Short-staffed

I woke up this morning to 2 phone calls from my hospital asking if I could work tonight, Sat &/or Sunday night.  They are offering callback pay.  It's no incentive for me unless they are offering it on Sunday too because I already put in my 3 days this week...anything more is automatically overtime which is the same as callback pay.  I'm wondering why they are so short-staffed.  They are in a process of trying to eliminate travelers & agency nurses...but it's not going to work.  Our census is still really high even though it's nearly May.  I should put in some overtime.

No way am I working tonight...I have a baseball game to go to...a District Championship!  It was a close game yesterday...0-0 for 5 innings & then suddenly in the 6th, it got a little crazy.  Our guys were down 2-0 because of their own errors on the field, but pulled it together to score 4 runs in one inning & advance to the championship.  Whew!  They automatically move on to the Regionals next week.  Yay!  I still want them to win tonight though.  Perhaps if the game is over at a decent time, I could go into work at 11.  I'll just have to wait & see. 

I'm still debating about Saturday or Sunday.  I know I should work...but should & will are two different things...lol.  I need some time off to myself, ya know? 

I was thinking back about one of my patient's this week.  A gentleman in his mid-80's (looked much younger) that was diagnosed with a possible PE (pulmonary embolism).  Two tests were indicating that he may have one...so when I took over after shift report, I went in to assess him.  I told him that he is on bedrest & should remain in bed as opposed to ambulating.  He verbalized that he understood.  I got a call from his wife about a 1/2 hour later saying she just talked to him on the phone & that he is scared to even move.  Awww, poor guy!  I didn't mean to scare him!!  I went back in & reassured him that he could move in bed, that he didn't need to lay completely still...he could turn on his side if he wanted.  It turns out he did not have a PE, it was more of a bruising on the chest wall from a fall he had earlier in the month in which he fractured some ribs & his body was simply healing. 

Have a good weekend everyone!