You are pleased to (finally) leave work on time @ exactly 7:15 pm. When you walk in the door, your family immediately looks at the clock and asks, "What are you doing here?"
Ok, guys. Tell me the truth. You really work in my hospital and you've changed your names for protection!
Speaking of changing your name, how many times have you wanted to change it 4 hours into your shift because you've heard it paged over head so many times.
You start the day with 5 patients, and end with 6. However, none of them are the same ones you started with and you peaked at 8 or 9 somewhere in the middle of your 12 hour shift.
When you tell the ED/PACU etc...to hold the patient about 30 minutes because the only room you have available is being cleaned...and 10 minutes later you have a patient in the hall in a wheelchair or on a stretcher wondering why YOU don't have a room for them...seriously though, I wouldn't want to try do to their jobs!
1) Discussing bodily fluids over a gourmet meal seems perfectly normal
to you.
2) You think that caffeine should be available in IV form.
3) You get an almost irresistible urge to stand and wolf your food even
in the nicest restaurants.
4) You say to yourself "great veins" when looking at complete strangers.
5) You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if you say,
"It's unusually quiet around here today"
6) You have ever had a patient look you straight in the eye and say "I
have no idea how that got stuck in there".
I can so relate to looking at strangers veins !!
.....You have to put your name (with fellow co-workers) on peices of paper & draw out of a hat to see who "wins" the chance to help the doctor do an I & D on a rectal abscess.....LOL true story!! Guess who won!!
Our ER nurses have recently gotten a kick-start (incentive pay) for getting pts out in a certain amount of time. It is GUARANTEED that we will get a call at 2300 with an admission. The ER will call at least 3 times from 2300-2330 to give report, despite you repeatedly telling them that that nurse is in listening to report on the 6 patients she already has up here. If you dare tell them she will have to call back, you will get threatened that they will just send the pt up without report. Ok, I will just put my other 6 patients on hold while I go down MYSELF to get this pt (we do not have aides, LPNs, and we "share" a unit clerk between floors but we rarely see one on our floor), do the admission myself, get them settled, then finally roll around to the poor people that have been there, at 0200. I love when their excuse is they are "so swamped" and you walk down to get the pt and everyone is hanging around the nurses station doing nothing. And the pts are always mad at US as to why there was a delay getting upstairs. Last night it was a juggle between post-op surgical, ortho, confused combative alzheimers pt with fx hip fighting everything you have to do, an "oops I pulled my iv out" with Morphine PCA running all over room , 2400 meds, and a new admit at 2400. Oh I love the rare few that just want an Ambien and the door shut. Gotta love this job.
PACU nurses love to just "show up" with the patient saying "I decided to give you report once we got up here". Gee thanks! Same day surgery pulls that one too.
This made me think of the time I was in ICU with nurse (I'm an aide) waiting for a post op abd surgery. Critical condition. It's just me and her, no other patients in ICU. The OR nurse calls with report. All I hear is "you mean to tell me you call me with report but you didn't get ANY post op vitals??" Good for her, she refused to take the patient until vitals were taken.
Our hospital is trying to impliment a policy that ER can't send up admits our shift changes. Hopefully it sticks. 
General E. Speaking, RN, RN
1 Article; 1,337 Posts
You are pleased to (finally) leave work on time @ exactly 7:15 pm. When you walk in the door, your family immediately looks at the clock and asks, "What are you doing here?"