Today, the lady who we put a temporary pacer on yesterday for multiple 5-second pauses in her heartbeat was healing from her permanent pacemaker placement that was done late yesterday afternoon. She also somehow mistakenly thought the telemetry unit was a day spa and hung on the call bell (or, alternately, screamed "NURSE!!!" as loud as she could) ALL DAY LONG requesting tea, first iced, then "no, not iced I want hot tea!", backrubs, take the blankets off, put the blankets on, put the pillow under my feet, take the pillow away, I want a turkey sandwich instead of a barbeque sandwich... I want chicken soup and not tomato soup (our dietary staff comes in and personally takes your order for the day in the morning, there was no excuse)... oh and don't forget to rub my feet, they're achey but DON'T cover them with a blanket, but wait now they're cold, do cover them with a blanket then...
Today, I straight catheterized a 80-something-year-old man and discovered how slippery a thing can be when old, wrinkled, uncircumsized and covered in iodine...
Today, I had three different physicians write three different diet orders on the same patient within one hour, causing plenty of extra work for me entering and cancelling orders in the computer system, and confusion for the young lady coming in on the next shift ("NPO til tomorrow morning... wait, no, ice chips only then NPO after midnight... wait, no, clear liquids and then NPO after midnight")...
Today I ran a heparin drip for the first time, and I drew blood from and flushed a chest wall port for the first time.
Today, I got my ass OUT of there on time and with my documentation and hand-off communication complete, and each of my patients comfortable, safe, and well taken care of. I actually kind of felt like a nurse.
Tomorrow, four patients.
2 comments:
Wow, lots of firsts! Congrats on them all...I had to chuckle at the 80 year old "slippery" dude :-) Demanding patients must certainly try a nurse to her/his limits. I get my fill of them in the back of an ambulance, and for that brief time frame I'm ready to pull my hair out. Then you get the complete opposite type that never complains or demands anything.
Yeah, I had several of the very demanding kind this past week. The one woman would just talk ENDLESSLY if you let her... and I'm learning that I simply can't allow one person to monopolize my time... so I'd literally have to walk out of the room while she was talking. I had no choice. She would not shut up, even after I'd say "I'd really like to hear more about this, but I have to go and see my other patients, I'll be back within the hour". So frustrating!
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