RoxiRN

:rotfl: hmmm. missed breaks. . . Unfortunately missing breaks appears to be the norm in my facility - its actually out of the ordinary to work a shift and get all the breaks we're entitled to. A missed break here or there is okay, but when it becomes a pattern, then that's what pisses me off. It really does depend on who you work with - if you have a work partner that pulls her weight, or one that farts around and chases her tail for half the shift. You all must know what i mean. . .

Teamwork means that eveyone does their job and DOESN'T leave it for the next person. Even if it means staying past shift change. I have worked many 12-hour night shifts without a break - not even time to go pee. 10 acutely ill (some of them too ill to go to the OR - the dumb orthopods accept them anyway - grrr) patients, with at least 4 or 5, sometimes more, fresh postops - this means q 1 hr respiration and sedation scales on patients who have had spinal-epimorphs, q4h vitals on fresh postops - complete with IVs, drains, foleys, PCAs to clear at 2400 and 0600, , a wack of postop orders and bloodwork to check, and lets not forget about those fresh postop patients themselves, who do not sleep and require q 2 to 3 h turns, who de-Sat and whose Bps crash into their boots. On an ortho surgical ward, patients do not take themselves to the bathroom. This only adds to the workload. And there's nothing like having a fresh postop go sour on you at 0300 when you and two other RNs are alone with 30 acute surgical patients! Oh and lets not forget that strange effect anesthesia seems to have on the elderly (who are the most frequent fliers on ortho) and alcoholics. On top of everything else these people are ripping out their drains (i.e. hemovac), IVs, and foleys! Keep in mind all of this is happenng when I'm alone and the other two RNs are pretty much in the same boat, so can't help. Nothing that dayshift brings can come even close to such an experience. On days their are always bodies around to help out if you're short. No such luxury on nights. Don't forget that nights are also responsible for making sure everything is in order. Apparently that includes processing orders that were written on days and left for nights to do. Apparently it also means tidying up after days. If you d/c an IV and/or PCA on days, for heaven's sake take it down and clean up you own mess - WHY DOES ALL THIS GET LEFT FOR NIGHTS!!?? What burns my butt the most though, is when a patient is admitted through ER early in the day and is going to have surgery the next day, and the day staff don't have the decency to start the preop stuff. Oh, yeah, lets leave it for nights! Grrrr. On my unit we all work days and night, 2 days, 2 nights, 5 off. But people still get lazy. . . BTW - the person who said nights typically don't spend time talking to patient's families - what planet are you on! The shift starts at 1930 - that's prime visiting time! Oh, yes, families call at all hours of the night.