Sensational Week

For the second time in less than a month my patient was shackled to their bed and under 24-hour police guard (awkward!). Meanwhile, several other patients were also headliners and/or awaiting arrest. Watching the local news in the breakroom over lunch, I witnessed each patients' 15 seconds of fame then promptly returned to the floor to wipe their butts. 

What to do, what to do...

Does work, life, the weather, ever make you feel like this?

Well, at least we can say we're not handcuffed to a hospital bed (I hope you're not, reader) or getting slapped by a patient (true story). At least not today. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Night of the Living Nurse

It's been far too long since I've been awake during the day. Today, coming off almost two weeks of nights I feel like my skin just might set fire from the light of the sun.

Sometimes I can't believe how hard this job is and I catch myself wondering, "Why in the world did I sign up for this?" But the good usually outweighs the bad from day to day. Looking into someone's eyes in the middle of the night, knowing they probably won't be around much longer (not that most of my patients are that acute), and trying to give them a little comfort from their physical pain and the pain and loneliness that comes from being in the hospital is heart wrenching. It's weird to share such intimate moments with "strangers."

Oh S*@$!!!

I had to give my first sternal rub today when I found my patient unresponsive in bed. Seemed she was sleeping so peacefully but, alas... no. A sternal rub is a type of painful stimulus one can apply when trying to wake an unresponsive patient (see green glove below). Try it on yourself and you'll agree it hurts (I just did). Others include pressing down on the nail bed with your fingernail, pinching/twisting the skin below the collar bone, and pressing on the (closed!) eyeball.

This was the first time I've ever gotten close to a code with my own patient and it was pretty intense. I think I heard someone call it a "soft code" which made me think of soft core porn but in life saving terms rather than sex movie ones.

Xmas on Ice (Chips)

 

It's Christmas on Trauma and what does Santy have for you? One size large 3rd degree burn from a scalding pot of grease, one malodorous nasty wound infection, one holiday stabbing at the mall, and a paaaartridge in a pear treeeee...!

It's sad when patients are NPO and can't have anything to eat or drink and they literally beg you for ice chips. "I'm sorry", "I wish I could..." (the worst is when you forget and ask them if they've ordered breakfast yet. Ouch. Sorry!)

Even sadder is being a patient hospitalized on Christmas who holds the holidays in very high regard and is alone with no family or friends in the area to visit them. But possibly saddest of all is dying on Christmas at 7:00am. Good morning and good night, and Merry Christmas.

Dear Diary

It's hard being a (new) nurse. These days I feel like I'm always asking questions or needing help with something --all the time.

The other day I was in the midst of transferring a patient and thought to bladder scan her because she'd been having low urine output, and lo and behold she had over 600 mL of urine hanging out in her bladder (that's over half a 40 oz for all you ghetto fabs out there). That meant I'd have to straight cath her which can be difficult to do on a female patient because the anatomy is not as clear cut as in the picture I just linked up there (I wish). I tried and failed and had to ask for help, and fortunately the nurse who helped me is one of my all time favorites in terms of being available and willing to help. She never seems too busy to lend a hand. An hour or more ended up passing before I was able to transfer the patient to the other floor. I was flustered, didn't take my meal break, lost my assignment sheet and my stethoscope (I thought). This was one of those days that I felt was my time to cry on the job. Luckily it didn't happen. I told myself I'd just have to stay as long as it took me to get the job done. But in the back of my mind I worried that I'd get in trouble for a) missing my break and b) leaving late.

What's a rookie to do?

Stop - Drop - Roll

Lesson #57 in fire safety: alcohol is flammable.

Tell that to the patient who catches themself on fire while engaging in a little recreational drug use and then attempts to extinguish said fire with the cocktail they also happen to be drinking. 

This is a kind of one-up to the traditional smoking-while-on-oxygen style of self immolation but doesn't quite top shooting oneself --although CAREFUL: not as a suicide attempt (per patient's report) which made this other self-inflicted injury quite unique.

The day I work with sane patients suffering from banal ailments is the day I die.