Friday the 13th - Any madness?

[canned_bread]

So yesterday, Friday the 13th was MADNESS for me. Our Accident and Emergency Department was packed, our outpatient clinics had standing room only from 11am, PICU was full and children kept requiring PICU intervention on the wards when they probably should have been transferred... everyone was haggard. Also it was the last Friday of the school holidays (school resumes next week), and so for the chronic children the parents suddenly wanted appointments, or needed something done TODAY. I think I was running on adrenalin for most of the day.

I met up with a colleague from the adults hospital next door and asked her how her day was. She works in Accident and Emergency. Her whole day was similar to a Friday or Saturday night - weird stories, weird patients, packed A&E.

And how was yours? Any different from an average day?

[amoLucia]

Just curious - could you blame it on a full moon?

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

It was balls to the wall crazy last night. Thank goodness for wine

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

Yes it was nuts. I had a pt with chest pain who didn't want to disturb the nursing staff despite constant explainations that I wanted to know about it.

Went to get the ECG machine from the ward across the corridor and they had a code blue on a pt that was for home in the AM. I delegated my pt CP and hung out on their ward and answered buzzers for them.

Answered one buzzer for them pt in negative pressure room. Went in fine but the door would not open to let me out. So much for being helpful I was hanging in the gantry until a porter walked past the door and saw me!

[Hygiene Queen]

My night was sooooo crazy...

Because it actually was the best, quietest and most pleasant shift I have ever ever had.

I was actually sitting down and talking with my pts.

My coworkers and I enjoyed some laughs.

No admits, no falls... even the dementia pts behaved and stayed in bed!

Tell me that's not crazy!!

[scrubwearer]

Most definitely. Last night was my last day at my current job (starting a new one Monday) and I had high sugars, low sugars, low 02 sats, g-tubes that wouldn't pump, IV's that wouldn't pump and a whole lot of pain pills in between. My 12 hours turned into 14...just glad it's finally over so I can sleep!

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I should have called in. That would have been the wise thing to do. And everything that happened last night could have been someone else's problem to deal with...

[Zookeeper3]

Working in the ER last night. Everything comes in threes. Had three Lacs to the head from drinking and bar fighting.. might not seem like much, but the drunken drama and tetorifice shot fears were enough to send me to the bar after work. 20, drunk at a bar and all about drama as you pick a fight?

Don't dare whine about lidocaine injects for your stitches because we can do them without, and when you are head to toe tats and dare to tell me about your fear of needles, I'm drooling at the 16 gauge...

Just sharing..

[alovelymother]

It was only crazy because we didn't have a single patient on our L&D floor!

[Sparrowhawk]

It was cray....let's just say netiher my DON or Administrator went home til after 9. I'd say it was cray cray

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

It was only crazy because we didn't have a single patient on our L&D floor!

I'm jealous!! We were packed to the gills - 6 labor patients, 10 couplets (2 of which were C-sections, one very exhausted mommy, and one withdrawing baby) left 4 babies in the nursery, I had 3 kids fail their hearing exams, and every baby in that nursery pooped at LEAST 3 times each from 11p to 7a!!!!

so it was cry, feed, change, rock, cry, feed, rock, change, lather, rinse, repeat...

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I was in the psych ER, and it actually was a good shift. It started off as crazy for the first few hours but then leveled off and was smooth except for a couple of problem patients...and even then they weren't too problematic.

I'm more worried about full moons than 13ths.