Need your thoughts, experienced nurses....

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Med Surg, Perinatal, Endoscopy, IVF Lab.

Okay, I have been a nurse for one year. I work in the float pool on all floors including the busiest general med-surg floor where I was yesterday. It's well known to be the "worst floor" in the hospital to work. I get there and immediately get 6 patients (not unusual). Day starts out easy then goes to H*** by 3pm (in typical fashion). From 3-7pm (when next shift gets there) I am running around like a lunatic. One pt had foley pulled but can't pee, the next is mean as a snake and tells how to do EVERYTHING when you walk into the room and complains constantly. The third one had a PCA that was d/c'd and THEN his central line starts leaking and has to be pulled = no iv access for pain meds and me and two other nurses can't get an IV on them. The fourth, is on the floor b/c they had a neph tube put in and now cant pee so they want to "watch" the pt. This pt is SICK with CA with mets too by the way and not particularly happy now.... AND got their eye scratched in specials by O2 NC that got away from someone.

So... order says call dr when pt gets on floor. I check with Charge, she says she did it. I access pt and ask her to call again to get dr here b/c pt is in pain and wants something done about her eye. Charge calls, an hour later, no dr. Pt sleeping now but I ask charge "where's doc?, pt sleeping but where's dr?"... charge calls again. Dr. get's to floor over two hours later and family lights into dr. Dr. comes out and lights into me and charge saying "what happened?!! They are mad, why didn't anyone call me and tell me she was in pain? I have a lot of pt's to see, I can't just run right up... but I need to know if they are in pain, now go give her pain med and put in a foley!!!!". Thankfully charge stands up for me (and her) to dr but meanwhile, I go to put in her foley and she is screaming in pain and no drainage comes out! (I'm thinking to myself, did I do it right? I have put in a million foleys and NEVER had one not drain, and I'm pretty sure I know the right hole). I report off and feel like NOTHING is under control. New nurses are looking at me like I'm a total idiot and why can't I get my stuff done? I spend next hour clearing up my "list". Turns out, it wasn't me - pt has other kidney now blocked and only 25 ml in bladder. Arrrggghhh!!!

Needless to say, I left feeling totally defeated....:crying2: How do you deal with days like these? How do you NOT look like an idiot - when you are giving 110%.... ?

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Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.

You can only do what you can do. You ain't SuperNurse. That's why there are nurses there 24/7.

Don't beat yourself up about it. We all get these disaster days. Shame on your colleagues for being judgemental, we've all been there done that and got the souvenir T-Shirt ;)

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.

Just don't feel like one. You aren't. Peace!

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I am exhausted just reading about your day!! As already noted, none of us is supernurse ( although I had a cape for many years!!!) and we should all be more supportive of each other.

Remember how you feel, and be sympathetic when you follow someone who couldn't get it all done.

Best wishes!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Some days are just gonna stink no matter what you do......i's the nature of the beast. And we've all had that patient that you were sure the foley was in the right hole....:lol2:....forgive yoursekf...take a bubble bath!!

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Specializes in Case Mgmt, Anesthesia, ICU, ER, Dialysis.

You take a deep breath and learn to think outside the box. Sounds like you're doing just fine - we all have those days, and don't let anyone tell you they don't, 'cause they're lying!

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Specializes in Med Surg, Perinatal, Endoscopy, IVF Lab.

Esme, that's just the thing... It WAS in the right hole.... but instead of going with his instincts and getting a CT scan first, the dr says "just go put in the foley!"... so I got to torture the pt for nothing... arrrrggghhhh

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So glad the Charge Nurse backed you up. I'll bet the doctor didn't apologize.

As for the Foley, well, you tried. Try to go with your instincts next time is all I can think of.

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As for the Foley, well, you tried. Try to go with your instincts next time is all I can think of.

question (for anyone):

to me, it would be instinctive, e.g., no output = need for cath, so bladder can drain.

so my question is, why wouldn't a nurse put another foley in?

op, it doesn't matter if we're experienced nurses or not.

ea one of us, has our own coping mechanisms...

and at one time or another, we all have days like yours.

we leave our jobs, with our heads spinning...and a splitting headache to boot.

obviously you'll want to destress...

running/working out? bath/shower? wine? punching a pillow?

thankfully, 'those' type of days are few and far between.

a belated welcome to nursing.;)

leslie

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question (for anyone):

to me, it would be instinctive, e.g., no output = need for cath, so bladder can drain.

so my question is, why wouldn't a nurse put another foley in?

leslie

Since he was a renal pt, it's possible that the kidneys had failed, making a foley unnecessary. However, scanning the bladder could have answered the question of whether or not there was any urine to drain.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

nursing in a hospital is a 24 hour job. Who cares what the next nurse thinks? If they are smart they will understand that sometimes you just have to prioritize and not everything gets done as we want. Hang in there. I am prescribing a day off and a funny movie!

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Specializes in Med/surg.

Excellent call GM2RN!! Bladder scan!

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