This week. I got asked by my bosses boss to pick up a shift. I used the weakest excuse there is and I stuck to it: my group was just too much, I haven't gotten sleep, and I desperately need my days off.
So now, I bring to you what I learned while sitting in my home ED triage wearing an N95. Yup. It's been that kinda week.
1. I have yet to meet a grumpy person who didn't perk up after giving them a shift of kindness. It feels like the biggest victory, too.
2. It sucks that being required to report abuse and self harm means destroying the trust you'd achieved before that point.
3. Some patients make me hate nursing homes. I'm so sorry to the NH staff we have on here. I understand you function under terrible limitations. However.... When a nursing home gets a patient they are unequipped to handle, they don't realize how horrible the outcome can be. One such patient made me cry. HARD. I found a dark corner of the hospital and just hid. Some things we'll never let go of.
4. We have a patient with us who has been with us three times over 3 months and was not shown to have TB until last week. For some reason only those of us directly exposed seem to be freaking out at all over this. Sputum results would be nice, please.
5. You can do everything in your power on the planet to fight hard to end abuse and make progress for a patient. And then you can find that it did absolutely nothing. Your time was wasted. THIS is where burnout begins.
6. When you FINALLY feel awake enough to get your URI checked out, and you're honest about your TB exposure, you'll get turned away by everyone but the ED. What a waste. Honestly.
7. I don't want to be a psych nurse. I tip my hat to all of you out there. I don't want to be a psych nurse, but you know what? I'm good at it.
8. I don't know what is going to happen if I'm positive for TB. My kids have fevers this morning. Maybe they'll let us room together. [emoji22]
This week. I got asked by my bosses boss to pick up a shift. I used the weakest excuse there is and I stuck to it: my group was just too much, I haven't gotten sleep, and I desperately need my days off.
So now, I bring to you what I learned while sitting in my home ED triage wearing an N95. Yup. It's been that kinda week.
1. I have yet to meet a grumpy person who didn't perk up after giving them a shift of kindness. It feels like the biggest victory, too.
2. It sucks that being required to report abuse and self harm means destroying the trust you'd achieved before that point.
3. Some patients make me hate nursing homes. I'm so sorry to the NH staff we have on here. I understand you function under terrible limitations. However.... When a nursing home gets a patient they are unequipped to handle, they don't realize how horrible the outcome can be. One such patient made me cry. HARD. I found a dark corner of the hospital and just hid. Some things we'll never let go of.
4. We have a patient with us who has been with us three times over 3 months and was not shown to have TB until last week. For some reason only those of us directly exposed seem to be freaking out at all over this. Sputum results would be nice, please.
5. You can do everything in your power on the planet to fight hard to end abuse and make progress for a patient. And then you can find that it did absolutely nothing. Your time was wasted. THIS is where burnout begins.
6. When you FINALLY feel awake enough to get your URI checked out, and you're honest about your TB exposure, you'll get turned away by everyone but the ED. What a waste. Honestly.
7. I don't want to be a psych nurse. I tip my hat to all of you out there. I don't want to be a psych nurse, but you know what? I'm good at it.
8. I don't know what is going to happen if I'm positive for TB. My kids have fevers this morning. Maybe they'll let us room together. [emoji22]
Positive TB test will mean you get an X-ray and possibly prophylactic INH x 6 months.
Ixchel, sorry for your TB scare/burnout-beginning week. That is rough, when the work we do is so detrimental to our own health.
This week, I learned, that even though the hospital toilets flush with such amazing force, an index card won't go down and I'll have to fish it out with my hand.
I learned that med surg can actually be enjoyable, when I'm on a unit that is NOT passive aggressive/bullying in the guise of "maintaining (impossibly high) standards."
Most importantly, I learned that I love being a nursing instructor.
~ My least favorite thing about nursing school is the papers. Why so many papers?!
~ Seeing your usually over the top happy instructor in tears is horrible.
~ Getting sent home from clinical, my whole class, makes my heart heavy. The reason, plus we were leaving people who needed us.
~ For the love of everything living wills. Never knew how important they were until it gets explained in a "this is what happens in these scenarios if the patient doesn't have a documented plan" version.
~ Assessments are hard. I know they get better, but right now I'm just, buh?!
~ ixchel is "okay" and I like that.
~ I don't mind Far having up a lung in my ear, but it was a bit concerning.
~ People will drive to 6 different stores to find a cherry pie.
