The emergency department I entered more than 20 years ago is not the same emergency department nurses are working in today.

Patients are more complex. Emergency departments are overcrowded. Nurses are managing patients who should have been admitted hours, sometimes days, earlier. Workplace violence continues to be a concern, and staffing challenges affect everything from patient safety to the ability to provide basic nursing care.

Yet we continue to expect emergency nurses to do more with less.

I’ve worked in different healthcare environments, both in the United States and internationally. One thing I’ve learned is that having resources doesn’t necessarily mean they’re accessible, and having policies doesn’t mean they’re practical.

We cannot continue addressing today’s emergency care challenges with yesterday’s approaches.

We need to rethink how we prepare nurses, how we staff emergency departments, how we manage patient flow, and how we support clinical decision-making.

We also need to listen to the nurses doing the work.

Not every solution requires a new committee, another online module, or another policy. Sometimes it starts with asking the people at the bedside what isn’t working and actually doing something with their answers.

Emergency nurses have adapted to enormous changes in healthcare. But adaptation should not mean accepting unsafe conditions as normal.

This Emergency Nurses Week, I hope we’re willing to have the difficult conversations about what needs to change, not just celebrate how much nurses can handle.

What is one thing you would change about emergency nursing today?

Adventures with Nurse Jamla® | Emergency Nurses Week 2026