The Shift from Hell

Published

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Well, here it is September and I've been kvetching about low census and getting called off (including on Labor Day when I could've gotten time-and-a-half).......all of which was made up for in one 8-hour shift yesterday. I mean, we got SLAMMED. Eleven surgeries, ten admissions (4 of which I did myself) and two transfers from the ICU, all on the 3-11 shift. I didn't sit down all evening except for a 15-minute supper break, but that was the least of my worries. One of my admits was a total care pt. with new-onset seizures who was supposed to have VS every hour, and another was a woman with blood sugars in the 400s who needed fingersticks every hour for 6 hrs (should've been in the ICU w/insulin drip if you ask me).

Then one of my patients was a 1:1 (LOL with urosepsis) whose urine suddenly turned to frank blood and large clots, and I was supposed to irrigate her Foley catheter every hour!! No CNA to help with any of this, so a lot of it didn't get done. And I wasn't the only one who had a hard night......everyone else was running just as fast as I was, and on top of all of it we just started using a new computer system (MediTech) and it crashed, leaving us

unable to order labs or do anything else for almost 2 hours.

Finally, just as I was coming to the end of the shift, my post-ictal pt., whose VS I hadn't had time to check in several hours, dropped his BP from 120/70 to 80/38, and still another admission came in (ETOH and Ambien OD) who couldn't find her butt with two hands, but kept going outside to smoke. I felt awful that the

vitals hadn't been done, but there was no way on earth I could've gone any faster or done any more than I was already doing. We usually are staffed better than this, but last night we could have had half the nursing staff on the floor and we STILL wouldn't have had enough bodies.

That's easily the worst shift I've had in the 6 months I've been back at the hospital, and one I won't forget any time soon. The kind of shift that leaves one wondering why in the world they paid

good money to learn how to be a nurse in the first place, and at the same time terrified of losing their license for something they did or didn't do in their rush to get things done.

So.......what were some of YOUR most memorable shifts from hell?:eek:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

Most of the shifts I work are "Shifts from Hell!" :rolleyes:

I come home and feel terrible! Nursing never use to be this way as far as I can recall. Six years out of the field, and this is called "nursing"? I feel sorry for nurses today. We are busting our azzes, breaking our backs, running our feet into the ground at rapid speed, sweating like crazy, starving from malnourishment, being treated worse than dogs, and doomed to die of bladder and bowel failure all for what??????????????? :(

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I dont know the answer to that.

I'm so sorry it sucks like this

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Sorry to hear that, Renee.......nursing IS hard work, even on good days, but on bad days it totally sucks. I just try to remember that people are always going to need care, and they deserve the best I have to give, even when my best isn't enough (like last night). I also have a different perspective after having been in management, which is, at least I can go home and leave it all behind (well, I tend to relive a bad shift in my dreams, but otherwise there are usually no lasting effects).

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I try to prioritize/be as organized as possible/do things early..so when the @#$% hits the fan I'm not SO overwhelmed.Even with best efforts this is an impossible task sometimes and it leaves me wishing I had been able to do more:/ We alllll have those crappy shifts when the only way to get everything done is to clone 4-5 of ourselves.Do the best you can and you'll be able to leave with a clear conscience.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Originally posted by cheerfuldoer

Most of the shifts I work are "Shifts from Hell!" :rolleyes:

I come home and feel terrible! Nursing never use to be this way as far as I can recall. Six years out of the field, and this is called "nursing"? I feel sorry for nurses today. We are busting our azzes, breaking our backs, running our feet into the ground at rapid speed, sweating like crazy, starving from malnourishment, being treated worse than dogs, and doomed to die of bladder and bowel failure all for what??????????????? :(

That's it exactly!

I'm sitting here with my aching back, throbbing feet, all stressed out and can't sleep, because I just had another shift from hell, too!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I wish I could say that these "Hell" shifts only happen rarely-we all know better. The worst shift I had was a full unit (32 patients) I was the ONLY RN - all those assessments.....I had 3 NEW Grad LVNS (Registry) who have never worked at this facility before as my staff. We use computer charting....which none of the LVNs knew how to use....medication cart which none of them had access to....I think you get the picture. How did I survive? I rallied the patients families to assist with their loved ones care. I oriented my LVNs to the unit...When they needed medications to have the Chart/Mar in hand...Thank God I only had 3 frest post surgical patients and 1 blood transfusion during this shift...It could have been worse. I completed all assessment by 1300 (the shift started at 0700). I also had several discharges to do....OH WELL....I still Love being a Nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg.

Some days you just fly by the seat of your pants (and nursing license) and pray that nobody dies. Sad but true. Glad they all aren't like that for me. But when those shifts happen, it sucks the life right out of you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

In a case like this I'd definetely fill out a Protest of Assisnment form - whatever your hospital has. You're taking a big chance by not doing this should an untoward event happen. CYA.

Just an observation: I find it ironic that anyone who has to work under these conditions STILL gets to take the heat when patients and families (even nurses as patients) complain that their hospital stay was less than ideal. We all hear the horror stories - and yet the position we are put in never becomes a valid 'reason'.

We all just want it all!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

I've been crying off and on since 0500 this morning. I rarely get any sleep. The soles of my feet are killing me, even after putting Dr. Scholl's gel heel pads in my shoes...helped for the first part of the 12 hour shift, but dwindled after that.

I can't stop thinking about how awful nursing has become since leaving and returning to the field with that six year break! :eek:

I love being a nurse because I enjoy patient care. I'm tired of being picked on, gossiped about, and stabbed in the back at work. No one has the guts to face me and tell me the crap they seem to be running to management about, yet the gossip is suppose to speak for who I am as a nurse, a person, or whatever I have become since working among the pack of wolves in sheeps clothing. :chuckle

Why or why do nurses abuse each other so? Aren't we suppose to be team players working together? I hate to be forced out of being a nurse! Yet....I see it coming. Sad, but true.

My unit seems to want handmaidens so why not dress like one?

It isn't so much the patients as it is the attitude the staff accepts, and the things they whisper about behind the nurse managers back. Whose ratting on them? I have covered so many butts since working on that unit, yet they go gossip about me to management! Jealousy kills a lot of people, doesn't it? Not having a productive life tends to lead employees to gossip and falsely accuse a peer employee of things that are mundane and childish. Just because I am not afraid to be assertive and exercise the power of my voice as a professional in nursing doesn't mean that I am not a good nurse. A butt kisser I am NOT! Never have been...never will be!

Should I quit?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg.
Originally posted by cheerfuldoer

Should I quit?

Yes. No job is worth crying over and all the other crap you're putting up with. Time to move on. Don't waste another teardrop. But don't give up on nursing.

(((cheerfuldoer))))

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

Thanks Tweety for the hug. I haven't had one in a loooooonnnng time. Hubby is overseas, and I come home all alone talking to my three foot teddy bear and telling it how much I hurt. My eyes are so swollen from the crying. It's been twelve hours now that I've been crying off and on. Can't get out of my bathrobe for anything. All I've eaten today was a couple pieces of chicken. Time for some herb tea...nice and hot...and a couple of Benadryls and two Tylenol. Wish I had some Ambien. I've got a doctor's appointment next week because I feel like I'm falling apart completely from the pressures at work. :o

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion