Today my region was inundated with multiple freak traffic accidents. Two of the accidents involved semi trucks that had overturned and burst into flames. My hospital received many of the victims.
The charge nurse that was relieving me tonight was an hour and a half late getting to work because of the detours resulting from one of the accidents. She came in flustered, apologetic, and ranting about how bad the traffic was. When I told her that our hospital was treating many of the victims, and that we were still on standby for trauma surgery, she became quiet. Then she said, "Canes, I need to readjust my perspective. I need to think about these patients and their families instead of how flustered the damned traffic made me."
A little perspective goes a long way. I am asking you guys-the AN members-to keep these victims in your thoughts as you go about your day today. I know that you don't know them, and I realize it doesn't affect you. But this tragedy was a big wake up call for me as a nurse. I will not complain about my day today, even though it was the Seventh Level of Hell. I am healthy, my family members are healthy, and I am not the doc that had to tell these family members that their loved ones are in serious condition. I still don't know how these trauma docs do what they do from day to day. It must be exhausting for them mentally and physically.
My thoughts and prayers go out to these victims, families, and the doctors and nurses that had to care for them. We were overloaded with tragedy today, and I am thankful that we had such skilled health care providers to take care of the victims of this awful tragedy.
