Don't you hate it when a bad nurse (or even a few of them) makes the whole profession look bad? I don't know if this family is paranoid or really had some bad experiences, but I kind of think it's the former.
Went fill-in on a private case as a favor to a family member. So far I've been called 5 or 6 times in the past couple of months but have only been able to pick up 2 of the overnight shifts. The first night I worked (after a 4 hour non-paid orientation) mom "fell asleep" on the living room couch (baby is in the dining room, which is adjacent) and woke up 4-5 times to check on the baby and every time the vent or tube feeding alarmed. I didn't overthink it because I was a new person on the case and the baby hadn't been home long.
Thursday I was available for a call-off but went in early because family member advised there had been some changes and I should get there early to get an updated orientation of the case from the evening nurse. I get there 2 hours early and follow the nurse around but she's being very, IDK, overly meticulous and careful with everything she's doing, especially considering neither mom or grandma are home. She shows me the updated "To-Do" lists we have to check off as we go, the whiteboard where we are to jot down "Deets" (how many soiled diapers, the exact time meds were given, when the feed was stopped, times the child was T&P, etc. Stuff that's in the narrative and on the med sheets but whatever...) She showed me where to sit now- a hardback chair with a tv tray on wheels, instead of the glider that was in the dining room for the nurses last time I was there and is now nowhere to be seen. She says loudly that there are new nursing notes the family generated but she left them in her car and she would go get them when the family came back.
When mom arrives the nurse asks me to come outside with her because she's late to her next job and doesn't have time to come back in. When outside she advises the family utilizes multiple nanny cams and sometimes the family likes to leave and watch the live streams remotely just to try to catch people doing something wrong. She hates the case and feels paranoid, but the pay is good and her other case is very unpredictable with the child's health status. She gives me the paper, which she pulled out of the bag she had in the house. Yay, for nurses who like to give a heads up!
I go back in to relieve the mom and she goes upstairs for all of 10 minutes, comes back downstairs with a blanket and her pillow and beds down on the couch. About halfway through the night, as she has woken up for every alarm or semi-loud movement, she says that she's over lazy nurses and can't get any sleep anymore because she's tired of nurses sleeping in her house and getting paid more than she makes to do it. She informs me that she's been sleeping on the couch sporadically since baby came home and every time she feels safe to sleep in her bed she regrets it because she catches the nurses asleep. It was very awkward. Mom finally went upstairs around 5 because she really wasn't getting any quality sleep. I can't be sure she wasn't up there watching me...
I was so relieved when the day nurse came. I was giving report when grandma came downstairs and sat on the couch. She turned on the TV like she was about to watch Fox News but really kept staring at us as we did the small narc count and day nurse got the tube feed ready for the day. Day nurse told me that grandma watches everything she does almost all shift, sometimes taking notes, and this nurse has been their primary since baby came home! Crazy!!!!!
