Describe an average day at your hospital

karenG · May 31, 2008

I dont think there is such a thing as an average day!! thats the joy of being a nurse- you have no idea what is going to happen next. At least I dont where I work..

I do know one thing though- and it may peculiar to the UK but if you mention the word 'quiet' then you can expect chaos to ensue..

I also know that all things come in threes.. so if you get one death, you can expect another 2.. if it goes to 4 then it will go 6!

so for me a typical day is, get to work, make a mug of tea and wait for the day to unfold..

of course there may be nurses out there who can predict what their day will hold- i'm not one of them!

Karen

Fox1 · Jun 2, 2008

Thanks KarenG. for the reply. I'm laughing as I type this because If I was asked what an average day would be like for me, my reply would be similar to yours. There is no average day! I should have rephrased the question. What happened at your work today. Just curious.Thanks

bigjohnsmom · Jun 2, 2008

well I am like Karen You can't predict what your day is going to be like. I work 7-7 sometimes 8-6 or 11-11 .

The day usually starts with breakfast if the ER is not swamped all ready and then we wait to see what comes thru the door.

BUt we don't ever dare say we are quiet or not busy because as soon as those words are uttered an emergency will happen

K98 · Jun 3, 2008

On daylight, clock in shortly before 0700. Get report on my two patients, or my sick single. Assess pt. head to toe, get 0800 meds, administer meds, chart initial assessment. Patients get turned q2hr, mouth care, suctioning, more meds, treatments, dressing changes, road trips off the ICU with vent and stacks of triple IV pumps to MRI/CT, etc.. Assist other RNs with their tasks (lifting, turning, out of bed to chair. Throw in a code or two (or three), a couple open chests. This continues for 12 solid hours. Sometimes we get a quick lunch. Try to make it to the head every couple hours to stave off post renal failure. Leave floor at 1930 (hopefully) with sore back and dirty scrubs. The end.

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jun 3, 2008

1900: Clock in and get report on my postop open heart baby. Check all my drips, lines, pacemaker wires and tubes. Check orders. Perform a head-->toe assessment. Give meds, draw labs every hour or so. Adjust vent settings and titrate drips based on labs. Administer blood/platelets/plasma/ffp/cryoprecipitate/cellsaver, record strict q1h I&Os, administer meds, coordinate care with the NNP/fellow, push lasix for oliguria, adenosine for SVT. Make sure the thoracotomy tray is ready to go in case we need to reopen the chest. Deal with family. MAYBE get a short break.

0700: Clock out and drag my exhausted tail to the train station.

meandragonbrett · Jun 6, 2008

1830--Clock in, put my crap away, print my two strips (sometimes 3 strips unfortunately)

1900--I've hopefully finished report by now. If not, I know it's going to be along night because either the previous shift didn't have their act together or I have a really sick patient.

2100--I try to have my assessment, my lines and gtts checked, vents checked, any pending labs checked and acted upon if need. I've probably called the pharmacist half a dozen times looking for missing meds. I've probably mixed up a norepi or epi gtt because usually my patient would be dead by the time pharmacy got it. We have visitation at 2100. I always go in and speak with my families, update them and answer any questions. I always chart 1900/2000/2100 if it's not already done during visitation.

2200-0500 involves labs, meds, monitoring, traveling to CT or MRI if needed, calling multiple physicians and coordinating the teams and treatments. calling families for any acute changes they need to be notified about in the middle of the night. Helping out my hall buddies with their patients (if I have time) helping out with new admits as we average 4-5 admits per shift easily. Fixing and troubleshooting any issues that come up with my patient (i.e. acute changes in vitals, out of whack electrolytes, behavioral issues are very common in ICU, vent alarms, self-extubations, codes, titrating vasoactives and sedation, often end up giving several units of PRBCs, FFP, and platelets).

0600---Make sure everything that I could get done is done. Make sure anything critical that needs to be taken care of is, get ready for report.

0715--Drag my tired butt to the garage and often times wander around for 15 minutes trying to remember where I parked.

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jun 7, 2008

0715--Drag my tired butt to the garage and often times wander around for 15 minutes trying to remember where I parked.

Ha! And I thought I was the only one!!

Good thing I take the train now.... I've had dreams of driving into a tree on the way home from work... :eek:

Gr8Dane · Jun 9, 2008

I'll give it a shot:

0635: Clock in, camp out desk for assignments. Start grumbling about possibility of floating to evil PCU or NTU.

0645: Get assignement sheet w/ patient information, go to walleroos, get meat and potatoes from green chart outside of patient room, await night nurse to come grumbling over w/ how busy they were ALL night lol :)

0715: Introduce self to all patients

0720: Begin doing the onslaught of bloodsugars. This is crunch time, diabetics are most inpatient when it comes to having their bloodsugar taken vs. starting to chowdown on breakfast. Then cover said bloodsugars as needed (And hunting down fellow nurses to check insulin to ensure proper administration)

0740: Check labs at nurses station on computer.

0745: Family begins calling "HOW IS DAD DOING??" "Who is dad?" "YOU KNOW DAD??" "Sorry I am not certain who dad is, could I please get a name or room #??" (They also enjoy calling during report as well).

0800-1000: Med time! Let the rush begin! During this period we nurses where I work battle for the 2 pixis stations on both sides of our floor. I also do assessements of the patients during this time. This is also the time every single doctor pours in demanding information, writing ongodlike orders which then we must somehow transcribe. Doctor is a whole different language when it is written vs. verbally spoken.

1000-1100: I attempt to breathe, but at this time I play catchup on charting, finish up assessments and start to disconnect IV's that were hung during the 0800-1000 med rush.

1100-1200: Take orders off from the desk charts that the secretary hopefully already did. Kinda a slow period here but dare not say the cursive word out loud.

1200-1300: Bloodsugars once again, a few small med passes.

1300-1400: Continue doing small med passes (Generally IV's). If lucky lunch can fit in this period most of the time.

1400-1500: Doctors trickle in. Await new assignements. Start grumbling about possibility of floating to NTU or PCU.

1500: If lucky not to float, start shift assessments.

1600-1700: A few small med passges, continue shift assessments.

1700-1800: Bloodsugar time, a few small med passes, family begins to raid the floor.

1800-1900: Hellhour. Med passes, FAMILY ONSLAUGHT, DOCTOR ONSLAUGHT (Hospitalists enjoy raiding us at this hour w/ their massive patient loads).

1845-1915: Give report ASAP to get the hell out of there.

This would be an avg day but...I didnt include all the procedures you get stuck assisting with, the problems that occur (Ever have 4 IV's blow consecutively when an abx is due?? I do all the time).

Procedures, consents for said procedures, gathering supplies for procedures, assisting angry doctor with said procedure, gather more supples the doctor never asked for but expected you to read their minds and have beforehand for said procedures.

The worse is when they come in wanting to do an in room procedure during the 0800-1000 time zone. Ive had more then one lung tap occur and take over 1.5 hours because the doctor couldnt find the "fluid", he kept grumbling about transitional fluid.