All previous posts have been eliminated. Why? I have decided to turn over a new leaf and become a nice nurse who never says anything bad about anything or anybody. Yes I intend to take on the persona of one Florence Nightengale, champion soother of brow, well known reliever of pain, and general righter of wrongs. I shall go forth from this day to heal the sick, comfort the dispossessed......Im sorry I jus' ain't got it in me, I can't do it. I am evil at heart..rotten to the core as it were.
You may have made your daily foray to the madness blog earlier today and found that it was unavailable. During that time, I was contemplating the meaning of blog life. I came to no conclusions...anyway...moving on..
So today sucked. Big time. I got there and there was chaos in triage and it only got worse as the day went on. People were coming out of the woodwork with their tales of woe, tragedy and general mayhem. These people were sick. They weren't your average stubbed toe or puncture wound. At one point I had four people who NEEDED to go back and there was absolutely no place to put them. That's a really bad feeling for a triage nurse. Its a shit, what do I do now feeling? Its a please nobody go down the toilet feeling. We somehow managed by going on divert. By the evening it was dead.
Now it can be complete chaos and you will always have that one person appear at the window to ask why they haven't gone back yet. Usually they are the one with the stubbed toe. When you tell them the whole "triage" concept, they look at you like you are from outer space, can't quite grasp it.
And so another day in paradise...can't wait til tomorrow...
6 comments:
Seriously? Deleted the whole thing? Someone have the blog up on the screen at work or something?
Sorry if this double-posts but...
WTF is going on lately? Even if we're closed, we've got 24 waiting in triage by noon with people in the hall. When I left my "low-acuity" assignment the other day, I had an ICU patient (arrived as such), two priority 2's, other rooms filled and several in the hall and we WERE getting inpatient beds, no one had been back for more than two hours and it was like FOR 12 HOURS. I charted/ate for five minutes at the desk and that was it for breaks. I vowed to change jobs but I know it's the same everywhere else. I don't know how anyone - nurses, doctors, patients, et al - are supposed to survive this. Of course, management seem to be doing just fine....
When I was in management, I worked 50-60 hours a week and got paid for 40 (still had to pay daycare for all 50 or 60 though), got two weeks without pay to save the budget, did monitored transports (in my high heels), lined people, triaged people, whatever, in addition to working on all the management crap. Sorry, pet peeve when people say management "is doing just fine". Staff nurses don't know what management does, so best not to make such sweeping statements.
I worked my ass off in that job. You have to work your ass off; otherwise, you're the healthcare person sitting around doing nothing and your job is the first one cut.
If I were your boss, I'd have been finding beds for those four people in the lobby so you wouldn't have to. Just sayin'.
I'm sorry...that sucks. It is definitely scary to have really sick people hanging out in triage. At least when they put them in fast track you have some resources and often an NP. In triage you have, what, a vital signs machine and a 12 lead? Not fun! I hope things can calm down a bit for you soon.
And I really enjoy your blog :)
Sorry for sweeping statement about management -- looking for a scapegoat after a lousy day. Charge is hardest/worst job in the world. I have had nurse managers, administrators and even an EC director that work their asses off and stay upbeat the whole time. In my experience, the working hard:hanging in the office ratio is 3:1, but I'm not done working yet...
ER has to be the toughest job!! Why do you do it...I think because you love it! : )
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