Bad night last night

[RN1982]

This is just a rant slash vent.

Is it wrong to be stressed? I come in last night, we are short staffed so I have a patient who is crashing and burning along with another patient who is stable and vented. I ran nonstop last night with my crashing patient and yeah I got a little stressed out. I had multiple orders to take care of, trying to push bicarb IV, D50, insulin because my patient is acidotic and hyperkalemic, maxed out on 3 vasopressors because the patient coded. So yeah, it was pretty crazy and while I've been in ICU for over a year, I haven't had a patient this sick so I was a little perturbed when my charge nurse says that if I'm stressed maybe this isn't the place for me. Excuse me? When is being stressed in the ICU not allowed. The last time I checked I am a normal human being with normal emotions. Stress being one of them. Since when is stress not allowed. Anyhow, kept my cool most of the night until my patient died, then I cried.

[pumpkinpatchquilter]

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I'm in prenursing so I guess I cannot be of much help, other than to say I'm so sorry. I think it's understandable to feel stressed, as long as you do as you say you did, and remain calm for the sake of your patients.

Maybe the nurse who said this to you, was speaking out of her own stress? It kind of sounds to me like she was just as stressed as you, but just wasn't very tolerant of your emotions.

[Straydandelion]

You are stressed because you care about the patient? I certainly hope the charge didn't mean you weren't functioning effectively. Why didn't she help btw? Anyway, sorry for your night....it is very sad to loose a patient. *hugs*

[RN1982]

Yeah you are probably right, Pumpkin. It's all good between us though, I talked to her about what I was feeling. Just felt the comment was uncalled for. She did help me throughout most of the night. It was just a very bad night. Wonder if it was a full moon.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

yikes. sorry you had such a bad night. tell your charge nurse to sit on it, you're entitled to be stressed out.... and she should have been helping you instead of criticizing you.

losing a patient is always rough, especially when you work so hard to try and stabilize them, i know i sometimes just feel this horrible sense of failure.

i actually had a semi-decent night, apart from being split with 8 patients and having 3 sundowners and having to give blood. it really could have been worse.

get some good sleep.... thats where i'm headed.

[RN1982]

Yeah, I'm off to bed too. I gotta work tonight. I did feel like a failure but really considering the circumstances surrounding my patient and his injuries, it was inevitable what the outcome was going to be.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

Turn, a good friend once told me when I had a similar situation....

Real nurses cry.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i presume that sometimes the "check valve" on her mouth doesnt work????

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Be like a whale and "blow" it off....

[JomoNurse]

This post makes me glad I work in Med-Surg and deal with pretty easy patients and minimal procedures!

[nervousnurse, ASN]

WOW, I'm sorry your night was SO bad, and sorry about your patient dying....(((HUGS!))) Then to top it off,

your charge nurse makes that comment-----

Like you said, you kept your cool...it's not like you were freaking out, throwing things, having tantrums

or anything------sheesh. Just remember, you did ALL you could, and TRY to forget the negative comment---

(I know, I know---it's not easy!) :) (((((((Hugs!!))))):heartbeat

[Nurserton]

I had a similar situation a few weeks ago...with our "low census" they've been cutting staff, but the low census really has no effect on the pt load of nurses who ARE working, we still get 6 pts easy. I'd had a crazy night as well....3 tube feeders, 2 of which had multiple complex stage 3-4 wounds requiring them to be changed every time they had a nice loose tube feed BM...one combative with a sitter, one a howler and a "digger" w/ a temperamental wound vac and bed alarm , and the third one known for pulling their lines out including PEG and vas cath out(our floor is "restraint free"..oh joy). I also had to give blood for another pt. And of course there's the admission who always conveniently comes at just the right time.. Needless to say it was just one of those nights, and I did not get a lunch. Well apparently this charge has not worked on nights because when I asked her how to clock out in the a.m. showing I'd had no lunch, she told me that with our census being so low, I was going to have some explaining to do. I'm like WHAT! I can't tell you about the floor's census, but I can damn sure tell you about the team I had!! Needless to say, after feeling like that on many a night, feeling unsupported, overwhelmed, and like I was doing a nightly tightrope walk with my license...I ended up getting a position in an outpatient clinic. I'm still at the hosp prn/pt, but I had to do what I had to do b/c leaving the hosp crying every morning because of another crazy night...I just felt like working us like that was just really unsafe, and it's something that I've had a hard time with working on the floor...I feel like I'm always presented with potentially dangerous situations (i.e., having half your team be so acute that you unintentionally neglect the other half of the team, leaving the door wide open for something to happen, because you don't have time to be everywhere at once) situations in which you don't have time for everything so something has to give, and it's just been really scary. It was hard for me to admit b/c you feel like as a new nurse people expect you to "fold" or "crack," and I've been in healthcare for so long before being an RN, I felt like there was no excuse for me to be struggling. At the end of the day though, I had to do what I had to to protect my license & my pt's, by not staying in a position that ran me to a breaking point on a consistent basis. Not saying that's the choice for you, but we need to be mindful of the effects of our working conditions on patient outcomes.