People choose different careers for different reasons. Some want to make piles of money. Some want to travel the world. Some want to use their creative skill or athletic talent.
Then there are those who want trauma.
"It's the challenge of the unknown and the rapid pace," says registered nurse (RN) Benny Marett. "It's the excitement and constantly changing environment."
Marett is an occupational and emergency nursing specialist for a group of occupational health clinics. He has a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry, and a master's in nursing.
Marett has been around hospitals all his life. During high school, he worked in the transportation department of the hospital where his mother was a nurse.
"I frequently visited the ER and became fascinated with the happenings. My senior year in school allowed me to attend a night emergency medical technician program. The next summer I transferred to the ER and the rest is history."
Marett worked as an emergency department technician during college, on weekends and during the summers. "My goal after college was medical school, but I wasn't accepted the first year. So I returned to school for a nursing degree and remained in emergency nursing."
Marett enjoys the popular television program ER. "I feel the show does a great job from an emergency department perspective and a nursing one. The show has brought a great deal of attention to the ER, which I feel is wonderful."
Deborah Willard is both a registered nurse and a certified emergency nurse. "I chose nursing because I felt it would give me the fulfillment I wanted from helping people. You have to be a people person to be into nursing. Nurses are professionals. We always keep our eyes and ears open. And we should never think that we've learned enough."
ER nurses can't help every patient. "We've all had some with tragic endings," says Mary Ann Bish, an emergency room nurse. "We haven't been able to resuscitate some people. It's very, very hard. It just tears at your heart.
"Sometimes all you can do is stand there and cry along with the family. And we have to remember to give the family their time."
K. Sue Hoyt is a director of the Emergency Nursing Association.
One of Hoyt's memorable career moments concerns the designation of the San Diego Trauma Centers. "I'll never forget standing up in front of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to address them on the issues of trauma, triage and trauma nursing," she says.
"With my employer in the room, it was difficult, because it was implied that I would simply support my hospital for the designation. But my public statement was to the effect that the patients should come first, no matter what hospital was selected."
Ultimately, the hospital Hoyt worked for was designated. "And I even kept my job," she laughs.
"I enjoy going to work every day knowing that each patient and each scenario will be different," says Gina Docherty. She is an ER trauma nurse. "There are also often more short-term rewards for helping someone in a limited time period, as opposed to a 12-hour shift with the same people."
Docherty recalls one patient she'll never forget -- a woman whose face had been torn off in a dog attack.
"All you could see were her teeth and a bloody hole where her nose had been. She was perfectly alert with no other injuries. It was so bad that some of the nurses refused to go into the room with her. I saw the photographs of her face after surgery, and was totally impressed that the plastic surgeon was able to put her face back together again."