So about a month back I was turning an obese pt by myself, ya I know, stupid, but the ppl I was working with were also super busy so there wasn't anyone I could really ask for assisstance. When I turned this pt, I hear a pop in my back but nothing hurt so I just went along my merry little way. Give it a couple of days and yeppers by back started to hurt. Well just before we went to Cuba I couldn't take the pain anymore and went to a chiropractor. He helped decrease my pain so at least I could function and I followed it up with a massaage, and did this at least once a week until last week when I got sick with a sinus cold and a chest infection. Well just when the sinus and chest starts to look like I'm out of the clear, my back kicks up in over gear.
I went to my Dr who says that I need an x-ray (chiropractor thinks I have a L5/S1 disc herniation) so I went and did that yesterday and follow up next Tuesday and in the meantime I'm hitting the couch and muscle relaxants hard. Part of me hopes it is cuz then there's a legitimate reason my back hurts so much and the other part hopes it isn't cuz that would suck hard!
Guess we'll see on Tuesday.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
On-call medicine jerk
One of my previous posts indicated I had a run in with a doctor so here's the post that explains it...
It was on a weekend and so the reg doctors mainly were covered by other non regular doctors. We also had an admit from another hospital with whom the covering doctor accepted. Unfortunately he's not used to the policies and procedures of accepting other pt's from other hospitals and as such, this pt was due to arrive during the evening shift.
Now, these doctors get off at 1800hrs and after that we're expected to call the on-call medicine for orders. And this particular doctor swung by our unit before heading out. As such, I asked him about this particular pt and whether he was going to write orders before he left. He stated that since he didn't get a chance to assess the pt with his own eyes and hands, that he didn't feel comfortable writing orders... ok, fair enough. And off he went to spend the evening with his family.
The pt arrived after 1800 of course with a PICC line and a few other things going on. When the pt arrived I called the on-call medicine doctor for orders. I explained the situation and was told that he would NOT write orders for this pt and that I had to contact the covering doctor that accepted the pt. In response, I told the doctor that it was HIS responsibility NOT the covering doctor as it was after 1800hrs. Well that of course did not go over well. He got REALLY snotty with me, full of attitude and told me that I had to page the covering doctor and have him RETURN to the unit to write orders!!! I told him that I would not do that as it was HIS responsibility to write the admission orders, so this doctor said that HE would page the covering doctor and speak with him. OK, that's YOUR porogative (exactly what I told him) and 2 min later the covering doctor called me to say that he was going to come back to the unit to write the orders.
I could NOT believe that he would come back!!! IMO it just goes to show you the type of person and doctor that he is! Seriously wish that he was a more frequent doctor on our unit. And I don't believe that this doctor is used to writing admission orders as he asked for guidance and of course I offered. Tho several hours later, when I was putting together the admission package and making sure that everything was put into place, I realized that diet orders were forgotten.
As such, I had to again call the on-call doc - to get an order for an IV fluid as it was better to leave this head injury pt NPO unit speech pathologist could do a swallowing assessment on this pt. But when I asked for it, I was told that I had to AGAIN page the covering doc since "he didn't finish his admission orders". Of course I said that I wouldn't do it, and that I was only asking for a simple IV order, D5W or 2/3 & 1/3 just until morning when the covering doc would be back. He of course wasn't talking respectfully to me and when you disrespect me, don't expect me to be the kindest back. In the end he again said that he would speak to the covering doc again. My response, "that's your choice", "I'll be here".
Again the covering doc called and told me "if you need ANYTHING else for this pt, regardless of what time, just have me paged. Don't call the on-call doc for anything regarding this pt, I'll do it." and gave me orders for my IV and said that he would come in the AM to see if anything else needs to be done.
I followed up this event by emailing a couple of people above me and was told that the covering doc should have written orders before the pt arrived based on information in the admission packet we get from the other hospital.
NOW, I don't know of ANY doctors/nurse practitioners/dieticians/heck even nurses, who would write ADMISSION orders without setting eyes or hands on a pt. I understand on-call docs do this sort of thing all the time without setting eyes or hands on pt's, tho they are only writing orders for the interim til the regular doc can do something about the issue (as in a PRN analgesic order for a pt in pain), not writing admission orders. And they ask questions about why the order is req and any applicable information. And normally the on-call doc will swing by the unit when they're not busy so that they can write in the pt's chart and do the whole eyes/hands on assessment, and talk with the pt normally.
When I spoke with the chief doctor in charge of the other doctors (he's a reg doc on our unit), I was informed that I was correct in my thinking that it's the on-call responsibility to write the orders should the pt come to us after 1800hrs. I also sent an email and the response I got from my charge nurse was that no, the covering doc should have written orders. Such conflicting info!!! Was told that the doc was wrong with how he spoke to me but that's about it. The covering doc emailed me later and indicated that the jerk on-call doc apologized to him but did I get an apology for the way he spoke to me?! NOT A CHANCE!!! UGH!
