill – all the way to somebody who’s not breathing, the heart has stopped, or they’re bleeding out, that kind of thing. So very, very broad range,” Arda said.

And while the job can be fast-paced, that doesn’t mean giving patients short shrift. “We care a lot. And even if it’s something small, we know it’s something really big to you. We know that you wouldn’t come to the E.R. unless you felt like it was probably your last resort. Our nurses really, really love what they do, and they’re really good at what they do.”

Arda, who is also involved in quality improvement education, said a lot of times, she and her fellow emergency nurses don’t know what happens to patients after they leave the Emergency Department.

But sometimes they do – and that can be really rewarding. She remembered taking care of a young woman involved in a high-profile car accident that left the patient with a pole from a chain-link fence going through her chest.

“She was super sweet. I got to see her for her whole surgery because it was just a very, very slow day. As soon as we got done with her, we went right up to the operating room, and I got to stay up there and watch them do their thing and take care of her. I’m really excited to see what she’s doing these days.”

Excited to see her patient’s progress and also to continue her work as an emergency nurse. It’s a big field. Arda and Stewart are among an estimated 790,000 emergency nurses working right now inthe United States.

Their work often goes unnoticed apart from the patients they take care of. Emergency Nurses Week is a chance for everyone to pause and appreciate their commitment. “I can't imagine going to another area,” Arda said.