There is a lot of buzz these days about the field of nursing. It is generally considered one of the hot jobs and an industry with one of the most job availability. The South Bend Tribune has an interesting interview with Greg Bingaman, who is a trauma nurse at Memorial Hospital. Bingaman's job includes lots of exciting life-saving activities like this:
Can you give an example of an emergency call?
We had a scene call in the southern part of the county. We were here at the hospital ... got called. We were on scene at the patient's side before the paramedics arrived. That's how fast we are able to get there. The patient had not even been pulled out of the vehicle yet, and we were right there, and so we were able to get that patient from the scene of the accident into the emergency room with the trauma team right there within 15 minutes. And that is the beauty of the helicopter ... the speed. And if you know anything about trauma care, speed is critical. You have to have definitive care within a certain amount of time; otherwise, your chances of survival go down dramatically.
Bingaman said his career began when he took an emergency medical tech (EMT) course. He also says there are other men in the field of nursing.
Let's talk about how you got started in the nursing profession.
I started off, I believe it was '93, taking an EMT course -- emergency medical tech course -- here at the hospital. And then I was going to IUSB -- a biology major.
So you were always interested in life sciences?
Yes ... but after I did the EMT course, then I ended up getting a job in the hospital as what they call a patient care extender, which is basically like a nurse's assistant-type of position, but you get to do a little but more. And I started off working nights here and moved into the ICU.
Were you one of the only guys in nursing school?
No, actually, we had three or four total, in my graduating class. And really, you think, 'Oh, a guy going into nursing; they are probably going to be one of the only ones,' but I found throughout the years, there are quite a few. And if you went throughout the hospital, you would see men in every unit and a lot of times, two or three men working the floor.
For more information about trauma nursing the Futures in Nursing website has a spotlight here on Emergency Nursing. Medi-Smart also a resource section listing Emergency and Trauma Nursing books and links.
