Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I know that this is supposed to be a day of thanks, but I just really need to vent. The last two weeks of November have been nothing short of awful. To start, I had a completely oriented patient who took a fall towards the end of my 12 hour shift. Mind you this patient was deemed AAOx3, for the past 18 hours! The only safety precaution I didn't have in place was a bed alarm. Management decided to call this a learning opportunity for me since I have only been off orientation for 6 months.

On the way home I got into a car accident. Myself and the other driver were not seriously injured, but my car was destroyed.

I had to miss work (I was seen at the hospital for minor neck and back injuries). On my first day back, I tried to put this all behind me, but it just snowballed from there. My vocera was lost in the accident, so I didn't have that on me at work, and I had a patient who was constantly pulling everything off

Needless to say, that patients condition changed as soon as I gave report to the oncoming nurse. He has an ABG order sitting for a half hour (I just got 3 new patients. Long story short, he had to be placed on bipap and sent to PCU

She was pissed, and now i feel like I will actually get in trouble with management. I am so upset by this and this is the first time I have ever questioned if nursing was the right career path.

Far too many things happened at once, and I don't know what to do.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am so sorry that all of these things happened to you, especially all at once. If it helps, try to take each issue one at a time. The patient has already fallen. Follow through with all of the post-accident education, etc, whatever they want you to do, and stress that you have learned from this incident. Put bed alarms on EVERYONE in the future. If they balk, just explain it is for safety. The hospital should back you up on this as a patient's condition can change at anytime. Unfortunately the nature of our work is many things going on at once. I am a new nurse but not new to healthcare. Seasoned nurses on my floor have the same frustrations and same challenging situations as us new nurses, it doesn't get easier. But they have much more experience and cope with the challenges better. So take a breath and tackle things one by one if you can. Do not bring up the ABG situation unless it gets brought up to you. ABGs are priority because those people can get acidosis; even if other people are rushing you on other tasks, that needs to come first. Try not to let something like that happen again. Do your most critical tasks first. If you have admissions, ask for help for your other people. Try to look ahead at the beginning of the night and get the critical tasks done so you have some open space for an admission. If other nurses act irritated by what you do, try not to let that get to you because you can't please everyone. Be a safe nurse and prioritize your tasks; if people still aren't happy it's their issue not theirs.

I had someone from the ER give me attitude because they had to call me twice to give report. But guess what? I had four busy floor patients and was trying to stabilize someone else to push them out to a Gen Med floor. I was well within the 30 minute time slot to get report and called them back. They can chill. If my patient endorses chest pain, they are coming first and I will get report on the ED admit second.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm just ashamed because I let all of these other things get to me and I allowed it to effect my job! I know as a new nurse you will have plenty of ups and downs, and in the long run these are foundational learning moments. Due to the accident I feel like I have had a major lack of focus. Just this morning I almost forgot to wash conditioner out of my hair

!!

I'm sure management is going to hear all about it, and they already know I have had one thing happen after another. If there is one thing that holds true, I care about my job and the people I take care of.

There are just some days where I'm on, and last night just wasn't one of them

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I'm just ashamed because I let all of these other things get to me and I allowed it to effect my job! I know as a new nurse you will have plenty of ups and downs, and in the long run these are foundational learning moments. Due to the accident I feel like I have had a major lack of focus. Just this morning I almost forgot to wash conditioner out of my hair

!!

I'm sure management is going to hear all about it, and they already know I have had one thing happen after another. If there is one thing that holds true, I care about my job and the people I take care of.

There are just some days where I'm on, and last night just wasn't one of them

Just remember you're not alone no matter how terrible it feels now. The term "**** Happens" wasn't coined and made famous just for you ;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment