So much for being stress-free after vacation. We're extremely short staffed on nights, so after 8 pm the stress level goes up at work. We go from six areas staffed by six nurses to five, which means some of us have as many as 12 patients at a time (with potential for more if they double you up, which rarely happens, thank goodness).
Wednesday night we were short staffed to start with, and then we got a sick call, so there were four nurses to staff six areas, and it wasn't looking like the night shift would get any dinner breaks. I volunteered to stay until 4 am (a 16-hour shift, the maximum allowed by law) so everyone would get at least a 40-minute break.
I had 12 patients the whole time--including one SICU patient with a broken hip who was confused, tachycardic, and kept pulling off her oxygen and desatting to 85. Fortunately, that was my only monitored bed, so I couldn't be given any more ICU or tele patients. But I had two other patients to prep for surgery (an appendicitis and a confirmed, non-ruptured ectopic pregnancy), a man with a 7 mm kidney stone who was vomiting, shaking and sweating and EXTREMELY needle-phobic (so much so that even after the IV was in, I had to give him Ativan to get him to relax slightly), a 104-year-old man on continuous bladder irrigation who was determined to pull the Foley catheter out, a nice young man with a headache, dizziness, and vomiting who ended up having a brain tumor (yikes), an elderly woman with a DVT on a heparin drip, and an elderly couple who had been struck by a car as they crossed the street. My only saving grace was that I also had three suicidal psych patients (no beds available on the psych ward!) who were all on 1:1 observation, and medically stable so I didn't have to do much for them.
I got home at 5 am and then couldn't sleep for more than a few hours and got up at ten. It was my day off, but I had things to do and sort of stumbled through my chores. I'm off again today, but I feel gypped out of yesterday, since I was so tired. Gah.
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4 comments:
You know, where I work, nursing sisters hold their lunch hour sacred above all other things - they would never cut it down to forty minutes, and nobody would ever offer to work a longer shift. Those [patients were lucky to have someone with such a good work ethic around :)
Be glad you are given an hour. we get 30 minutes, and at night we often just eat at the desk and get interrupted 500 times because we are short. I felt the same way after my vacation, back to the same old shit! my muscles immediately tensed after being on the clock 2 minutes my first day back. Hope the next day is better for you!
My name is Craig Hannah and i would like to show you my personal experience with Ativan.
I have taken for 6 years. I am 37 years old. GREAT FOR INSOMNIA......Great for Manic stages of Bi-Polar..It's really is the only drug I can take without any side effects..I cannot even take asprin without feeling it..I have OCD and have severe sensitivity to meds, this one is great.
Side Effects :
None.....Miracle drug...onset of 20/30 minutes, peak of 1 to 3 hrs...it will erase your memory if u take it in large doses...made that mistake once..Been on and off of it since 2001. I don't get addictive to it. I only take .05 2 x a day for controlling High Blood Pressure, Anxiety and IBS..I sometimes can get away with breaking the 0.5mg down into 4 equal doses.
I hope this information will be useful to others,
Craig Hannah
Ativan is great for anxiety flare-ups; especially when breathing or alternative methods won't cut it. However, certain manufacturers make their pills slightly differently and some seem to be more sedating and then I feel out of it. I wish there wasn't a price war for the least expensive medication so the pharmacy would stick to one brand. Even the generic isn't working to control my anxiety right now. When my pharmacy carries the right brand, it works perfectly for those fear and flee moments that I can't get under control.
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