Shift From Hell

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Hello everybody,

Have just finished a 10 hour shift from hell! Which started with a patient who claimed I had not given him his morning medication after I had stood there and watched him take it! So had to fill in endless paperwork and ask a DR to review the patient later in shift as some of the medication was his anti-hypertensive medication, of course he was not hypertensive as he had taken his medication.

Then as I was hoisting a huge patient, the hoist locked but I carried on moving it with all my strength causing me to jar my back and hand. we worked out that we had hoisted 50 times before 12pm as all patients were in and out of the bed, we only have 10 patients and 3 of them dont need hoisting.

Then one of the cleaners asked me was it Orange Juice or Urine on the floor at the side of somebody's bed, as she would have to use different mops! Please how do I know! just treat it as though it is urine, then there will be no problem. This then led on to great discussion amongst all anxillary staff, which went on and on and on.

Most patients were either doubly incontinent, in retention or bypassing their catheters at the same time, so where do you go first!

By the end of the shift all 6 staff on duty had some form of back, neck or hand injury due to the sheer heaviness of the ward.

Just before the afternoon staff came on, tranquility decended on the ward, and we looked like we had made it all up. :rotfl:

[SmilingBluEyes]

(((((((((((((((((((madwife)))))))))))))))))))))

put yer feet up, hon, you deserve it. Rough shift indeed.