The new year is here!

Happy New Year! 

I rang in the new year checking in my, what seemed like, 100th ambulance of the night. Not as many drunks as I expected. Lots of car wrecks though. Sad thing is that the sober victim usually gets the bad end of the wreck.

Sorry for the lack of posting, my schedule for the holidays was rough. I ended up working 6 out of 8 days. When you do 12 hour shifts, that tends to be a bit hard on the body and mind. By the end of the last night, I was out of energy and well, out of everything.

Holidays in the ER is not for the faint of heart. People tend to not take as  good of care of themselves with all the holiday plans, so chronic illness flares up. Also, offices are closed and people have no where to turn when they are sick. Throw in RSV season, and well, you have a hospital that is full of people and no where to put them. I did have some rather sweet and fun patients. I actually got to tell people that they were a pleasure to take care of. Thing is, if a nurse tells you that, she/he truly means it.

My last night was New Year’s eve and we had been so busy lately I was running out of steam. Full hospital means that you get to be ER nurse plus ICU, med/surg, etc. all in one. After running around for over 8 hours, I get a patient that starts ringing the call bell, over and over and over. My co-workers are just as busy as I am and we have no tech to send to see what the problem is. My co-workers stop the non-stop dinging and let me know what room. I plan to go in there as soon as I get my other patients medication finished. After a few minutes, I stop by there to see and find out the pt. needs to use the bathroom. This conversation could have went nicer, but when I poked my head in to check, I get a pt. that is rude and hateful because we turned off the call light. I explained that I had other patients and made it as quick as possible. To make a long story short, the pt. continued to yell at me for not coming quick enough, someone turning off the call light, etc. All the while, grabbing stuff in the bed and throwing it around. This is the first time I have ever just walked out of a room. I made sure the pt. had a way to use the bathroom and just left. Pt. was still yelling at me as I entered the nurse’s station. My co-workers, knowing that I am the type that usually does not do that, asked if I walked away. I told them that I had to. I said I refuse to be talked to in that way. Plus, I know that if I had stayed, I would have lost my professionalism. But, after some cooling off, and a new med order for that pt. I went back to the room, gave the med., offered the pt and visitor something to drink and updated them. I try not to hold a grudge.

That situation and some current articles I have seen lately got me to thinking. You read about nurses being uncaring and lazy. People have complained to the hospital that we were eating in the nurses station and laughing. Patients and their families come to the nurses station and yell at us because their family member has been there X amount of hours and we are sitting. I understand where it comes from, I have been the family member of a patient. But, let me take you on a tour of this side of the curtain for a minute…..

Here is how my day works.  I get up at 3:00 p.m. to pick up my child from school. I come home, eat breakfast/dinner or whatever it is that us night shift people eat. I get ready for work. I drive an hour to make it there by 6:45 p.m. I bring a large drink with me because I know that I may not make it to a vending machine for quite some time. I also use the bathroom when I get there, because, well, I do not make it there much either. I get report on my patients, usually there are 4 to 5 that I am responsible for. I know before I go in the rooms which ones I really need to watch because some are sicker than others. There are many things that ER nurses can do without a doctor’s orders, but many things we can not do. I can not give a pain medication if a doctor has not ordered one, or even been in to see the pt.  yet.  There are many things that we can not do until we get lab results back. Lab is a world of its own. Lab gets all of the orders from the ER that are stat plus all the orders from the whole hospital. If someone comes in with stomach pain and we have someone unresponsive in the trauma bay, the unresponsive patient has their stuff done first. Seems to make sense see one is breathing and talking and one, well, isn’t or may not be in the next few minutes. CT scan will not give contrast without certain labs. If my pt. labs are not back, scan will not take them. CT scan will also take the person from the trauma bay before they will take my patient, no matter how long they have been there. Also, CT results are not automatic. Someone has to read them. That someone is reading results for many patients. While my pt. is waiting, I am calling report on pt. that are staying, discharging those leaving and checking in new patients as they room them or as ambulances bring them. I have orders to do on all of my patients. Now, at some point in the evening, I begin to get a bit hungry. But, I can not just leave and go eat, esp. if I have someone that is needing to be watched closely. I have a couple of options. I can eat in the *gasp* nurses station, or I  can leave my pt. and their care in the hands of a co-worker who is carrying 4 to 5 patients and having the same situation as me. Many times I do not see food for 12 hours because I ate before work. I forgot what it is like to have a cold drink and warm food. Many times, we opt to send someone to get us food and usually it sits on the desk for 30 minutes or more before we  get to touch it. Many times I have finally sat down at 3:00 a.m. to eat my cold food when I get someone waltzing up to the station to tell me that they have been there X amount of hours and they need to be home at whatever time to do whichever thing it is. All the while glaring at me for *gasp* sitting and eating.  See above about labs, CT scan, etc. Believe it or not, I am not wanting to keep the patient there for my own fun. I would love for you to go home too. If you go home, that means my pt. is doing ok and all is well. I have had family members walk up to me to ask a question or complain as I am getting report from the EMT and my new patient is still on the stretcher from the ambulance.  The next shift comes in at 6:45 a.m. If they are late, I leave late. If my patient has stuff ordered at 6:45, I do it before I leave. If an ambulance comes in, I check them in before I go. Then, I drive an hour home, take my child to school, shower, eat and go to bed for 5 hours or less. Get up, and repeat. Sounds lazy to me.

We have also got in trouble for laughing at the nurse’s station. I am sorry, but some times we say or hear something funny. It is hard not to laugh when that happens. Most people laugh at work, why should we be any different? It is good to laugh. We need it. With the increasing violence against us, sometimes we need to blow off steam. Just the other night, I had a pt. that was a nurse from my hospital. She had been assaulted that night, by a patient. When I went to talk to her, she cried every time she tried to tell me. So, I joked with her, got her to laughing and smiling. Yes, as nurses, we were laughing. I just hope that I made things a bit better for her.

Point of all of this? I just ask that the next time you hear something about how mean or uncaring the nurses were and they were eating, talking and laughing at the nurse station that you remember a bit about the way things go in the hospital. Maybe inform the person that the nurses can not always make things go faster and should not have to go 15 hours without food, drink or fun because they chose a profession to help people. Because, if you take away our food, our laughter and our ways of dealing with stress, then there are going to be less of us to take care of patients when they are sick.

Reply to comments….

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. It has been a little crazy lately.  But I wanted to reply to the comments I have gotten recently.

OCB….I miss you too! You know I love you girl!

Amber….I hope that you have found ways to help with your panic attacks. I also hope that when the ways do not work and you find yourself in an ER, that you get a nurse that understands and helps you. Many doctors and nurses know how scary those situations are, I just hope they remember it.

Ruth…..tell your daughter that I said keep up the good work and I wish her the best. I am glad you two can share the experiences with each other!

Rob….thanks for the nice comment!

Paul…..what were we thinking?!?!    Good thing we love craziness.

Lilianna….I hope that things work out for you and you get the care and help you need and deserve.

Brittany….I hope you had a happy and safe holiday as well.

Donna and Jackie…..I miss you guys!!! I hope you had a great holiday!