I worked the last couple nights and boy were they crazy. Census has been way up lately, not sure why but our hospital population ebbs and flows like the sea. And let me tell you, just like the sea at high tide don't turn your back on it!
When I last left my ICU we had 8 patients, which is nearly half full and was thinking that it was looking pretty good. When I came back I saw that we had eight nurses waiting to take report and that we were at capacity, with several vented patients and a couple of wild stories going around about a couple on bath salts and what landed them in our company.
It was a crazy couple of nights that included fighting with a doctor over the difference between a draining hematoma vs an active bleed (Nurses 1, Doc 0), a couple of crazy patients trying to dive out of bed (Nurses 2, Patients 0) , another couple of patients who believed that the "H" on the side of the building stood for "Hotel" and not "Hospital" (Nurses 0, Patients 2) and a co-workers birthday that resulted in a small potluck. By the end of night two the diving patients had been happily settled upstairs and we were able to get some work done.
The topper of my couple of nights came just before shift change when I was helping the X-Ray Tech move a couple of patients so he could shoot his films. He got a stat page and took off, he returned 10 minutes later laughing.
"Give you one guess who that stat page was for."
I stared at him blankly for a second, then a light went on in the attic.
"No way!" I said
"Yup, your diver finally hit the floor upstairs"
I cannot tell you how happy I was to be leaving that morning, but strangely I was laughing and I had one major realization, I really love my job.
Very good blog .. i was pleased my presence here
ReplyDeleteIt is an honor to see your pen in: my blog on the following link:
Dev Nasser Blog
It is an honor that I invite you and all of the presence here to follow up on my page on Facebook on the following link:
Portal Blogs Nasser
Most beautiful greetings :)
Sounds like a blast... but I think those patients sounded a bit to awake for me liking :-)
ReplyDeleteHa! Yes they were more awake than we usually get, but then we shipped them upstairs to tele so all was good.
DeleteI am enjoying reading your blog so much! I am coming to the end of Block IV myself & wondering how it is that you landed a job in the ICU, that's where I'm interested in working, but all the nurses at clinicals say there is no chance at getting a job at all. I'm trying not to be discouraged. Thanks for all of your postings & your honesty.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading and gosh you must be SO glad to be nearing the end. Honestly, I will never say never about where you are going to end up. It >IS< very hard for new grads to land jobs in critical care and other specialty depts because of the training that is required takes a long time. I was on a 3 month preceptorship with a senior nurse and in class once a week before I ever hit the floor by myself.
DeleteMy advice is do not get discouraged. While on your critical care clinical try and learn who the Dept Supervisor is chat them up, a friend of mine landed himself a job by doing this at a very prestigious neuro ICU by doing this. Get to know the recruiters at the hospitals that you are doing your rotations. Honestly it's all about getting your face into the minds of the people that are going to do the hiring.
The best advice I can give you is don't give up. I got my job by attending a job fair held at my hospital. The only reason I got hired is because they liked >ME<. So work hard in your clinicals, and let everyone see what a great team player you are. If you don't get an ICU job, take a Tele job and volunteer to float to the ICU when they need a hand. It gets your foot in the door and you a chance to show off your mad skills!
Good luck with closing out the last Block!