The Thanksgiving Weekend From Hell...

Whoa...the last 2 days were bad. So bad that I just couldn't bring myself to wade into poop and mess another day in a row. For some reason, my Manager is always complaining about the budget...so this weekend, he understaffed ALL three shifts, leaving no CNAs on the floor at all, nurses having 5-6 tele patients and a patient load that rivalled a nursing home/post op unit. Only the sickest patients were still in the hospital this Thanksgiving weekend, and everyone was stressed to the max.

Tempers were short, mistakes were happening and we had 4 incident reports in 2 days and 3 falls on Friday. There is only so much you can do and only so many places you can be at one time, at the end something starts to suffer.

Luckily the only aspects my patients suffered in was that they didn't get dinner until 8pm both nights...which is about 2.5 hours late but as soon as I could get to it. In addition, I had 2 patients to feed, which left me charting after midnight on the clock. Night shift actually begged me to stay for a few hours to help them out (they were at 6 patients each) but my tired, bedraggled body could barely make it down the stairs home.

As soon as I got home, I was assailed by sickle cell pain and knew that once again I had over done it. I had to call out today just to get the pain under control and as I'm writing this I'm still dealing with the aftershocks. The whole staff is mutiny with the Management and I have a feeling that this will be one of the main discussions on Tuesdays staff meeting.

Ode to Patients

To my favorite patients of the week,

Mr. 32A, for having a smile for me when I walked through the door. For calling me pretty lady and holding my hand. For making your wife blush at your banter. For being cheery even though it seemed like you'd been sick for a while and not getting better. For working hard with physical therapy when your body was wanting to quit. For being patient for 3 days waiting for a private room. For brushing your teeth at night.

Mr. 21, for coming into the hospital the first time in 20 years. For all the wide eyed innocence and simple questions. For not ringing your bell incessantly but grouping all your needs. For introducing me to your whole family as if we were family. For not worrying and trusting me when I said everything was going to be okay. For taking all your pills. For not complaining over all the times we were sticking you. For drinking that cup of coffee like it was better than Starbucks.

Thank you both.

xoxoxo
Your nurse

Thought...

nursing is such a conflicting job sometimes.
we are expected to be human and sensitive so we can take better care of our patients by feeling what they are going through, for their sake.
and yet, we are also expected to detach ourselves from our emotions so we can take care of our patients and make intelligent decisions, also for their sake.

From May's blog: About a Nurse

The Needle Less System

I love whoever created the Luer Lock system. My current hospital doesn't use Luer locks, they have a weird soft rubber system that you have to add a plastic blunt catheter to be able to puncture the rubber part. I think it's tedious and time consuming, and I can't wait to switch to Luer Locks again.

I was trying to explain to my man how effective the needle-less system is, and how good it is that you can retract a needle if you do use one with the one touch method. He has such a huge fear that I might get stuck one day and I was trying to reassure him. I don't know how much it helped explaining the system, but it's another thing I have to thank God for.

Can you imagine nursing 10, 15 or even 20 years before such systems came into effect? How careful you had to be to dispose of the needle properly and how scared one would be all day long under this cloud. It's hard enough working in a health-ruining environment and that's not even thinking about needle sticks.

Good luck to all the nurses out there who work out and do their best whatever situations they find themselves. Stay safe peoples.

Hey!

Okay, I'm back from across the great divide. Wow, I can't believe that you guys still check in. Thanks! I'm doing much better...believe it or not, I got out of the hospital on Friday, had the weekend to convalesce and then had to hit the floor running back to work by Monday. Because I'm 'new', HR pretty much told me that I would lose all my benefits if I don't return to work in 30 days. So back to work I go.

It was rough...I was super tired, but I'm happy to report that I survived, and the attack of nerves I had on the way to work faded away as soon as I got there. It's a good thing I love my job, if not, I would have really had it worse than it was.

On Monday, I was the lunch/break relief nurse, which pretty means I was the scut worker. I think it was apt for my first day back, no patients, no assignment, just pitching in to help everyone out. Tuesday I did get an assignment, but by then, my mojo was back. Nursing is truly like riding a bike...lol.

New License

I'm staring at my brand spanking new Oregon nursing license. I now have 3 RN licenses, one in CA, and another one in MD which is a compact state (it's like having the power of 13!). I have kept them all up, even though renewing around my birthday every year is a huge drain on the finances.

So now I'm gearing up for the move up north. We've decided to purchase a home together, and it looks like Oregon is going to be the family nest. I'm really excited, I've been talking to recruiters and trying to get a good travel assignment in place for right when we move.

I'm a person that loves change and yet at the same time absolutely hates it. I'm in the love mode right now however, staring at my new license.