Haven't Forgotten

I haven't forgotten to post...just haven't had the time. Although I just had 5 days off, they seem to fly right by. I work the next 3 nights in a row...sigh. Hoping it goes by quickly.

The patients I have had definitely keep me busy. I can't figure out why though. I don't know if it's because they seem to get medications all throughout the night or that they are more needy or what it is...but from 7 pm to about 1 am, I am running around trying to get everything done so I can sit down and chart. I don't get it because my only responsibilities right now are nursing. Not being a part-time secretary or PCT or transporter...not really even having to interact much with doctors or call them on the phone. It's all patient care & it's not like it's even intense patient care.

Maybe it's the isolation patients...not only the time it takes to suit up in gloves, gown, mask & goggles over & over...but the fact that they tend to be on a lot of different IV medications. I don't know. I can't figure it out. It's not just me...the other nurses are the same way...running around like crazy from 7 pm to 1 am...then it's time to catch up on charting & checking the doctor's orders, etc.

I'm still happy with the change. The atmosphere is so positive, so peaceful, so non-gossip...if that makes sense. We move to another floor this week as they will be updating my floor for the next 3 months or so. I have no idea what the other floor looks like. Hopefully it's decent.

I put in my schedule for the next month & I had to schedule some paid days off.....it's required that we take something like 144 hours a year off. That's a lot of time. Anyways, I still have 64 hours to use up before November. I don't really have any plans for my days off...other than to do what I do best...relax.

Actually, I'm thinking of possibly going to Atlanta, GA in late October. I'll play it by ear. It's kinda hard to make myself go somewhere else on vacation when I have the beach less than an hour away and all of the major theme parks also less than an hour away. So who knows...maybe I'll check out Animal Kingdom & Epcot....if the weather is cooler. I also think my niece & nephew want to go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal....so that's a possibility too. As well as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. See...plenty to do without having to drive for hours. Add in the Florida resident discount & it seems foolish to leave the state for vacation.

I am hooked on HBO.....mainly True Blood and Hung. I don't know if any of you are watching it...but most of HBO's series seem to make sense to me. Well, not really sense...but they hook me. I ordered the True Blood books tonight because I have heard they are better than the actual show...although I have a hard time believing that. It's definitely eye opening. And Hung...it started out slow, but I'm hooked. Love Sunday nights!

Ok, I suppose I should talk about at least one or two patients. I had one that was in with a drug overdose...of Geodon (psych med). She didn't know how many she took or how much other stuff she mixed in with it......but looked very shocked when I told her she would not be getting Geodon that night as regularly prescribed. She & her mother flipped out about how important it is to stay on a proper schedule with that med. Ummmm....you'll heed that advice, but not the advice to not attempt to overdose on it?

I don't know who was worse....the teenager patient or her mother. It's like the mother enjoyed watching her daughter upset. Just as she would settle down & possibly fall asleep...in went the mom to shake things up again. Really? Do you really have to do that? I wanted to throw her out, but I was too busy tending to my other patients. The next night this patient was to be transferred to a psych facility....only she was refusing transfer. Ummm, you're under a Baker Act...you don't get a decision in this matter. She informed me that she would resist transfer & I may want to call the police right now. Yeah, ok...enough of the drama. I looked at her right in the eye & calmly said "We'll deal with that when transport shows up...until then, just go lay down & relax." I wasn't going to feed into her dramatic world. She wasn't going to rattle me either.

I was too busy with other patients to worry about what she might do when it's time to be transported. Lucky for me, transport didn't show up at all that night & I wasn't there when she finally did get transferred out. Go me!

I had another patient who spent over a week in the hospital because he wanted something to be wrong with him. He was young....in his 20's....with his laptop stuck on the Mayo Clinic page and Web MD. Searching for symptoms, diagnoses, etc. I cannot believe he was there over a week with nothing really wrong with him. And we wonder why health care costs are skyrocketing.

I had another patient that claimed to have a seizure while out at a softball game. She definitely was high anxiety & could have used a couple of psych meds to regulate her mood swings. One minute she's happy, the next she's crying, the next she's mad...I couldn't keep up with her. Then she goes & complains that no one is doing anything for her & she may as well go home. I was all for her signing out AMA because she was not someone that would ever be satisfied. Some nurse showed up & seemed to think she could be super nurse & calm this patient down. I pretty much wished her luck & followed in behind to observe. No matter what SN (super nurse) said...the patient had a problem with it. I finally had to jump in & save SN from drowning in the mess she was creating. We walked out of the room & I basically gave her the look of "see what I mean" to which she frantically ran for the elevator. I haven't seen SN since then.

I've had some really sweet patients and I've had my share of rule out H1N1. I am getting sick of this flu....they have us dressing up in full gear if someone so much as sneezes, coughs or has a fever. Ugh...talk about overkill. I do comply though as we have had a couple of deaths related to H1N1, but those are the patients I dread the most...because of all the precautions we have to take.

That's about it for now. Hope everyone has a great week!