This week seemed extraordinarily long to me. It’s a work thing. I usually have my Wednesday’s off and in the last month I’ve worked three out of four of them. Being the supreme candy ass that I am, I start dragging my fanny around, much like the old dog who you forced to go for a walk after years of sleeping at your feet.
I enjoy my day job, for the most part. It is primarily as an educator for my ER, but I do a day at the patient care side every couple of weeks. It keeps me cognizant of the many issues that the bedside nurse must deal with and this year our ER has been exceptionally busy. Monday is one of those days. My ritual is to wait until I get to the premises to take the 800mg or ibuprofen. If I take it when I get up at 5am, then it wears off half through the shift. I would recommend it for all our nurses, because you work your fanny off. (That’s metaphorically speaking, though I would wish it were literally speaking, because my fanny needs it.)
The last day I worked was quite busy and I had an orientee. I schedule them, so when I’m on the floor it is a good time for me to see how they are progressing. In this instance he was spanking brand new to the floor and supposed to be with someone else who called in sick, so he tagged along with me. I won’t say his head was spinning, but it did get twisted around once or twice as the day progressed.
The usual came in for the morning, a diabetic with a blood sugar of over 600, bless her heart she’s been diabetic since she was a child; An abdominal pain; a chest pain; and a couple of flu patients. Then the unusual came into our trauma/critical care room. It was a woman, who was limp and fairly out of it. She’d been sick with the flu for a week, and had a significant history so she was not brought in until she was bad. Her blood pressure was 51/palp. Any thing under 90/ is a concern. This was of great concern, but even with this BP she mumbled and followed some commands. Oh, I didn’t mention her significant history. She had some level of amputation on all four of her extremities. Her right arm above the wrist, the left at the knuckles, both legs below the knee. That made finding an IV site extremely difficult. Our life flight nurse was helping with that, but in the end our physician put in a femoral line. So, my new ER nurse was holding on to his head, to stop it from spinning.
After a liter or two of fluid her BP boomed up to the seventies (Yes, that’s a joke. I wanted 90’s) But she perked right up. And her companion told us her story and how in ’92 she became ill and that is when she had her original problems. I realized that I had taken care of her when she came in back then.
I tell people that I can walk through the mall and feel like I recognize most of the faces, and yet I cannot remember them. What does that say about me?
I read an article, nursing of course, that within the next 12 years the nursing shortage will increase by 33%. In my job I am trying to teach the future and what I have discovered the last five years or so, is that the young men and woman coming out of colleges and universities are not willing to work as hard as those before them. That is not a bad thing. I wish my generation had felt the same way. Nursing is one job that is hard work. The average time that a nurse spends in critical care areas, like the ER or ICU is three to four years because of the stress level of those jobs. Things will change or we are all in for a very scary time. Who will be taking care of you and me? Not me, I hope.
Okay, rambling again.
Rhianna
My mom, aunt and grandmother were all nurses. When I was a teen I worked in a nursing home as a CNA. I actually loved it; I had a real blast. However, never having had my mother at home, ever, and then watching the nurses at work, I used to think who in their right mind would want to do this? Not me.
As it turns out, it would have been the best job for me because a.) I love to work really hard, or at least I used to, and b.) I was an excellent CNA. Unfortunately, I only figured all this out in my 40’s and it was kind of late. Such is life.
So, lucky you actually, that you had your act together when you were very young because I’m sure you’ve helped and comforted 1000’s even if you can’t remember them while walking in the mall. I’ll bet many remember you. I’ve remember some of the nurses who’ve treated me and how kind they were.
And about the nursing shortage: there are no lack of candidates, just a huge lack of seats available in schools. Back in 2002, when I decided that I was going to try and get into nursing school, I worked really hard to have and keep a 4.0 GPA because here in WA it’s extremely competitive due to the lack of nursing schools and seats available. A friend whom I was in many classes with got into school with her 4.0, but she was like 7th runner up, so there was no guarantee at first.
Another friend of mine who was living in PA at the time, told me that the state was begging people to go into nursing school and that they were making it very easy on students to help pay for that. So I think much of this issue is about how much states and the federal gov. are willing to subsidize schools and teachers to crank out new nurses. Unfortunately, as a society, our priorities are not always in the right places.
Comment by MB (Leah) — March 16, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
It has only been recently that the government and nursing schools have come to realize these things. Many university programs are now expanding thier nursing classes. You’ll notice in another year or two that Washington will follow suite. Health care in your state is phenomenal. They are always on the cutting edge in seattle and the larger cities.
Many schools can’t even fill thier small classs for nursing. I think it is a state to state thing. I base my comments on my experience with new nurses. There are so many out of hospital jobs available to them that are 9 to 5 and no weekends, that getting them to fill hospital posisitions is difficult. A hospital must staff 24/7 365 days a year.
WE are negotiating with the new graduates to the chagrin of the older nurses who have put in twenty years or more. Instead of giving the plum jobs to the older work force, it is often going to the new graduates as entry level positions. You can see why so many older nurses are planning to retire as soon as possible.
I will now step down from my soap box and scurry away. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job. (It’s my mantra…)
Rhianna
Comment by Administrator — March 16, 2008 @ 2:20 pm