And people wonder why I laugh?

[SeaCat]

So I show up for work today and start getting things ready. The off going Aides, all three of them, are sitting at the Nurses Station surfing the Internet. I check the census and make sure all patients are accounted for. Then I check the work logs and find I'm the only Aide on the floor. Oh joys, oh rapture.

Then I notice a notation in the book. Looking closer at it I see that I'm also to be working the desk and helping the Charge Nurse. I start laughing which causes a few heads to turn.

I grab my worksheets and get what report I can from the three off going aides. Mainly I'm told the patients are there and alive. No information on who has a Foley or JP's. No information on diets or who can help with what. Hell I don't even find out who is on Isolation. IN other words I'm going in cold. All I know is who my R.N.'s are.

Well I could be cussing and fussing but that wouldn't make sense. It certainly wouldn't change things and the patients do need to be cared for. I get going.

21 patients later I finish the vital signs and know what I'm facing. 10 Total care patients with 8 Foleys. Two of these patients have to be turned every two hours to prevent Bed Sores. Of the other 21 patients two are self care, the rest require assistance. The two self care patients are slated for discharge but they will be replaced with three admits from the E.R.

Many of my patients are getting blood, Chemo or both. This means the R.N.'s will be busy. Time to get cracking. I set up a list of priorities and get moving.

The Total Care patients come first. They are bathed, moved and cared for. All Catheter Care is done and documented. (Hell everything is documented.) The Rollers are repositioned and cleaned as needed. I'm running like a damned fool answering call bells during this.

Next comes the Assists. They too are bathed, walked and otherwise taken care of. Their beds are made and they are as comfortable as I can make them.

My admits come in and they are made comfortable. Two of them turn out to be totals that need to be cleaned up. This is done. Time is marching on and I'm leaving smoking footrints in the halls.

At noon I do another set of vital signs as well as checking the Blood Sugar Levels of those that need it done. Set them up for lunch and back to work. Take bites out of my snadwich on the fly as I move from room to room. Still I'm answering call bells. Get this patient back to bed, give this patient a Bed Pan. Help this one to the commode and back. Document all.

By 1430 all patients have been cared for and I'm running on fumes. There's still more to be done though. GRab a cup of coffee and load it with sugar for the energy. (Yuck.) Behind the Nurses Station I go. Graph the patients temperatures and print out the paperwork needed by night shift. Put all of the lab results that have come in so far into the charts. All while answering even more call bells. This person wants a soda, this one wants a cup of coffee, this one wants back to bed and this one wants a Bed Pan. Keep moving and finally finish the coffee even though it's cold.

1500 rolls around and it's time to do yet another set of vitals as well as Blood Sugar Checks. Check in four more patients, two of whom are total care and filthy. Once more do Catheter Care on the patients that need it. Answer more call bells. Finish with this and Graph the temps again. Post more labs to the charts then back to the floor while answering the bells. Empty Catheters and Drains. Get more Ice Water for this one and another Soda for that one. Make sure the rooms are clean and orderly. Make sure the linen carts are stocked.

1830 comes around and it's time to give report to the oncoming Aides. They arent there yet so answer a few more bells. Opps this patient has messed themselfe for the fourth time today, clean them up and back to give report.

The Aides finally drag in at 1855 and are pissed. They want to know why I didn't set up their Ice Water for them. There are once again three of them. I give them report and am taken to task when another patient calls and says they need to be cleaned up. Why didn't I clean this patient up? They are going to make sure I am reported for this. So what else is new?

Then they start in on their other complaints. This one doesn't have their Stethescope, can she borrow mine? (No) This one didn't bring in a pen, can she have mine? (Hell no, it was a gift from my wife.) The litany goes on and on.

Then one of them tells me they need some time off and wants me to cover for her on a Sunday Night. Our Supervisor has told her that it was okay with her. I laugh and tell her that just wasn't going to happen and she gets pissed. She can't understand my not wanting to take her hours as well as mine. When I try to explain to her that this would mean my working 36 hours straight she didn't want to hear it. I was not being a Team Player and was doing this just because I didn't want her to go to a concert in Miami. She was going to report this to the Supervisor as well.

As I head for the Time Clock the Charge Nurse comes up to me and tell's me I'm going to be the only Aide working tomorrow again. She tried to get another Aide but none are willing to come and work on our floor. (I wonder why?) I just shrug, what else can I do?

So tomorrow is going to be another day from hell and then on Monday I'll have my ass dragged on the carpet to defend my actions. There are some days when I wonder why I do this kind of work.

Cat

 

[rgraham666]

Humans.

Stay strong, Cat.

