LOL great one...I recognize that look. Several shifts ago I spent 8 hours in a room with a patient that talked an incomprehensivable blue streak. Working as a Patient Sitter can get to me sometimes when we are trapped in a room with someone like that.
I only meant to just check in for a few seconds and move on but I got hooked and looked at all the cartoons...they are great keep 'em comin'
We had 2 codes one night, 30 minutes apart. Neither one should have been a full code, but the family wanted us to "do everything." So we did, and we beat the poor first patient to pieces (she was almost 90, and probably weighed 78 pounds, end stage CA with mets), and of course we never got a shockable rhythm and kept giving her epi until she probably had more epi than blood. Doc finally, FINALLY called that one, two stay to clean up the room, 1 to deal with the family, when the button goes off across the hall. We think someone's hit it by accident, go in, and the CNA's doing compressions and about to pass out. That one had an EF of about 15% and probably caused a couple of coke dealers to have a down turn in their profits when he died -- he'd killed his heart and kidneys getting high. We worked him for an hour before doc called that one, family's screaming and carrying on like they didn't realize that a 20 something who's in with heart attacks when he's not in for detox is probably not going to live very long.
We probably looked like that picture when we crawled out of the second room. If someone else had coded, I think we'd have all ended up in the ER needing fluids and electrolytes...
Joe V
7 Articles; 2,625 Posts
I'm sure you can relate. We've all had rough shift.
How bad is burnout in your area?
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