Coping

So working 5 out of 6 days doesn't really set well with me. I'm exhausted today. But, I do have the next four days off.

Mondays after holidays are always crazy. I got the same patients back that I had over the weekend, I figured that would be a good thing. However, they ended up running me ragged. I ended up sending two patients to cath lab. One went first thing and one went around 4. One came back with a stent and would be staying overnight; one came back clean and would be going home. My other patient was CHF exacerbation that I had to start on a Bumex drip with a very high maintenance family that kept me in the room for 10-15 minutes every time I entered. Then I got a transfer from another hospital around 3 or 4. That was the easy part.

I missed some orders on my CHF patient and the NP called to find out what the lab results were. She asked that we run an I-Stat (a way to get instant results) and to call her with results. I asked my tech to do this for me since I had a patient on the way back from cath lab and an admission still to do. It turned out that he hemolized the blood when he drew it (it was evident by the results). The doctor came in not long after (and the NP never returned my page), so we drew a BMP to send to the lab instead. We draw our own labs on the floor, and I'm not real good at lab draws yet, but I'm still willing to learn and attempt my first stick. I missed my first stick and then called my tech and asked him to draw the lab for me. He jumped all over my case. He basically said to me "That guy has a great right AC. How could you miss that? You need to go back in there and try again. I'm too busy to help you right now." I was livid. No one needs to talk to anyone like that. Much less a tech disrespect a nurse like that. I realize that I'm a new nurse, but I know when to ask for help. I went over to the nurse who had been my preceptor and was shaking. She asked me what was wrong and I lost it. Even though she was super busy, she went and drew my blood for me. I also told the charge nurse (who isn't always charge and doesn't have a very strong personality, so it didn't do much good). Before I left work, I wrote an email to my supervisor. I didn't send it until yesterday. I wanted to make sure I didn't sound upset and only the facts were in the email. I talked to her about the situation yesterday. Hopefully it will get worked out.

I still had a ton of stuff to do. I hadn't even looked at my new admission's chart. He was to have surgery the next day and I knew there would be orders, but my cath lab patient came back with a sheath and it had to be pulled. Most of this was happening after 5, so I knew I had to start winding down. But there was no way I was going to get it all done before shift change. I ended up staying at work until 8:30 and doing the admission. I don't think I've ever passed on so much work in my life. I came home and showered and went to bed.

Yesterday started out to be a doozy as well. I had an empty room and one of my patients was going to surgery and I had the possibility for my other two to go home. Yikes! I got an early admission, which was good, but I also had an early discharge. Thankfully my surgery patient wasn't going until around 1. And I got my second admission around 3. Only one of my patients ended up going home. It turned out to be a much more peaceful day. I ended up getting one successful lab draw. I hit the veins on the other ones, but they just didn't want to give up blood. My tech yesterday even had a hard time drawing these labs(and she's one of the best on the floor ~ so that made me feel better). I left work on time yesterday. So I came home and took a long hot bath. It was nice to relax that way. It was even better to sleep in this morning and know I didn't have to go back for a few days. Don't get me wrong. I still love what I do. But it's stressful.

Today is my low-key day. I don't have anything planned. I may try to put my curio cabinet together today. I don't know that I'll go anywhere. I'll post more later. Hope you have a great day, cjb