Here is my dilemma. It is 3am and I haven't slept yet, and I will need to get up in 2 hours to get ready for a grueling 12 hour shift. The two times that I have fallen asleep I have woken up coughing. Other than that, I feel fine. No fever, no body aches, not even a general fatigue/malaise (other than what you would expect for not having any sleep). So, based on that information I feel I have three choices.
1) Suck it up, grab a giant cup of coffee, and wear a mask
2) Call in sick
3) Call work, ask how staffing is, and depending on the answer I might work 7-11 (the busy time of day) because someone usually comes in at 11a to help out (yeah, we are spoiled)
Mind you, if no one answers by 5am I am fully capable of making my own decision, and will probably delete this thread But I figured I might as well ask allnurses since I am not sleeping anyways. I'm not too worried about prematurely using my PTO because I didn't use a minute of it last year, of course I am definitely jinxing myself by saying that. Any thoughts? Am I being a baby? Or is a decent night's rest and the ability to talk pretty important factors for our job?
I just remembered, I used to love PLAYING with Contac capsules as a kid. That probably makes it sound like my mom was horribly neglectful. But I thought it was so neat that it would open up and stuff would come out. And then I could play with the little balls.... I was so excited when I was old enough to get to take some! (I still love to play with pills. I like patients with tubes that need their pills crushed. Playtime!)
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Pill crushing! Oh yeah! My last private duty case had an old-fashioned stone mortar and pestle and man could that baby turn the pills into a fine powder. I scoff at those cheesy plastic crushers. Perhaps you have a thing (I know I do)for those little bottles of cake and cupcake decorations they dismissively refer to as "sprinkles" which is really a misnomer because if you look at them under a microscope you see they are tiny rectangles!! Not balls!!
I was always fascinated by the silver decorations that look sort of like BBs - can you eat those? I was always afraid to try. My mom never really knew where I was, but I knew a broken tooth would be a very bad thing.
Hope beckster is sleeping finally and on the mend!
Ugh, I floated one night to a floor that all they had was this thing that you put the pill in and then it screws together and crushes like that. Which meant after you were done you had to wash the whole thing. So annoying. I liked the ones that you could put the pill(s) in a souffle cup, then another cup over it, then beat the poo out of it. It was especially nice if I had aggression to get rid of. Then they replaced them with these annoying silent crushers with plastic envelopes. And you can never get all of the pill out of the plastic, such a waste. And NO fun at all.
Cake decoration BBs!!
I always liked those stained glass melty things. Those would fly everywhere. I liked pushing them around. Maybe I should have been a pharmacist, that's all they do, push pills around with their little spatula thing right? I wouldn't need to learn any extra chemistry or stuff to do that, just say, "Hey CVS! Hire me!" Right?
Also hoping beckster is sound asleep!!!!!1!!1!!!11
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Yep it's the kind that you screw the two pieces together that are such a pain in the butt. My wrists would get sore from screwing them together shaking it around, repeat ad infinitum . .be glad there are no big horse-sized vitamins on the menu. . .
Those are horrible! They might be good for home use, where it's the same person's pills each day, so residue isn't a big deal. But for a hospital, stupid!!!
I was fortunate enough to sound sick yesterday, so I didn't even need to give a reason. All I had to say was "Are you charge today?" My winning combination last night was nyquil + mucinex....and a bottle of Blue Moon before bed Slept like a baby! I don't sound quite as sick this morning so here's hoping they don't think I was faking it :-/ But I feel much better today and that is what counts. Thanks for all the well wishes!
Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.
good morning :)
i was fortunate enough to sound sick yesterday, so i didn't even need to give a reason. all i had to say was "are you charge today?" my winning combination last night was nyquil + mucinex....and a bottle of blue moon before bed slept like a baby! i don't sound quite as sick this morning so here's hoping they don't think i was faking it :-/ but i feel much better today and that is what counts. thanks for all the well wishes!
good call, i would have done the same in your situation....aloha~
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I went in to work one Thursday after having been called in the night before at bedtime and staying until about 2.5 hours before my scheduled shift started. We had lost two nurses to termination, and one was on vacation, leaving three nurses to do the work when normally we have six. I had already put in over 40 hours between scheduled shifts and having to either stay late or get called in for the week with two more scheduled shifts of 8 hours. I don't remember driving in that day at all. I knew I wasn't safe, but because there would have been no one to take my place, in I went. Fortunately I have a great boss who seriously went to bat for me (and the other call staff who were there that night since none of us had the opportunity to get ANY sleep whatsoever) and forced the nurse manager to loan out staff from the main OR so that the three of us could leave. I was absolutely terrified of making some mistake that would have adversely affected the patient. I'm also not quite sure how the surgeon, who was also there all night, managed a full day of cases safely. So, if you're not getting sleep and not sure you're safe to work, CALL OFF! Losing a day of paid time off is a much better alternative than harming a patient.
But I figured I might as well ask allnurses since I am not sleeping anyways. I'm not too worried about prematurely using my PTO because I didn't use a minute of it last year, of course I am definitely jinxing myself by saying that. Any thoughts? Am I being a baby? Or is a decent night's rest and the ability to talk pretty important factors for our job?
Slept like a baby! I don't sound quite as sick this morning so here's hoping they don't think I was faking it :-/ But I feel much better today and that is what counts. Thanks for all the well wishes!
wooh, BSN, RN
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The green ones! They even tasted good. (For a pill. Not like I'd let it sit in my mouth, but for the time it was there, it tasted not too bad!)