Friday, December 23, 2011

oh no, the humanity!

patient's girlfriend had a major breakdown and started crying because they have been in the ED longer than 5 hrs for her boyfriend's sciatica, bitching about how they are being treated as a 2nd class citizens and what nots, despite the generous amount of morphine + valium + percocet + motrin. they are lucky dr. above&beyond was on and gifted them an (dare i say, unnecessary) MRI instead of the usual percocet + valium = buh bye.

yo, Merry Christmas.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

i finally got to say it


big baby douchebag: "so, how's the room service up in this joint?"

me: "oh i don't know, you're not in a hotel".

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

the road to a calloused heart

we're busier. not only are the patients irritated, but the nursing staff is about to lose it -- especially since we aren't feeling the love from administration.

for the cherry on top -- for all the bullshit and the crap we swim through and bend backwards for every day, the hospital doesn't feel like we deserve our benefits.

how am i supposed to care for others when my company doesn't care about me?

nursing really is one hell of a thankless job.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

insanity

...nope, this isnt the DVD work out.


it's been busy at work lately. i'm sure we've violated the fire safety max occupancy many times, but unfortunately, it isnt the first, nor the last time. we triple-quadruple the department capacity, people are in the waiting room for 3-4 hrs, hold overs in the emergency department for 2 days, and yesterday, i actually saw a family member acting as an IV pole.

people are pissed, they think causing a scene would make us see them faster, etc. while i understand their frustrations, being rude is NEVER acceptable.

i hate it when people follow me, stand in front of a patient im working up, stare at me as i document, nag me about beds upstairs i have no control over, and everything else rude that people do. please, take a look around. it's busy. we're all working out butts off. nobody is "just sitting around, talking" as you proclaim. so chill, because if i really have to be honest, you're poor planning is NOT an emergency.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

please, leave yo kids at home

i dont understand why people bring their kids to the ER (the adult side i mean). the hospital, and specifically the ER isnt a place to be letting your kids loose and have them laying on that mrsa / vre / c.diff / among other things infested floor.

anyhoos --
"parent a" -  comes in with TODDLER in tow, and lets them run around in a busy adult ER and the kid almost got ran over by a stretcher. ugh. that would not have been pretty.
"parent b" - had three of their hoodlums walk back and forth into the ER. kids go through the packed sandwich bags (mind you, not grab the whole bag...just sift through to pick the sammich and crackers) and steal band aids & alcohol pads -- until another pt who witnessed this told him to take his sticky hands off the WHOLE BOX of alcohol pads. what?! the food i dont mind -- ask me and i shall deliver, but the kids walked in like its their living room and stuff.  btw, this happened all in front of said parent who did/said nothing.

i know times are rough and there arent always support systems to watch yo kids -- but hey, probably somebody can watch them while you go clubbing, but not while seeking medical help right?

Friday, April 1, 2011

now that's dedication

one of the ED attendings:

"I think I need a sex change. Looking for a chaperone to do pelvics is time consuming and cutting down my productivity."

Thursday, March 24, 2011

good job ... and WTF?

nursing unfortunately... for the most part, is a thankless, under appreciated job. once in a while though, amidst the chaos and unnecessary ranting, I get a pat on the back -- or 2:

- little lady waiting patiently be seen by me because I had one patient who decided to get up and walk to the bathroom, almost fainted, clammy, sweating profusely with systolics in the 70s and another patient whom I've seen twice already to try and get a history plus start an IV, but keeps ranting about how he's been here for over an hour and he was just here yesterday and how come he hasnt been seen yet. i finally made my way to see her and she's cute and soft spoken. I spoke with her and the daughter, gave her meds and gave report to another nurse because I moved to a different location. a couple of hours later, the daughter stopped me on my tracks to say "thank you for being so kind and gentle with my mom. not a lot of people would have been."

- patient's wife was a retired RN from a nearby hospital. she was very pleasant and so is her hubby, we chitchatted a little bit while I was giving him meds. she witnessed my interactions with ranting guy who demanded he speaks with my superior (no prob, bob. he wouldnt let me do my job anyway and expected me to apologize on behalf of the 5 doctors that walked past him who didnt stop to see if he's ok). retired RN commended me saying I was doing great and handled that patient well and if it were her, she wouldnt have been so pleasant.

on another note:

- sent a patient upstairs to the ICU from our critical area. unit RN calls me an 30 min later:
ICU RN: does mrs xyz have any belongings?
me: (staring at the area where pt was) i dont see any bags.
er tech: tell her to check under the stretcher
other er nurse: the husband is with her
ICU RN: yeah mr xyz is looking for her stuff. she should have the clothes she came in with.
me: yeah its not here. call transport bc we dont necessarily get the stretchers back.
ICU RN: yeah, can you do it?!
me: what the fcuk is wrong with your fingers, you lazy btch?! (jk i didnt say that -- out loud. ever the professional, I did call transport and the dispatcher said she'll ask the transports to bring it up to said floor if they find it. called back the floor)

all i'm saying is...why couldnt you do that yourself? that took literally 1 minute to do, all of which you are capable of. we werent super busy in the critical area at the time and i was working with a super RN, but sometimes I feel like floor nurses really underestimate us being in the ER.