 

[LadyFawn]

Hey Sea Cat

I sure wish we had someone like you working with us,you take on extra work without complaining and take good care of your patients and know you are facing the same again the next day.I sure appreciate people like you!

 

[Vermilion]

Um... but what are the nurses actually doing? Sounds like you're doing everything I'd expect a nurse to do...

x
V

 

[matriarch]

Um... but what are the nurses actually doing? Sounds like you're doing everything I'd expect a nurse to do...

x
V

That's exactly what I thought?

So, Cat? What do the nurses do?

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Um... but what are the nurses actually doing? Sounds like you're doing everything I'd expect a nurse to do...

x
V

The kind of incompetence SeaCat is dealing with is why we have so many errors and problems in our nation's hospitals.

I also suspect that the one going to Miami is in a buddy circle that includes the Supe.

I long for a hard charging iron-fisted politician that will slap hard 8-12 hour limits on hospital workers in non-citywide emergency situations. After 12 hours there's no way performance doesn't start to suffer.

 

[emap]

Hey wow Le made sense.

I got a couple silly questions, well probably not that silly but I am curious, what is a foley and what is a JP?

Ok this one is silly, what is a snadwhich?

 

[Guest]

So I show up for work today and start getting things ready. The off going Aides, all three of them, are sitting at the Nurses Station surfing the Internet. I check the census and make sure all patients are accounted for. Then I check the work logs and find I'm the only Aide on the floor. Oh joys, oh rapture.

Then I notice a notation in the book. Looking closer at it I see that I'm also to be working the desk and helping the Charge Nurse. I start laughing which causes a few heads to turn.

I grab my worksheets and get what report I can from the three off going aides. Mainly I'm told the patients are there and alive. No information on who has a Foley or JP's. No information on diets or who can help with what. Hell I don't even find out who is on Isolation. IN other words I'm going in cold. All I know is who my R.N.'s are.

Well I could be cussing and fussing but that wouldn't make sense. It certainly wouldn't change things and the patients do need to be cared for. I get going.

21 patients later I finish the vital signs and know what I'm facing. 10 Total care patients with 8 Foleys. Two of these patients have to be turned every two hours to prevent Bed Sores. Of the other 21 patients two are self care, the rest require assistance. The two self care patients are slated for discharge but they will be replaced with three admits from the E.R.

Many of my patients are getting blood, Chemo or both. This means the R.N.'s will be busy. Time to get cracking. I set up a list of priorities and get moving.

The Total Care patients come first. They are bathed, moved and cared for. All Catheter Care is done and documented. (Hell everything is documented.) The Rollers are repositioned and cleaned as needed. I'm running like a damned fool answering call bells during this.

Next comes the Assists. They too are bathed, walked and otherwise taken care of. Their beds are made and they are as comfortable as I can make them.

My admits come in and they are made comfortable. Two of them turn out to be totals that need to be cleaned up. This is done. Time is marching on and I'm leaving smoking footrints in the halls.

At noon I do another set of vital signs as well as checking the Blood Sugar Levels of those that need it done. Set them up for lunch and back to work. Take bites out of my snadwich on the fly as I move from room to room. Still I'm answering call bells. Get this patient back to bed, give this patient a Bed Pan. Help this one to the commode and back. Document all.

By 1430 all patients have been cared for and I'm running on fumes. There's still more to be done though. GRab a cup of coffee and load it with sugar for the energy. (Yuck.) Behind the Nurses Station I go. Graph the patients temperatures and print out the paperwork needed by night shift. Put all of the lab results that have come in so far into the charts. All while answering even more call bells. This person wants a soda, this one wants a cup of coffee, this one wants back to bed and this one wants a Bed Pan. Keep moving and finally finish the coffee even though it's cold.

1500 rolls around and it's time to do yet another set of vitals as well as Blood Sugar Checks. Check in four more patients, two of whom are total care and filthy. Once more do Catheter Care on the patients that need it. Answer more call bells. Finish with this and Graph the temps again. Post more labs to the charts then back to the floor while answering the bells. Empty Catheters and Drains. Get more Ice Water for this one and another Soda for that one. Make sure the rooms are clean and orderly. Make sure the linen carts are stocked.

1830 comes around and it's time to give report to the oncoming Aides. They arent there yet so answer a few more bells. Opps this patient has messed themselfe for the fourth time today, clean them up and back to give report.

The Aides finally drag in at 1855 and are pissed. They want to know why I didn't set up their Ice Water for them. There are once again three of them. I give them report and am taken to task when another patient calls and says they need to be cleaned up. Why didn't I clean this patient up? They are going to make sure I am reported for this. So what else is new?

Then they start in on their other complaints. This one doesn't have their Stethescope, can she borrow mine? (No) This one didn't bring in a pen, can she have mine? (Hell no, it was a gift from my wife.) The litany goes on and on.

