Ok, I'm back

Ok, the destressing is over...for now anyways. I worked 4 nights last week & while the first 3 were exhausting....none were as frustrating as Thursday night. That kind of just pushed it all over the edge & I needed some time to relax.

I started out the week as a PCT (patient care tech). Basically you take vital signs & help the patients & nurses when they needed you. I did this while I was in nursing school....for 10 patients at a time. Monday night I had 18 patients. Just to do vital signs alone took 90 min to 2 hours....so there was half my shift right there. By Tuesday morning, my legs & feet were sore from spending so much time on them. I felt like I had just worked out all night at the gym with all the running around. I came home & slept like 9 hours straight.

It was a bizarre week...ups and downs & then just plain wacky.

Let's start with the downers:

1) found out a co-worker (who none of us knew) had gone home last week, had a fight with his gf & ended up shooting her & himself dead...aka murder-suicide

2) had a patient die that I took care of Monday night - it was weird because she had some type of blockage in her left arm so blood wasn't circulating like it should have been - - luckily she had a good nurse who was calling doctors in the middle of the night to get appropriate tests & meds to diagnose/treat what was going on. Needless to say, the patient was a little more than irritated because we were taking her down for tests in the middle of the night. I remember vividly her saying to me kinda rudely "What's next? Are you going to give me sleep deprivation pills?" It was starting to irritate us a little because all we were doing was trying to help her condition - would she have preferred we ignore it & she lose her arm?

The surgeon came in the next day & performed emergency surgery, she came back to us around 7:30 pm. She was alert...responsive.......for a few hours....and then she wasn't. We called a rapid response when she stopped responding to us & although she was a DNR...we got her some treatment & transferred her to ICU. A few hours later she passed away. We were told later that she had a heart attack after surgery. Ugh, yet another reason surgery scares me...you just never know what can happen - even when it's over.

3) we were hearing different things from an administrative meeting...such as upping our patient ratio to 6 patients to 1 nurse & get this.........if we run out of rooms for the patients, just line the beds up in the hall & treat appropriately. What? In the hall? Who the heck wants to sleep in a hallway...as if they'd even be able to sleep with how noisy it is in the hallway. Obviously these suggestions were coming from people who were either never nurses or who hadn't been bedside nurses in a long time.

And what annoys me is they hound us for not having higher patient satisfaction scores - yet they create it by not having enough staff to meet patient needs. Then they use the fact that patients are not satisfied as a reason to not give us a bonus. Grrr!

4) picking up an extra shift at the other hospital & being reminded of how dysfunctional it is over there - it's like no one cares & that attitude is contagious; I don't like it

Some of the good things that happened this week:

1) seeing how adversity at work can turn co-workers into friends...I truly cherish most of those I work with on the floor because we really help one another out & it just comes natural. I see it even more so after spending a shift at the other hospital - where no one helps no one.

2) having a weekend to myself so that I can get rid of some of the stress while at the same time getting some rest & catching up on tv shows.....not to mention...Nascar is back!

3) the Grammy's were on tonight & it reminded me of how comforting music really is....not to mention seeing the different people/groups uniting together to sing; it was a great show tonight - even if I don't agree with who won best album

Now for the weird stuff...when I became a nurse years ago...never did I imagine that I would...

1) be asked if I wanted to make-out by an 88 yr old male patient

2) have to deal with drugseekers...who if they didn't get their way, would turn into crybabies

3) have a 50 yr old patient asking for my phone # & having to lie & tell him I don't have a phone (lol)

4) watch The (overrated) Jonas Brothers nominated for "best NEW artist" at the Grammy's when they've been performing for at least the last 2 or 3 years (weirddd) & then I had to sympathize with Stevie Wonder for being forced to perform with them (poor Stevie)

5) finishing the Twilight series finallyyyyyyyy & still not understanding why there are so many Twerds aka Twilight Nerds

It's been a weird weekend.....I didn't eat anything at all yesterday, guess I was just too tired to feel hungry. Back to work Monday night for another 3 nights...and the cycle continues.

Hope everyone has a good week!