A Disgusting Memory

Ok, 2 McFlurries later and an evening of watching non-stop episode after episode of "Hulk Knows Best"....is it any wonder why I'm awake at 3:36 in the morning? I swear I'm meant to be a vampire....I dread the days & come to life at night. I can't even blame it on being a nightshift nurse, because I was like this before I went into nursing. Guess that is one reason I did go into nursing - the night schedule works for me.

I've been doing ok. Actually, one good thing that happened this week is that there has been a big change in the way we chart. No longer do we have to spend hours & hours charting after our initial assessment. There is a choice called "No change" and everyone already knows that if you mark the answer "No change" - that one would assume there has been no change in the patient's condition, right? For some reason, even with marking no change, they still wanted us to chart full assessments. Finallyyyyyyyyyy they have come to their senses & we can be nurses again. If there is "no change", all we have to do is mark that and move on. Yay!!!

I'm not going to go into all of my patients and their conditions, but I will tell of one that is quite disgusting...because I feel the need to share and it's something I want to look back one day & be reminded of something so disturbing. I had a male patient in his 40's that was in with chest pain. On the night I took over his care, he was supposed to be discharged after getting the results of his echo (sonogram of his heart). Well, it turns out he had a blood clot in the left ventricle of his heart...therefore no discharge and he was started on Heparin immediately. That isn't the disgusting part.

I was told that this gentleman's heart rate would occasionally increase to the 150's to 170's. Why? Do you really want to know? Sorry for the answer...but this man felt the need to...hmmm, how do I word this as to not offend people...this man would take matters into his own hands to make himself feel good. Everyone get it?

This isn't the first time that a nurse has walked into a male patient's room to find him taking care of himself and it probably won't be the last. I truly don't understand why they cannot wait until they are in the privacy of their own home, but I guess some men just don't think about it to that degree. Heck, maybe they like the idea of having a nurse walk in on them. Anyways....this male had been doing it quite often and was told multiple times to stop. Not because of his heart rate or because it was inappropriate - especially when he wasn't even in a private room...he had a neighbor not more than 3 feet from his own bed - but because he had aids. We all know how aids can be spread....thru body fluids & this guy was proud to be decorating his bed, his hands and anything within reach with his own body fluids. Ewwwww! One of the nurses tried to educate him regarding this matter, but he didn't care.

I tried a different approach - tried to explain to him that he had a blood clot in his heart and to try to avoid all vigorous activity. In fact....try not to move much at all...especially with the Heparin running. That seemed to work...for a night anyways. It was also a good reminder for myself that universal precautions should always be in effect....especially with male patients, because you just never know what they might be up to....sigh.

I had a good week at work...mostly because of my co-workers and also because I only worked 2 nights...haha. I like to mix up my schedule. I'm on for 4 nights starting Sunday. I'll probably be called off as we have way too many nurses now (never thought those words would come out of my mouth). At the same time though, our hospital has been busy, so who knows. It looks like the chest painers are back instead of being diverted to other hospitals. Yay! I love the chest painers.

I'm also going to apply at another local hospital - just to get more experience in a place different from my comfort zone. I don't know if I'll even get hired, but I'm going to fill out an application online and give it a try. I don't plan on leaving my current hospital....just trying to get a per diem position at this other place. The good thing about it is that it's the same hospital chain I'm at now...so if I work my regular schedule at my hospital and pick up shifts at the other...it's considered overtime. Even better! The travel nursing is still in the back of my mind and I will continue to get more information on it.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!!