#nursing tag

[andhumanslovedstories]

I try to answer other people’s call lights if I’m not busy, because if my work is done and I’ve helped out with other people’s work, I can fully commit to slacking off guilt free. And usually what people want is bathroom, snacks, and/or pain meds, all of which are pretty easy to address and if there’s anything too complicated, I can always call the nurse. Anyway, I go answer this call light, and it’s for a patient I don’t know and have never spoken to before. I pop in like “hi can I help you?” as I feel so quietly smug about how Helpful I am being, and the patient goes, “do you know if I’m dying tonight? If I am, I should call my family.”

To be so clear. I was expecting like. a request for a ginger ale. I was not prepared emotionally for a very sick stranger grappling with the angst of potentially imminent death. So I go, “UMMM. I DON’T KNOW. LEMME CHECK WITH YOUR NURSE AND SEE IF SHE KNOWS.” This seemed heinously inadequate in the face of their obvious despair, so I added, “probably not in the next ten minutes if you’re able to sit up and ask, but I can’t make any promises.”

Don’t think that was the ideal follow up sentence. But it didn’t seem to make the patient any sadder than they already were. I used to really live in fear of being the nurse in someone’s anecdote about a wildly inappropriate thing said to them by their nurse. It’s not so much as I’ve gotten over that fear as I’ve accepted that my job thrusts me into a lot of situations where I have to talk about extremely intense topics to the people most intimately affected by those topics, often with no time, no prep, and no information. At this point, I just try my best to ground my inarticulate fumblings in as much genuine care as I can express, and thank God I don’t fuck up worse and more often.

[baldursgrape]

also I love my doctors love love love them they’re all great and I understand that their training and knowledge is vastly greater than my own HOWEVER i very much did almost eat shit slipping in a puddle of blood forming around my patient today while one of the residents hurriedly tried to explain that she had disconnected him to take him to the bathroom. not technically incorrect but somewhat incomplete summary bc she had in fact disconnected him from EVERY part of the IV tubing except the little plastic straw that actually sits in the vein, so he was just spurting blood onto the floor like a lawn sprinkler. ‘i don’t know why this is happening’ I do, it’s because there is a hole in his arm and the little plastic notch that keeps his blood in his body is dangling from an IV pole on the other side of the unit

[hap-less]

[ur-cute-so-i]

Y'know I've never put too much stock in full moons and wild days at the hospital

But it's a full moon and I got kicked so hard in the stomach my nurse manager made me go downstairs to the ER soooo

Guess I'm a believer now

[responsiblelemon]

8pm: Patient's blood pressure is high in the 170s. He has been anxious and up and down to the bathroom frequently. I decide to give him a little time to calm down and recheck.

9pm: Patient has calmed down and is resting in bed. Blood pressure is now in the 180s. I page the doctor, who says she isn't concerned and puts in orders for IV meds if it goes up above 190.

11pm: Blood pressure is now in the 190s. I give IV labetalol.

12am: Blood pressure is still in the 190s. I give IV hydralazine.

1am: Blood pressure is still in the 190s and now he has a severe throbbing headache and a sudden onset episode of nausea. I can't give any more blood pressure meds. I page the doctor and tell her the patients BP readings and symptoms. She tells me to give more labetalol, I tell her I can't give more meds on this floor and if she wants more, the patient will have to transfer. Doctor says we'll just wait until the morning and consult the hospitalist.

2am: I have told my charge nurse about this and she has reached out to a couple other resource nurses we have for backup. Charge nurse pages the doctor herself and tells her we need transfer orders to get this patient to a higher level of care because he is extremely hypertensive and symptomatic and not responding to medication. Doctor grumbles but puts in the transfer orders.

3am: I take the patient downstairs where he can get stronger blood pressure meds and closer monitoring than I am able to do on my floor.

New nurses: if something doesn't feel right, if the doctor doesn't respond the way you think they should, follow your gut and ask for help. And always, always chart to cover your ass!

[drenched-in-sunlight]

somos livres como girassóis de Van Gogh

(we are free like Van Gogh’s sunflowers)

[lemongogo]

sister hunna will see u now

[wacuoms]

[sharkaiju]

My fave is problematic TO YOU. I don't give a shit tho

[andhumanslovedstories]

I’ve told this story ten thousand times and I will tell it for the ten thousandth and first: whenever I think about wearing a costume to work on Halloween, I remember the time I saw a doctor breaking what must have been devastating news to a sobbing patient while the doc was dressed as a ketchup bottle.

[baldursgrape]

there is like nothing more tragic and heartbreaking than discovering that it’s absolutely beautiful and perfect outside on your way to your 12 hr night shift

[hap-less]

[ur-cute-so-i]

2 discharges, 3 transfers, 3 admits and two more on the way all with 6-10 other pts to deal with im.....

I'm gonna LOSE IT

[willgrahamscock]

‘I could fix him, I could make him worse’ I don’t care I’m just looking at his juicy tits

[responsiblelemon]

No one is more superstitious than a nurse on a full moon