How was your shift?

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Just got home from another CRAZY shift and just feel the need to talk about it. I worked the evening shift, started with 5 patients, discharged 2, admitted 1 and accepted 1 transfer.

Don't you just love the needy patient that whines and claims they can't do anything for themselves? Call bell after call bell "I need someone to clean me, I soiled myself!" ...yet 100% capable of walking to the bathroom. This patient was also complaining all night that she didn't want to be discharged tomorrow...I don't know how many times I had to explain she wasn't going anywhere. Unfortunately not an uncommon patient, but still not my favorite to deal with.

Next we have the patient that's 100% independent...should be a breeze! But ah in fact she's a talker, beware if you enter the room you will never leave. She complained to me for about an hour about one of our LPNs who was late giving her meds yesterday and how it's CRUCIAL she has all her inhalers exactly at a specific time to a tee...luckily I was able to deliver she meds on time. On top of that her port-a-cath is clotted and we are now onto our second dose of alteplase since the heparin flush and first alteplase dose didn't work. Not a crazy complicated procedure but definitely time consuming and frustrating and of course still no blood return after all of that! I try towards the end of the shift to get a blood return when she's now laying flat with her arm behind her head and wala! Blood return! Thank god

Onto pneumonia and an altered mental status. Pt found to have mild hypoxia on 4L...doc says it okay since they've decided she needs a thoracentesis...after initiating IVF...stupid mistake on my part initiating them in the first place but just a total mess of a situation that easily could've been avoided. On top of this the pt arrived from an acute care facility where the paperwork got "lost" in travel so everyone was unaware of the MRSA history and exposed for the first hour or so...yay for spreading infectious disease around!

Thankfully my two discharges were simple.

And my transfer...a retired nurse! Haha watching your every move. Typically she came with about 45 minutes left of my shift so I had to pass most of her transfer work onto the next nurse...I hate that but after the night I had there was no way to avoid it unfortunately.

So lesson learned? 8 hour shifts are rarely enough time to finish your work but what can you do! How was your shift?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
8 hour shifts are rarely enough time to finish your work but what can you do!
This is the precise reason I prefer 12-hour shifts. 12-hour shifts enable me to have four days off per week. Also, I am usually able to accomplish all my tasks within the 12-hour window.
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Specializes in ICU.
This is the precise reason I prefer 12-hour shifts. 12-hour shifts enable me to have four days off per week. Also, I am usually able to accomplish all my tasks within the 12-hour window.

Totally agree with this. Also, I just physically couldn't stand to be a nurse five days a week. Hats off to you for tolerating it, OP - this job is so frustrating that I think I might just rather get out of nursing than only have two days off per week. I am currently in the middle of a six day off stretch without taking any vacation days, and this is how I like it.

My last three in a row were frustrating enough that I think if I'd had to be back for two more days in a row instead of having six days off to look forward to, I would have given report on my patients to someone and just walked out in the middle of my shift. I had the single most anxious patient I have ever seen in my life with the most anxious family. Lots of tears and shouting, accusations about us giving her diseases because the trash can was getting full and no one had taken it out yet... ugh. I just can't imagine coming in five days a week.

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Specializes in pediatrics; PICU; NICU.

My shift will be over in 15 minutes. It was a typical shift. I work private duty Peds so I only have 1 patient. Right now he's pretty stable so I get to spend time reading on my Kindle & reading allnurses.com.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

I was sad and still am. We got a sick kid, and I'm still pretty new to working an ER with peds patients. I came from an ER that was adults only. I know truly sick kids are rare in a regular ER, but my heart is still breaking a little tonight.

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Specializes in ICU.

8-hour shifts SUCK. It's 5am here so almost done! 2 patients with an empty bed waiting to see if it'll be filled. ER is at capacity. *knocks on wood* First pt is a vented, trached, peg'd ABI pt awaiting insurance approval and vent SNF placement. Their vent alarms keep going off and RT has had to change the tubing twice already. Second pt is s/p fall c AMS asking when breakfast is and staring at the clock. "I'm ready to go home. I feel better." :yawn:

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My shift was yesterday as a school nurse. Woohooo Fridays in a high school! Only 1 "I want to die"/cutting/drama girl thing (and thank God it was as benign as it sounded- it's not always!) and no checking to see if anyone is high. I did have 3 bloody noses from the heat being on and 3 "jammed" fingers from gym volleyball. Also the typical Seniors leaving early with a migraine- every Friday? 2 anxiety attacks and 3 staff members coming in for BP checks and meds. Sports clearances for Middle Schools sports. 1 long winded session with our soon to retire AP who talks about the good ol' days. I got to eat lunch, mostly uninterrupted.

Actually, it was a pretty damn good Friday.

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8-hour shifts SUCK. It's 5am here so almost done! 2 patients with an empty bed waiting to see if it'll be filled. ER is at capacity. *knocks on wood* First pt is a vented, trached, peg'd ABI pt awaiting insurance approval and vent SNF placement. Their vent alarms keep going off and RT has had to change the tubing twice already. Second pt is s/p fall c AMS asking when breakfast is and staring at the clock. "I'm ready to go home. I feel better." :yawn:

8 hour shifts suck, unless you get the coveted 7-3. When I worked nights I much preferred the 12.

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I prefer 12's too...unfortunately not an option for me. But I work part time so I'm doing 3 8's, not 5 thank god! Where I work only one nurse does 5 8's, everyone else that's full time does 3 12's or 2 12's 2 8's.

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Specializes in LTC, HH, and Case Mangement.

Hi guys! I am in the last term of my RN program (yeah!) and graduate in about 8 weeks. I am precepting at one our local hospitals on med surg. My nurse works from 6:30p to 7am. So when I arrived last night it was already hectic. He had 4 pts and was getting another. So the first several hours it was crazy. One of our guys (he was young, early 30s like me) left AMA because one of his kids got hurt. He was a heroin user and smokes pot also. His speech was like 100 mph and very hyper. He was trying to rip the IV out, we finally got him to calm down and let us do it. I was glad to see him go. I am a home health LPN and so I work my own hours. I am not used to third shift so it is hard for me to function, but I pushed through. Hoping to work at one of the hospitals here in Dayton where I live, but I need to get used to doing 12 hour shifts again lol. I was a hospice nurse right out of school, but got away from that so I forgot how hectic 12 hours can be.

Heather

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Specializes in Med Surg.
So lesson learned? 8 hour shifts are rarely enough time to finish your work but what can you do! How was your shift?

Last night I was floated to a med/surg neuro unit. My home unit is incredibly heavy and acute - all the stuff you listed in your post and more - so floating is almost always much easier.

I got a three patient assignment, which usually has you wary but it was a piece of cake. One total care patient chronically ill recovering from viral encephalitis, still disoriented, tube feeding, unable to sit up, high risk for pressure ulcers, stooling a lot, worried (but nice) family which keeps you pretty busy.

Second patient, 89, in for COPD exacerbation. Getting better on steroids and nebs, needy, incontinent, peeing like crazy but standby assist to the BR with a walker and really sweet. Smile when you talk to her and it makes her day. (Nurses on that station don't smile much for some reason. Geez.)

Third patient in for a seizure. 81, pleasantly confused, sundowning a bit, up with standby assist and his wife there the entire night chasing him around.

First patient was a lot of work and the last patient needed a lot of supervision, but otherwise a relatively heavenly shift. Piece of cake.

Hard to believe they pay you sometimes. ;)

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Day was pretty cushy until that last hour when my new admit went downhill fast during report. I stayed over an hour helping the oncoming nurse. I felt guilty about handing over a crashing patient, even though I don't think I did anything wrong.

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