Monday, February 13, 2006

A day in the life of a Registered NURSE!
I had a great day on Friday. A young 20-something patient of mine gave me a new coffee mug, some chocolates and a beautiful card. I worked a 12 hour shift that day and had worked two twelves prior to that day. So, the gift and card were very much appreciated. Today however was another story........ It started out like any other day, I woke up with the alarm at 0530 and arrived at work via the shuttle bus at 0700. The minute I got to work, I knew that it would be one of my more challenging days. First of all, one of my stable pt.'s was sitting in the dayroom because he had the roommate from hell and he was about fit to be tied. He gave me an earful about the crazy #!*&%$# in the A-bed and said he didn't sleep a wink, his pain was a 9 out of 10 and he was going to try his damndest to get the hell out of there. After a little therapeutic communication (me getting my ear chewed-off and steam coming out of his) we finally came up with a plan for when the doctor saw him. After the doctor came, he did let him go home and all was well. The other patient I had was a new stroke pt. who had come in for a abdominal surgery and ended up stroking in the OR. He was also very upset about his circumstances. He not only has a huge incision on his belly with two tubes sticking out, he is paralyzed on the left side of his body. He said he wished he had went to another hospital to have the surgery. I didn't even try to convince him he had come to the right place because we have an excellent reputation and some of the best neuro docs around because he would've just pointed out to me that he only needed a gastroenterologist, not a stroke doctor. As the day wore on, he decided to try his hand at getting out of bed by himself and fell on the floor, (luckily without any further injuries) He said he was trying to call his wife. So, filled out the incident report and tried to convince him to stay in bed. Then my other pt. was also a stroke pt. who was semi-comatose from being awake all night last night and refused to eat or drink anything. But, the docs put orders in for medicines and two drinks anyway. Talk about challenging, trying to convince someone to wake up and drink or eat when all they want to do is snore. No matter what I did, she slept through it. I finally did get the medicine in her crushed in applesauce! WHEW! Her family thought I was a saint, but the pt. thought I was a big pain in the a!#! and she let me know it. Then one of my lovely co-workers comes strutting down the hall and says who has the pt. in 52b? I said, I do, she gives me this smug look and tells me that I should get in there because she is almost on the floor. I could've choked the life out of her for leaving her half-hanging out of the chair and not even offering to help me! Some people's children. I took a few deep breaths and helped the patient back in the chair and went back to work. WHAT A DAY! and man am I glad it's over! I hope tomorrow is better. Sorry about the venting, I had to do it. I do love my job and at least I can say when I have days like this, it makes me appreciate the good days!

2 Comments:

Blogger Anna said...

Sounds like you have quite the interesting place to work, never a dull moment I bet.
Hey I missed ya, keep postin girl.
love ya

10:59 AM  
Blogger Lucy Kruze said...

Sounds like a HELL of a nightmare Blondie hope you have a better day tomorrow!!

3:13 PM  

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