The Perfect Work Day

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    Joe V
    Editorial Team / Admin

    Joe V

    7 Articles; 2,555 Posts

Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

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We all have our vision of the perfect work day....one that includes the ideal patient load and creature comforts such as bathroom breaks and time to eat. Ahhh......how nice it would be if this would happen besides just in our dreams.

What is YOUR perfect work day? Have you had any dreams lately?

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Specializes in ICU.

I had a perfect work day last Friday.

I was orienting to rapid response with a friend. So, perk #1 was I was orienting with someone I like to work with.

We set up the cath lab twice and had one call. One. The whole dang night. It sucked for learning purposes, but it was a very relaxing night. I basically spent the entire shift (minus the one call and two cath lab visits) helping out my coworkers on the unit when they needed it, and listening to Pandora at various people's desks with my feet up when they didn't. Some of my favorites were working, too, so I just pretty much floated from favorite coworker #1's desk to favorite coworker #2's desk to favorite coworker #3's desk. It was ultimate hang out time. I probably had eight hours of free time, at least, since the unit was quiet and so was the RAT pager.

My preceptor and I stayed to watch both heart caths, too. One because we should (the patient's rhythm was crazy unstable, and it's easier just to stay put because we're the code team, too, and the cath lab is in the total middle of nowhere on the opposite side of the hospital as our unit) and the other because we just didn't have anything else to do and he had a legit 100% blockage in his RCA. It was interesting to watch the immediate change in atmosphere in the cath lab when they injected the dye near that artery and saw absolutely nothing. They went from playful banter to major serious professionals in half a second flat.

Guy ended up going up to CICU on a balloon pump afterwards because they could barely get any blood flow through the artery at all, even with a stent. He was lucky he made it to the hospital. :nailbiting:

Oh, and we ordered food from my absolute favorite pizza joint and it was delicious. :D

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Staffed so that we are all 1:4 or 1:5. 2 or 3 CNAs working. Admission is a walkie-talkie, and it's given to me at 14:00 so I have time to do that and everything else. Coworkers don't gripe about politics all day. Somewhere to sit and chart. People don't back their computers up blocking where I was sitting (really)? No watching YouTube videos with the sound cranked all the way up...no sniping back and forth all day long about NP school and then complaining how behind everyone is (I have been busy working the whole time...you, on the other hand)....home with my puppy, pizza and breadsticks for dinner. THE END. Sorry, I'm cranky!

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When my unit census was full and I was able to have 4 patients. None isolation, none BG ACHS, and all compliant. All meds for shift are given at 0900. No admits and my discharges were conditional until pt's family arrives in the evening time.

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Both patients get transferred to the floor looking so much better and feeling so grateful.

Being per diem, I get sent home early to enjoy the rest of the day.

There are more versions of perfect days, but I do like to see patients improve and transfer out, and I like getting sent home early.

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No admissions, 1 or 2 straightforward discharges. If they are admissions, the folks who have been through our pre-admission centre so they have a lot of the busywork complete. Doctors answer their phones or even better make sure they have addressed everything on rounds so I don't need to call and chase up later. Time to drink a cup of coffee. Nice patients nice families with realistic expectations of care in an acute hospital setting. My favourite co-workers are on. No calls from lab with wacky results. No complaints about wifi, air conditioning, size of tv screen. Patients are walkie-talkie or assistance of one. And no one asks me to predict what time the doctor will be there!!

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Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

Likes for everyone - thank you for sharing. :)

Anyone else?

What is YOUR perfect work day? Have you had any dreams lately?

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I work out patient so my perfect day is a little bit different.

My perfect day is having just enough Rx refill requests and phone calls to keep my day busy, but not so much that my desk is full of papers and half scribbled notes of things I need to do. Get one patient at a time coming into the office for procedures so I can actually sit and do some education and a proper assessment. Providers all respond back to my request for controlled meds favorably, so I don't have to make any disappointing phone calls to Patients about not being able to get their Ativan or Adderall refilled and therefore avoid get yelled at. Provider requests are simple and do not lead me down a rabbit hole of transferred insurance calls and back and forth phone calls between provider and patient about resolving an issue. No PAR to do, or easy ones that get approved within 5 minutes because the medication history fits the formula.

Cherry on top is completing all my tasks with 20 minutes to spare and NO lingering issues to address the next day :) It's happened a few times, out patient has its own unique stressors.

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

My 'perfect work day' is when I'm not there. Contradictory, yes. :cat: Just part of why I'm going to take a break and then do some other kind of nursing, or at least work somewhere else doing the same kind.

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Specializes in Float Pool - A Little Bit of Everything.

I find the fact we can joke about the fact we cannot even eat, pee, or sit on a 12 hour shift, in a profession that requires top cognitive performance, depressing. MY favorite workday is the day I am no longer a nurse!

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My perfect work day is when I am not charge and when we order pizza :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

If I describe my perfect work day, which happened on Friday, it'll be a dead giveaway to my identity. I'll just say that I was paid for a full 12-HR shift at a rate >$50/HR for welcoming only TWO patients thirty minutes before the shift ended. I contacted management, after three hours of twiddling my thumbs, about going home...that's a negative. I wasn't a nurse; I wasn't a tech; I wasn't a phlebotomist. I was nothing more than a highly-paid volunteer. :sneaky:It was awesome!!!! :cheeky:

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