How to tell you've worked too many shifts in a row

[nerdtonurse?]

1. You reprogram the telemetry monitors and now have Mario scrambling over the QRS complexes and hopping over the P waves for extra credit
   
2. Your patient bradys down from a steady sinus tach to the 30's, and you run up the hallway yelling, "oh, hell no you are not making me fill out all that paperwork this late in the shift!"
   
3. Your coworker trips and falls running to the same code, and all you can think is, "great, I'll end up with 2 of her pts when she goes to the ER."
   
4. You are hauling your now dead pt to the morgue, your coworker's went to the ER, leaving 2 nurses on the floor with 28 patients, and you hear another code go off for your floor, and you jump out of the elevator and run...leaving the corpse in the elevator as a present for the next person who pushes the button....
   
5. You have a conversation with the admin rep that sounds like this...."I lost my patient...no, I mean really lost them....no, they were dead, they can't find their way back to the unit...."
   
6. When you hear a scream, you know someone found your deceased patient.
   

[tcvnurse, BSN, RN]

You know you have worked too many in a row when you hoof it to the parking lot across from the hospital, pass through the walkway into the STAFF parking garage. You then wander up and down the aisles looking for your car, only to come to the conclusion it must have been stolen!

You flag down the cute and unsuspecting security guard to report the theft. After filling out paperwork for a few minutes, he mentions that it's Monday, and all of the sudden it hits you.

You actually parked at the off site parking lot. (You only get to park at the garage on weekends.)

Of course, having finally realized what day it is, you also realize you have missed the last shuttle bus to the offsite lot, and start crying at having to wait any longer to get home.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

When you pull up your cat's insulin dose and then look over your shoulder for a co-worker to double check it. Then you realize you live alone, so you show the cat the insulin to double check the dose. (cat, natuarlly dose what he always does at insulin time, runs away).

[Poi Dog]

You spend 5 minutes getting ready for work on your day off before realizing that you are off. You don't believe that you are off and then spend another 15 minutes scrutinizing your schedule. BP rises steadily...

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

you know you have worked too many in a row when you hoof it to the parking lot across from the hospital, pass through the walkway into the staff parking garage. you then wander up and down the aisles looking for your car, only to come to the conclusion it must have been stolen!

you flag down the cute and unsuspecting security guard to report the theft. after filling out paperwork for a few minutes, he mentions that it's monday, and all of the sudden it hits you.

you actually parked at the off site parking lot. (you only get to park at the garage on weekends.)

of course, having finally realized what day it is, you also realize you have missed the last shuttle bus to the offsite lot, and start crying at having to wait any longer to get home.

oh, gods! i thought i was the only person who ever did this. worse, i've done it more than once.

[beckster_01, BSN, RN]

I did something similar last week. First, I work at a large university hospital. The shortest route to the parking lot is 10-15 minutes. However on nights/weekends we can park in the garage. The garage is on the 1st floor, the route to the lot is on the ground floor. I accidentally walked all the way to the garage before realizing it was a weekday. For some reason I thought that I could navigate my way to the correct parking lot from the outside of the hospital after a grueling 13.5 hour shift. Wrong. I wandered outside the hospital for 20 minutes before calling it quits. I turned around, got back into the hospital from the garage, and walked all the way to the lot from my usual route. When I finally got to my car I realized that I was actually going the right direction originally, I was just too tired to trust my navigation skills lol.

[Lynx25, LPN]

Well, I have on mismatching socks, My glasses are broken and perching on my nose like a drunken squirrel, and I just spilled MOM all in my cart and spent 20 min of my 30 min break mopping it up... I might be due for a day off soon.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

well, i have on mismatching socks, my glasses are broken and perching on my nose like a drunken squirrel, and i just spilled mom all in my cart and spent 20 min of my 30 min break mopping it up... i might be due for a day off soon.

i've had all kinds of compliments on my shiney new danskos today -- one light brown and one black. i got dressed in the dark.

[R!XTER]

When your hubby wakes you up for dinner and you ask him to please put the patient in room 20 on a monitor. When he tries to re-orient you, and you keep begging him to help you as you have so much else to do! And you have no recollection of the conversation...

[Poi Dog]

You reread your old posts to try and figure out what days you visited your HH client...

[rockin'RN04]

When your coworkers offer to hook you up with SLP to help with your slurred speech and word finding difficulty:uhoh3:

[Supernurse LPN]

when you go home with empty vials in your pocket

[JBudd, MSN]

When you wake up, and don't know what day it is, or if you have to go back to work.