Lately I’ve been wondering what the hell I was thinking when I decided to become a nurse. The floor has been SO busy with constant admits and discharges, everyday there is 5 patients to a nurse (legally that is the most you can be assigned). I wasn’t sure if I was cut out for it. I seem to have to stay an hour after my shift is over to catch up on charting and doing one last check to be sure I don’t miss anything. Yesterday a nurse on our floor told me “I’ve been a nurse for 30 years and this is the worst month I have seen”. Later that evening a couple of other nurses said similar things, that it has been insane on our floor. So now I’m starting to feel better, it wasn’t just me being slow. It is partially the floor to blame. They were short staffed last night so when the charge nurse asked if anyone wanted to stay till 11 pm I said sure. I figured I was already on the floor and I would keep my same patients, how hard can it be? I had a busy day but managed to keep on top of it. I had 2 admits, a discharge and a transfer, so lots of paperwork. Tadd came and brought me dinner, mmmmm Taco Bell. Then at 1030 pm I had to give a blood transfusion to one of my patients. He was an older gentlemen and I had to take my time when explaining what was going to happen. When you give someone blood you do a lot of patient education, especially if they have never gotten a transfusion before. You explain the signs and symptoms of a transfusion reaction and tell them to call you if they feel different in any way so you can stop the transfusion. This old man took the “feel different in any way” to heart. Even before I started the blood he was telling me he felt something. As it would take 2 hours for the transfusion I left him hooked up to a vital sign machine (checks blood pressure, heart rate, O2 saturation), well the wire for the O2 saturation monitor must have come loose because he called again. The monitor shows a question mark when it cant get a reading, so he was worried he wasn’t getting any oxygen. I did my best to reassure him but was looking forward to going home. I was doing great until 1130 when I sat down to give report to a float nurse who was going to take my patients. I kinda lost my steam and was just a big puddle of mumbling nonsense. I apologized and she was very sweet and patient as I stumbled through report. I didn’t leave until 1230 this morning. Yeah, I don’t think I will be doing the 17 hour shift again anytime soon. I came home and there was a package on the counter from my mother-in-law Tamie. She had sent me a care package from L’Occitane, the most exciting looking product was the Verbena cooling mousse for tired legs. I will be using that later when I finally get my butt out of bed. THANKS TAMIE!!!
In other exciting news as I was sitting down yesterday to chart one of the babes gave a good swift kick. I have been feeling little movements for almost 2 weeks but this was by far the strongest. I just sat there with a dumb grin on my face, people probably thought I was losin it.
My life is now a Jackson Browne song:
I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
Amen
3 responses so far ↓
1 Grandma Lavon // Sep 12, 2007 at 10:15 am
Bet the twin (probably the boy) that kicked you wanted you to know he didn’t like you doing long hours either. Was saying “give me a break.”
2 Dee // Sep 13, 2007 at 6:20 am
Hava, if you could take care of my three boys for ten years, nursing should be a breeze! While there was no paperwork involved (unless you count the endless forms for school), the boys could certainly be a challenge (as well as their insane mother)! I am sure you are Nurse Extraordinaire, just like you were Nanny Extraordinaire, and most definitely will be Mommy Extraordaire! I may have to make a trip to Cottage if I hear you are working a double shift again . . . a definite “no no.” Of course, if you want to go on bed rest soon, you might want to do one more (that is a subtle friendly lecture type of thing). XOXO
3 Day 12 of hospital lock down // Oct 23, 2007 at 11:37 pm
[...] getting anxious. I know that 3 contractions in a 4 HOUR PERIOD is nothing to be concerned about. I was becoming that patient, the one that constantly calls afraid their body wasn’t getting an…. Anyways the nurse came in and put me on the monitor for an hour. There was one contraction and it [...]
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