~ My husband makes great strawberry pies. All it was was strawberries, strawberry glaze, a baked pie crust, and whipped cream and it was amazing. So happy for strawberry season.
I learned that my coupe will still go 70mph while holding 8 gallons of paint, 17 cartons of hardwood flooring, a large flooring cutter, miscellaneous items from Macy's, myself, my son, and a partridge in a pear tree.
(I would have taken my pickup but I didn't plan ahead and the floor was close out, so they wouldn't hold it. Yay for home repairs).
I've learned that laying hardwood in to an abnormally small and oddly shaped space will push me to the brink of sanity.
I've learned that I love my co-workers. They're supportive when I make a stupid error and beat myself up for a couple of days.
I also learned that too many shifts with epically heavy assignments, a new work flow for the floor, and two patient losses will cause me to be seriously opinionated and mouthy, even when discussing mundane topics such as green chlorhexidine caps for central line lumens. I will also reach people overload and need to retreat to a quiet corner in order to regain my composure.
All of the above nursiness was mitigated by Irish Coffees and kickass breakfast with some of the best teammates to ever grace nursing. Watching my favorite work pal hand off her half sandwich to a passing homeless gentleman with a genuine smile as we were leaving made me feel like the previous 10 shifts hadn't even happened.
Yay ixchel! Glad you didn't end up with TB after all.
~ For the love of everything living wills. Never knew how important they were until it gets explained in a "this is what happens in these scenarios if the patient doesn't have a documented plan" version.
It's nice that nursing schools teach that living wills actually matter. I'd say that living wills get followed less than half of the time. I've only seen one occasion where the family wanted the patient to be a full code, but the physician managed to talk them into a DNR because of the presence of a living will. If your family is insistent enough on what they want, a living will isn't worth the paper it's printed on. A much safer option than a living will is hiring someone outside of your family to be your POA because a total stranger will probably be relatively unbiased and follow your wishes.
I have been officially checked off on restringing CRRTs this week, so I learned I feel like hot stuff when I get checked off on something new. I feel experienced now. xD It only took me a year and a half to get checked off because I'm a dang white cloud and nothing ever goes wrong with the machines when I have a CRRT patient. I had to have someone watch me restring it three times... and all three times I restrung it on someone else's patient because mine never beeped once all night. And I have had CRRT patients for ten out of the past twelve shifts I worked with a few of them not running any anticoagulation at all, so you would THINK just by random chance one of mine would clot off at least once...
There are times that being a white cloud is in your favor, but it's not when you're trying to get checked off on doing something that requires something to go wrong.
Ps, Ixchel, your week sounds scary. I'm glad the cxr looked good.
I had a direct exposure to Klebsiella pneumonia when a patient (cultures pending) coughed bloody sputum in to my face as we were rolling in to the OR. I'm severely asthmatic and ended up with abx. I was a wreck for several days. Can't imagine if it was TB. At least we eventually had culture and sensitivities working in my favor. Many cyber hugs to you from me :)
Repeating my stats class three times did not appreciably increase my understanding of, or reduce my loathing for, statistics. Even though I'm not even in school anymore I still put off writing papers till the last possible moment. Someone please remind me of this three years down the road when I decide to go for my masters.
Sending a patient out is no fun. Sending a patient out twice in a week for the same problem is even less fun.
My spouse makes a mean shepherds pie. Also, he knows how to program the oven.
Sorry Ixchiel. When I was hospitalized for my lung abscess initialy they thought it was TB. I am ironically grateful it wasn't, even though having an abscess sucked.
This week I learned self disclosure about your problems is pointless. I wanted people to learn from my struggles and mistakes. It appears I missed the mark. I came off in a way I did not intend.
A friend posted a thread about being openly mocked for an invisible illness on facebook, so I reposted it. No sooner did I do this then I received a worried pm from a friend because of my past issues. Lesson learned disclosure is bad very bad. All it does is cause worry in the people who care, and or stress. Other people will not care/understand, and yet others will attempt to take advantage.
I wanted people to learn from my struggles/issues, but it appears all I did was cause unnecessary stress to my friends who genuinely care. I though I could make a world where no one had to go through what I went through. All I did was cause others to unecesarilly worry.
One month ago today my brain took a little vacation (i.e. I had a stroke). I saw my doctor for follow up Friday & was released to go back to work starting last night. I'm so happy to be back! I was getting very bored at home! You can only count the cracks in the walls so many times before you start naming them!
Farawyn
12,646 Posts
Heeeeeeeyyyyy!!!