Then one of them tells me they need some time off and wants me to cover for her on a Sunday Night. Our Supervisor has told her that it was okay with her. I laugh and tell her that just wasn't going to happen and she gets pissed. She can't understand my not wanting to take her hours as well as mine. When I try to explain to her that this would mean my working 36 hours straight she didn't want to hear it. I was not being a Team Player and was doing this just because I didn't want her to go to a concert in Miami. She was going to report this to the Supervisor as well.

As I head for the Time Clock the Charge Nurse comes up to me and tell's me I'm going to be the only Aide working tomorrow again. She tried to get another Aide but none are willing to come and work on our floor. (I wonder why?) I just shrug, what else can I do?

So tomorrow is going to be another day from hell and then on Monday I'll have my ass dragged on the carpet to defend my actions. There are some days when I wonder why I do this kind of work.

Cat

To borrow a bunch of quotes from a movie.... in Live Free or Die Hard....
McClane and Farrell are talking and Farrell wants to know who why McClane does what he does... he explains that he gets no thanks he gets a divorce and his kids don't talk to him etc. Farrell asks him "so why do you do it" and McClane says because there is no one else to do it at this time, Farrell comes back with "that's what makes you that guy"... the quote is repeated at the end when Farrell saves McClane's daughter, Farrell says what else was I going to do, I had to do it there was no one else there.... and McClane says "That's what makes you that guy"


So.... Cat, that's what makes you that guy.

 

[R. Richard]

Cat:
You have the medical care stuff down. Now what you ned to focus on is the politics.

Try this. When you go in to get chewed in by the big boss, start out be asking why you are the one aide on your shift and there are three aides on the next shift. If he pauses, and he likely will, ask him, "Are there more patients on that shift?" (Hit 'em on the blindside at 100MPH.)

 

[SlickTony]

Isn't a Foley a kind of catheter? Sea Cat, please attend me in my broken leg thread...that is, if I can find it again...you must really love your work to keep on doing what you're doing...why do you continue to work for this lot of ingrates?

 

[Le Jacquelope]

To borrow a bunch of quotes from a movie.... in Live Free or Die Hard....
McClane and Farrell are talking and Farrell wants to know who why McClane does what he does... he explains that he gets no thanks he gets a divorce and his kids don't talk to him etc. Farrell asks him "so why do you do it" and McClane says because there is no one else to do it at this time, Farrell comes back with "that's what makes you that guy"... the quote is repeated at the end when Farrell saves McClane's daughter, Farrell says what else was I going to do, I had to do it there was no one else there.... and McClane says "That's what makes you that guy"


So.... Cat, that's what makes you that guy.

And in the movie, that guy never fails. The day gets saved and no one has to stop and think about the need for more 'guys' like that to back him up.

In reality, though, sometimes 'that guy' gets totally overwhelmed.

Say, what if SeaCat is laid out by bacterial pneumonia and cannot work? Who saves the day then?

Corporations like to cut costs and pay for only one person to do a kickass job at the proverbial shop, but when that person isn't there, things fall totally apart.

It's called hanging by a thread, and sometimes that thread snaps. Where the public's safety is concerned, hanging by a thread is a recipe for epic disaster.

 

[SeaCat]

Okay I'm home. I'm tired and my foot is killing me but the day is done and the patients are cared for.

To answer the first question, "What were the Nurses doing"?

Well let's not pick nits but I consider myself a Nurse as wll. The lowest one in the Nursing Food Chain but a Nurse none the less. AS for what were the R.N.'s doing? They were doing their minor little chores like adminsitering medications, including Narcotics and Chemo-therapy meds. Believe me they too were busy as hell, especialy when you consider we had a total of three R.N.'s on the floor. Today was much the same, our patients are what we call heavy patients.

Next question, What is a Foley?

A Foley is a type of catheter inserted through the Urethra into the bladder and held in place by a small Saline filled Ballon. Unless they are cared for correctlym and kept clean they can and do lead to Urinary Tract Infections.

What is a JP?

A JP or Jackson Pratt is a type of suction drain inserted into a wound sight to drain off the fluids that the body would normally have to recover through the Lymphatic System. This allows the body to heal faster and cleaner.

R. Richard, I abhore office politics and avoid it as much as possible. While blind siding the Boss would be kind o fun it wouldn't be worth it in the long run. She is right and I am wrong as she is the boss. The only way things will change in work is enough people, patients and M.D.'s complain.

AS for why do I do it? I, like everyone else in the medical field took an oath a long time ago. The most important thing to me when I'm in work is my patients.

Cat

 

[DesertPirate]

And you are a damn good man for it Cat!