kapachino

Tag: nursing

  • Not A New Subject Yet

    I was really wanting to talk to you about something other than my job and my wedding today. But, not yet.

    I have been taking care of patients completely on my own for about a week and a half now. One patient I have been the primary nurse for since about a month ago. I have built a strong relationship with her sister (she herself does not speak due to a stroke). Last Friday through Monday I took care of three patients, all of whom I knew and had taken care of before.

    Today, after one day off, I arrived at work and the first thing I noticed was that my patient for the past month wasn’t on the floor anymore. After questioning, I found out that she was transferred to ICU yesterday, having become septic. That was a downer.

    Then I received my assignment for the day and I was given four patients, all brand new who I knew nothing about, and two were due for discharge. You might think that’s a good thing, because they’d be leaving. However, discharges and admissions take a lot of time. There is paperwork, medication reconciliation, fulfilling doctor’s orders, and preparing them to leave to take care of. Both of my patients wanted to leave as soon as possible, and the beginning of the shift is always busy anyway.

    A little bit later, the doctor of a patient I had over the weekend came to the unit and informed us that after he was discharged last night (against medical advice), he went home and shot himself in the head. Wow.

    After I got through all of that, the day got better. And tomorrow, I hope to come to you with something completely new and random!

  • I Love My Job…I Love My Job…I Love My Job…

    Even when I have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning to go.

    Even when I have to clean poop out of an opening it shouldn’t be coming from.

    Even when the hospital shuts the water off on our floor without telling us, so that everyone goes to the bathroom and is unable to flush for hours and hours, and the rooms and hallways start to smell.

    Even when one of my patients spits up phlegm every five minutes into a cup that he leaves sitting at his bedside, and I have an attack of dry heaves in the bathroom just thinking about it.

    Even when another patient vomits all over himself and the floor.

    It’s worth it when they all tell me how glad they are that I am their nurse, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to going home at the end of the day, eating burgers, and hanging out with my fiance and my dog. I love my job, but some days I don’t like it very much.

  • Hmm

    Today as I was exiting the bus I looked at the bus driver and had the thought, “I wouldn’t want to have a job like that where all these people’s lives are in my hands. If she messed up we could all die.”

    Then I remembered what I do for a living.

  • Normal Sinus Rhythm, Please

    Want to know what I’ve been up to? No problem:

    The Six Second ECG

    For the past three days, instead of working on the unit, I’ve been in class learning how to interpret EKGs. My brain has had just about enough! It’s also difficult to concentrate because this is something I will rarely encounter on my floor. So I’m trying to learn it well, but if I don’t get to practice, then I’ll probably just forget.

  • Day Off?

    I worked all weekend, then had a frantically busy day yesterday. Last night I was tired through and through, but could I rest? No, there were cake consultations to attend and invitations to design. Luckily I had today off, so I could get rested (or so I thought).

    Despite being an emotional wreck for most of the day, I did manage to accomplish some things. First, I got fitted for undergarments at Nordstrom and OH MY WORD if you haven’t done that, go. It will change your life. Purchased all my underwear for the wedding and then some.

    Second, I finally found a paper store that had what I wanted: plain white, smooth finish, thick paper without a watermark. You would think that such a product would be easy to find, but you would be wrong. The store is FasClampitt and today I am in love with it. We also got envelopes there.

    Third, went shopping with my mother-in-law-to-be and found her a beautiful outfit to wear to the wedding, then took it to be altered.

    Fourth, to kill time I stopped by Old Navy and bought a cheap swimsuit for our honeymoon.

    Fifth, I met David at the jewelry store where he bought my engagement ring and discussed wedding band options. It seems that if I want the band to fit against the ring and look like a set I will have to get it custom made, which will cost $400-500. If I don’t do that, I will be wearing two mis-matched rings. What would you do?

    Finally, David and I had dinner at Mama’s Cafe, and it was very good. And when I said goodbye to him (since we were in separate cars) I almost cried because we hardly ever get to see each other, and I have another looooong day of work and errands tomorrow. That would have made about the tenth time I cried today (only slightly exaggerating). See? Emotional wreck.

    It’s not my impending marriage that is doing this to me, though – it’s the combination of hormones (the perfect scapegoat), wedding planning, and above all: MY JOB. Are there any new nurses out there who can empathize with me? I seriously love it and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, but I just can’t explain how physically and mentally draining it is. I know I’ll get used to it, but I haven’t yet.

    Anyway, if I’m going to be asleep by 8 p.m. I better get going.