Updated: Mar 3, 2020 Published Mar 7, 2013
I think most if not all of you nurses can relate to this ?
Tgeagle83
6 Posts
I wish people better understood why this is a problem. I worked a med surg/post op/ortho/tele floor and the charge nurse was NEVER out of staffing. I would have a fresh post op patient, a patient on a drip for afib rvr, a patient that needs a sitter but there are no sitters available, no aide, doing total care. For some reason it's still impossible for people to understand why I held my pee for so long. When someone has no iv access and keeps pulling their iv out bc we have no sitters available and the doc doesn't want to give them any haldol, I'm going to be putting in an iv on my patients before I pee. It's someone's life or death, especially in the bottom barrel hospital I worked at. Especially when there is no aide and no charge nurse. Now I have a bladder condition called Interstitial Cystitis..it got so bad I was peeing myself at work. Every time I pee I have to wash myself off in fear that maybe I'll get a uti. So yeah it takes me longer to pee than most people. I get palliative care q1 hr pain med patients..I'm sorry but if someone needs comfort care or if someone is unstable (which happens a lot in a hospital) I'm not going to pee before I tend to them first. Remember, some of us don't have a charge nurse that doesn't have a team of her own to take care of. This hospital will give us a full team of patients with no aide. I've gone 9+ hours. It's quicker for me to fill up my water bottle and drink than to go pee. This is why I can't do bedside nursing anymore.
It's a lot faster for guys to pee than women (as long as they don't have any prostate problems) looks like that's probably some of the nurses that "don't get it". They might have a charge nurse or an aide to watch their teams as well. Where I come from, I didn't.
Wetsy
3 Posts
I've always figured it's better to pee my pants than risk destroying my bladder or getting a physical disability.. a little embarrassment beats a lifetime of physical discomfirt.
Kahhai
1 Post
Actually how to make the bladder to nurse bladder...
foxinwoods
LOL. That can't be true for all.