tuesday morning. first day back at the Job.
i sat down and they passed me the kardex of the surgical side (the heavier side).
and i had to resign myself to a busy day.
but then the PN students took all but 3 of my patients.
thanks.
and then the LPN took one of my patients.
thanks!
and then one of the patients of one of the students went home so she took one of mine.
thanks!!!!
so i had one patient. one whole patient of my very own. i was pretty sure i could handle it.
but the patient was in isolation and i got busy doing all the IV stuff for the students (PNs cant do IVs) and then calling a renal specialist in another hospital and the other LPN was bored so she took my last patient which meant that i had NO PATIENTS.
and then i realized that there was no RN on the other side of the unit, making me THE RN.
dontpanicdontpanicdontpanic.
i didnt panic.
and then two patients got admitted and i was sure that they would be mine since i had zero of my own but then the students took them because their instructor made them (woohoo Instructor!).
and i felt like a big slacker.
only suddenly i realized that it was just as much work if not more having 5 students than having 7 patients.
how is it that i'm only in the third month of my first nursing job and suddenly i'm responsible for FIVE STUDENTS?!?!
bonkers!
surreal.
but it was pretty cool.
especially when one student that i was worried i had overwhelmed into hating me and nursing said thanks at the end of the day for all my help! and i think she was being sincere!
and i had to restart an IV on a patient who was a notoriously hard start (he had some juicy veins in his left arm but his left arm is a no-touch zone because they were saving it to make a fistula for hemodialysis) and i said "oh" in a rather unpositive way when the student had told me that she thought his IV had blown but secretly i was telling myself I CAN DO THIS
and you know what?
i did.
on the first try!!
and it held all day!!
which is good because it meant the med i gave him didnt burn his arm tissues like it would have if his IV site had blown!!!!!!!!
not burning is good.
4 comments:
It's good that you didn't panic. Panicking just makes things worse. I mean, if things are going to be going badly then panicking is just going to be more bad on top of all the bad. So way to go!
Go Jacq!!! My boss says that it takes 70 times of doing something, like drawing blood or putting in an IV, before you become really good at it, and then you're always good at it. How many have you done so far? Maybe if you're bored you could start a countdown.
-rev
FISTULA!
That word made me laugh out loud.
REV: hmmm. i havent done even close to half of seventy. but you know, i have noticed that i have a really good sense of whether or not an attempt is going to be successfull. i like this. it suggests understanding. except, because its my job and it has to be done, even when i KNOW it wont work, i still have to try. that's just the rules. you have to try at least twice (on the same person)before you can call in for backup.
anastasia: i'm glad fistula makes you laugh. it would have made me laugh until i saw a whole bunch of infected ones. Pustulant fistulas are not cool. (ok, so maybe they are in a gross sort of way. like morbid curiosity)
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