January 8, 2010

Friday, January 8th = NOT a very good day at work for me!! To start the shift off one of my nurse techs was running late...no big deal cause we can handle that. Then, I found out the discharge nurse called in sick...a little bigger deal but she has not been feeling very well so it's understandable, and her health is more important. However, at the beginning of the shfit we only had TEN patients on the unit (our unit holds 24 patients) meaning that we had MANY open beds to be filled. Bedboard was going CRAZY all day!!! Between trying to help my nurses as much as I could and bedboard ringing my phone off of the hook I couldn't get anything done. I work with some really terrific nurses. Yet several are newer nurses who need a little bit more guidance and tend to ask a few more questions than the average nurse. So, much of my day is spent answering questions and showing the new nurses how/what needs to be done. We also have a few more "seasoned" nurses who are very willing to help and teach...that alone is such a relief!! Thank goodness for team players!! All day long we were trying to fill the empty beds at the same time as discharging several of our already existing patients...which meant MORE empty beds to fill. UGH!! It was just one of those days where my head was swimming. After a long day of overstimulation I had a bad headache. What a relief it was to come home to see that Colin had checked the mail and had my "Cooking Light" magazine of the month waiting for me!!! I love to try new recipes, and so I subscribe to this particular magazine. It's one of my favs!! It's like a present to myself everytime I get a new edition!! Dinner, a hot bath while reading "Cooking Light" and my bad day was just a memory.....aaahhh....