Okay, so I had the weirdest shift last night. First, I was really busy, just because my pts were busy. I had a 90 yr old lady, LOCx1, very unsteady on her feet, who decided she was going to walk home. And the only way to keep her still was to put her in her bed, and then she screamed constantly at "that little boy who keeps getting my floor all wet. I keep telling him to go home, but he won't listen!" So keeping her safe was a full time job itself - and did I mention that she was combative? Pt #2 was very nice, but getting chemo, which takes time. Pt#3 was a young guy with a lot of pain in his back, and I had a really hard time keeping him comfortable - doc came out and yelled at me b/c pt was in pain. I said, "I just gave him his oxycodone 15 minutes ago" - not sure what he wanted me to do. Pt #4 was very VERY anxiouos, and would keep you in the room talking about nothing for an hour unless someone came on a resuce mission to get you out of there. Very nice lady, but again, time I didn't have. Then I got a new admission, and surprise - confused and climbing out of bed! So needless to say, I was running my butt off all night.
Well, pt #4 needed pain meds, so I got it out of the pyxis (2mg dilaudid IV), and was just heading to her room when I saw pt#1 trying to "go home" out the window (they don't open, don't worry!). So I dropped pt #4's meds in my pocket and put pt #1 back to bed. As I walked back out of that room, I realized my top was all wet. You guessed it! Dilaudid all over me! So I had to waste that and get new.
So I'm heading to give pt #4's meds (finally), and pt #3's wife asks for another pillow. I say, "sure, no problem" and head into an empty room. Unbeknownst to me, that room had very recently been cleaned, and the floor was wet. Yep, hit the floor (luckily only one knee and one hand - and not the hand holding the two broken dilaudid vials in it!). Why did I hit the floor? Because there was no WET FLOOR sign! SO embarassing, and pretty painful as well. And I was only an hour into my shift!!!!
So to make a long story a little shorter, some of the other strange things that happened included...what are the things called that you use when you hang an IVPB? You know, the little arm things (ours are blue) that come with the PB tubing to hang the main bag down lower? Anyway, I was in chemo pt's room, and the one holding his main bag (not the chemo) snapped in half and the bag fell on the floor. I didn't touch it. I wasn't even near the pole. It just decided to jump off the pole! I was like, "you've got to be kidding me!" Then I was getting out an IS for a pt and dropped it on the floor - it broke. I don't mean it cracked. It shattered! Then people were picking on me, trying to joke and be funny. Normally I am very easy-going and will joke and whatever, but they knew I was having a hard night and they wouldn't let up, even when I asked them to stop, and finally I ended up yelling at the person who is probably my favorite on the whole unit, and now I'm sure I'm going to look like a total jerk when I go back. I can't even think of the rest of the weird stuff that kept happening, but I have to go back this eve! I don't know whether to wish for the same group or not! And I'm still embarassed about falling - you know it's going to be common knowledge today. But, at least it was me, not a pt/visitor, or someone who might not be as resilient if they hit the floor (I'm young, I'll be fine). I just wanted to SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!
