nurse, i'm nosh and i wanna vom.

abdominal pain + nausea + vomiting.

it almost always never fails when i have a patient with this trinity that the first thing they ask is "can i eat? can i have some sandwich? can i have ginger ale?" followed by "...but that always calms my stomach." sometimes i get asked this in the middle of a dry heave, or right after vomiting. wouldn't you say to yourself "why the hell do i want to shove anything down my mouth when for days i haven't been able to keep any food or water down?" is it because today someone else is there to clean up your nasty ass vomit? sometimes i want to turn around and say "go home, stop wasting my time and money," because if a bottle of ginger ale is all it takes to resolve all your issues, there's no reason for you to be here wasting medicaid. not to mention, i don't appreciate vomit on my scrubs.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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?

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."