You can tell it's a full moon...

[mstearns09]

Our residents have been call-light happy for the entire week, apparently. I didn't work Monday or Tuesday but when I got back to work on Wednesday, it was like I walked into a war zone. From 4 to 6, it was nothing but call lights and trying to get fellow aides to help you get people up. From 6 to end of shift at 10, it has been nothing but call lights and cranky residents.

To make it all the more fun, the rehab department published a list of residents who are supposed to be ambulated to the dining room and activities. One is constantly up and down all day long and is incredibly frustrated that they took her wheelchair away.

And this morning, this jack-in-the-box resident fell and possibly broke something. I got a phone call from the administrator about it because I was in charge of caring for said resident last night. She was in bed when I left work at 10; she fell on night shift but whoever put her to bed last night didn't put her tab alert on her. I didn't put her to bed last night because we all worked together to get things done last night and our last resident wasn't in bed until 10. I don't know who put her to bed. That could potentially save my butt at this point.

The excrement is going to roll down hill now as this is the 4th fall that has resulted in a fracture in as many months.

[h_kitty, CNA]

But before u left did u check to see if her tab alarm was on? Or if she's a fall risk, did u check to see if she had a floor mattress?

[ctmed]

I am off. Have fun guys! I am just going to sit here with a cold brew and spend quality time with the laptop while the crazies get supercharged!

But really, I am pretty much agnostic and used to not put too much stock in superstition. But, being in this field has made a true believer out of me.

That moon is evil!

[ctmed]

And this morning, this jack-in-the-box resident fell and possibly broke something. I got a phone call from the administrator about it because I was in charge of caring for said resident last night. She was in bed when I left work at 10; she fell on night shift but whoever put her to bed last night didn't put her tab alert on her. I didn't put her to bed last night because we all worked together to get things done last night and our last resident wasn't in bed until 10. I don't know who put her to bed. That could potentially save my butt at this point.

More serious note.. one of the things I have always hated is this "fault finding" attitude with nursing. It is like it does not matter if someone is confused and you can not medicate or restrain them or even caring about the resident's condition. It's about who they can blame.

[mstearns09]

The resident had her tab alarms on when I left at 10 that night. She is known to take her tabs off herself and she has no floor mat ordered in her care plan. Thankfully, she only ended up with a bruised wrist. You can be assured, though, that if she's not on my scheduled resident list, I'll be checking her tabs and her bed sensor to save myself and my co-workers.

The insanity continued through Friday with a resident getting upset that the DON and her doctor okayed the use of a sit-to-stand lift on her because she sometimes will not bear part of her own weight when standing and too many CNAs were reporting strains in their backs trying to help her stand. While I understand why they okayed an order to use it PRN, it seems like maybe we all need to retrain ourselves on proper body mechanics, too. I know I could use a refresher course on it.

We've also had two new admits and one resident moved from our Alzheimer's unit to the main floor. This has added to our work load and it seems it's put not just the residents on edge but staff, too. I had the weekend off so hopefully things will have settled down somewhat when I get to work this afternoon.

[JDZ344]

It's definitely full moon!

[tenn_bsnstudent]

DEFINITELY a full moon! Everyone has been wild! One woman yelled (and I do mean YELLED) at me twice at the nurses station, threatened someone else, tried to hit another woman's family member, among other lots of fun stuff but the mental hospital doesn't take geriatrics. Everyone has been screaming in their rooms, beating the CNAs up at every chance. Its been awful. And that was after working 6 days in a row.