It was on a weekend and so the reg doctors mainly were covered by other non regular doctors. We also had an admit from another hospital with whom the covering doctor accepted. Unfortunately he's not used to the policies and procedures of accepting other pt's from other hospitals and as such, this pt was due to arrive during the evening shift.
Now, these doctors get off at 1800hrs and after that we're expected to call the on-call medicine for orders. And this particular doctor swung by our unit before heading out. As such, I asked him about this particular pt and whether he was going to write orders before he left. He stated that since he didn't get a chance to assess the pt with his own eyes and hands, that he didn't feel comfortable writing orders... ok, fair enough. And off he went to spend the evening with his family.
The pt arrived after 1800 of course with a PICC line and a few other things going on. When the pt arrived I called the on-call medicine doctor for orders. I explained the situation and was told that he would NOT write orders for this pt and that I had to contact the covering doctor that accepted the pt. In response, I told the doctor that it was HIS responsibility NOT the covering doctor as it was after 1800hrs. Well that of course did not go over well. He got REALLY snotty with me, full of attitude and told me that I had to page the covering doctor and have him RETURN to the unit to write orders!!! I told him that I would not do that as it was HIS responsibility to write the admission orders, so this doctor said that HE would page the covering doctor and speak with him. OK, that's YOUR porogative (exactly what I told him) and 2 min later the covering doctor called me to say that he was going to come back to the unit to write the orders.
I could NOT believe that he would come back!!! IMO it just goes to show you the type of person and doctor that he is! Seriously wish that he was a more frequent doctor on our unit. And I don't believe that this doctor is used to writing admission orders as he asked for guidance and of course I offered. Tho several hours later, when I was putting together the admission package and making sure that everything was put into place, I realized that diet orders were forgotten.
As such, I had to again call the on-call doc - to get an order for an IV fluid as it was better to leave this head injury pt NPO unit speech pathologist could do a swallowing assessment on this pt. But when I asked for it, I was told that I had to AGAIN page the covering doc since "he didn't finish his admission orders". Of course I said that I wouldn't do it, and that I was only asking for a simple IV order, D5W or 2/3 & 1/3 just until morning when the covering doc would be back. He of course wasn't talking respectfully to me and when you disrespect me, don't expect me to be the kindest back. In the end he again said that he would speak to the covering doc again. My response, "that's your choice", "I'll be here".
Again the covering doc called and told me "if you need ANYTHING else for this pt, regardless of what time, just have me paged. Don't call the on-call doc for anything regarding this pt, I'll do it." and gave me orders for my IV and said that he would come in the AM to see if anything else needs to be done.
I followed up this event by emailing a couple of people above me and was told that the covering doc should have written orders before the pt arrived based on information in the admission packet we get from the other hospital.
NOW, I don't know of ANY doctors/nurse practitioners/dieticians/heck even nurses, who would write ADMISSION orders without setting eyes or hands on a pt. I understand on-call docs do this sort of thing all the time without setting eyes or hands on pt's, tho they are only writing orders for the interim til the regular doc can do something about the issue (as in a PRN analgesic order for a pt in pain), not writing admission orders. And they ask questions about why the order is req and any applicable information. And normally the on-call doc will swing by the unit when they're not busy so that they can write in the pt's chart and do the whole eyes/hands on assessment, and talk with the pt normally.
When I spoke with the chief doctor in charge of the other doctors (he's a reg doc on our unit), I was informed that I was correct in my thinking that it's the on-call responsibility to write the orders should the pt come to us after 1800hrs. I also sent an email and the response I got from my charge nurse was that no, the covering doc should have written orders. Such conflicting info!!! Was told that the doc was wrong with how he spoke to me but that's about it. The covering doc emailed me later and indicated that the jerk on-call doc apologized to him but did I get an apology for the way he spoke to me?! NOT A CHANCE!!! UGH!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Vacation was interesting
So we went to Club Bucanero just outside of Santiago de Cuba. The surrounding area was spectacular, there's moutain ranges all surrounding the resort and on the one side is the ocean. And let me tell you, the ocean was always RIGHT next to us, it was BEAUTIFUL. The resort boasts about having EVERY room having an ocean view, except ours because we were right in front of the tennis court (that they didn't even have equipment for!)
What wasn't beautiful about this place was the food!!! Now, we don't expect much as we recognize that it's cuba, and this island is notorious for having bland food but even the quality of food prepared was TERRIBLE. Since we went last year to cuba, we were prepared for awful food and we brought a bag of our own spices and I also brought aunt jemima pancake mix and real maple syrup. The food was SOOOOOOOO bad that I had to make pancakes for lunch or dinner FOUR times while we were there because the food was inedible or majority of it was pork. Even the fruit that they had was mostly inedible. One of their saving graces was that they had freshly prepared bread and fresh churned butter, available at every meal.
