Re: Floating too much?
I was floated to a neuro unit - bear in mind I have no prev. experience with anything other than non-surgical stroke cases - and given two fresh cranies with ICP monitors, one on paralytics, and one of them had a V-Drain. The offgoing nurse had to teach me how to level, read, and drain it properly ("So you don't collapse the ventricles," she smiled.) I had to take both to CT, assist with a bedside trach on one, and later assist with V-Drain placement on the same pt. The neurosurgeon was horribly rude and cruel, and I was in tears by about three pm. Everyone was helpful when they could be, and stubborn me tried to suck it up and be a team player. A regular unit nurse beside me had an "overflow" patient waiting to move to the floor and a brain-death potential organ donor pt that they later withdrew care on. Would have been a much more appropriate assignment for me, and would have been more appropriate for her to have mine since she had a new orientee with her.
I told my regular unit manager the next day that I didn't mind floating, but that I would therefore refuse any assignment I felt was inappropriate. The whole experience left a mark on me in general.
Lesson learned was speak up, don't try to be so accomodating that you have to go outside your comfort zone without the proper skills needed. I was lucky nothing went wrong, other than I got off work three hours late from being so behind.
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