I totally freaked out at work the other day. It was extremely inappropriate and uncalled for. I am embarassed to go to work.
The other morning, right during our 8am med pass ~ including all the insulins ~ the janitors were waxing the floors which meant that whole portions of the hallways were totally blocked off from the pt. rooms. I had a heavy assignment which was the farthest from the med room, pts that were unhappy, tons of meds. Each time I entered the pt's rooms there was something extra that they needed. Well, with just "busyness" and inability to even remotely catch up, I freaked out at the janitors. Okay, I am very embarassed to even admit this, but I began what started as asking them why portions of the unit were totally blocked off, why couldn't they just do half of the hallway, etc. in which I eventually got more worked up. At this time, there was PCA's, other nurses, new orientees, student nurses that stopped to watch the whole confrontation. I eventually "mini" stormed off. Afterwards, I apologized profusely to the janitors, in which they accepted my apologies, but of course, I am now looked at upon a different light. Usually, I am happy, friendly, smile at everyone and I am not like this. People were kind of keeping away from me and talking about this incident all day (understandibly). I am working tomorrow and I don't even want to go in because of this.
I respect the janitors. It is not my opinion that they are below us (my husband was a janitor), it was basically that I felt that the management scheduled it at time when the floor was the busiest without any consideration for the unit. I sometimes feel that the nursing staff is disregarded and unimportant to basically all involved in hospital operations.
Please help me. I don't know how to face work now and am terrified for tomorrow and every shift after.