We knew ahead of time that there wasn't much of a beach, but that there was excellent snorkeling there. And for the week that we were there, we only went snorkeling once, and even then, I was too busy talking to the friends that we made to actually do any snorkeling - hubby did tho and enjoyed it immensely. The pool that they had was nice tho, enjoyed it!
What we really enjoyed was renting the moped and going into the city. We got lost a couple of times but it was fun to try to figure out the city and where we needed to go. Heck, we even found a zoo!!!! And it wasn't even that bad to boot. They had a lot of monkeys and one had even had a baby recently and it was ADORABLE!!!. I need to learn how to put video on here and I would show you how adorable the baby monkey was. SOOOOOOOOO cute. One day we also went to the other direction and found us the acquarium and got to pet dolphins - unfortunately due to money issues they don't have fish everyday and only do dolphin swims on fridays and hubby and I got into a fight that day and I didn't want to hang with him so I didn't get a chance to swim with them. But I'm still happy I got to see them up close and touch them (a dream of mine). The pictures are in the other computer so I'll have to post them later.
Although we enjoyed the vacation, the food really ruined it, we wouldn't go back there because of it but I'm still glad that we experienced it.
What wasn't beautiful about this place was the food!!! Now, we don't expect much as we recognize that it's cuba, and this island is notorious for having bland food but even the quality of food prepared was TERRIBLE. Since we went last year to cuba, we were prepared for awful food and we brought a bag of our own spices and I also brought aunt jemima pancake mix and real maple syrup. The food was SOOOOOOOO bad that I had to make pancakes for lunch or dinner FOUR times while we were there because the food was inedible or majority of it was pork. Even the fruit that they had was mostly inedible. One of their saving graces was that they had freshly prepared bread and fresh churned butter, available at every meal.
We knew ahead of time that there wasn't much of a beach, but that there was excellent snorkeling there. And for the week that we were there, we only went snorkeling once, and even then, I was too busy talking to the friends that we made to actually do any snorkeling - hubby did tho and enjoyed it immensely. The pool that they had was nice tho, enjoyed it!
What we really enjoyed was renting the moped and going into the city. We got lost a couple of times but it was fun to try to figure out the city and where we needed to go. Heck, we even found a zoo!!!! And it wasn't even that bad to boot. They had a lot of monkeys and one had even had a baby recently and it was ADORABLE!!!. I need to learn how to put video on here and I would show you how adorable the baby monkey was. SOOOOOOOOO cute. One day we also went to the other direction and found us the acquarium and got to pet dolphins - unfortunately due to money issues they don't have fish everyday and only do dolphin swims on fridays and hubby and I got into a fight that day and I didn't want to hang with him so I didn't get a chance to swim with them. But I'm still happy I got to see them up close and touch them (a dream of mine). The pictures are in the other computer so I'll have to post them later.
Although we enjoyed the vacation, the food really ruined it, we wouldn't go back there because of it but I'm still glad that we experienced it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Alot to post about
I do have several posts I want to do... one has to do with our vacation, second one has to do with little tyke turning 3 and the last one has to do with an event that happened at work between one of my favorite Drs and an on-call Dr. So stay turned, if I have time I may get them all done back to back.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Vacation here we come!!!!
Today is the day that hubby and I go on vacation.... SOLO - sans children or family or anyone that knows us and I CANNOT WAIT!!!
Where are we going you ask.....
Unfortunately our beach won't look THAT nice, but that's ok... it's only a short distance away.
Where we're going is here....
Here's a pic of the front entrance of the resort...
The name of oour resort is Club Bucanero. It's a 3.5 star rated place. We're brining our own spices, ketchup, mayo, and peanut butter since these are in short supply there. And according to trip advisor they don't taste like what we expect them to.
And this is what I plan on doing while I'm there... sipping on some fresh coconut juice and sitting under some sun.
Last year we went to Cuba as well, but I didn't get to love me some sun because I was taking Accutane - a med for acne that makes one photosensitive and I BURNED unless I had a LAYER of visible sunscreen (60 SPF btw) on my skin. It was soooo bad that I had water blisters and my skin peeled from my shoulders all the way down to my fingers. This year I'm hoping to lay under the sun (still with SPF 60 on me, don't want melanoma thank you very much!) or swim in the pool or snorkel in front of our resort and love me some coral reef.
Hoping to meet some nice people while we're away like we did last year - Tina & Bonnie. I also want to do some adventuring, we're going to rent two mopeds for a couple of days (maybe even a week) and explore the near by city (25ish km) which is the 2nd largest city in Cuba, it's called Santiago de Cuba. We're supposed to lift off at 1530hrs and hubby said that he'll bring us somewhere for lunch before we go. OH I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED (as if you couldn't tell!)
I'll try to post some pics when I return. Hope everyone has a great week while I'm off enjoying myself some sun and warm water.
Where are we going you ask.....
Unfortunately our beach won't look THAT nice, but that's ok... it's only a short distance away.
Where we're going is here....
Here's a pic of the front entrance of the resort...
The name of oour resort is Club Bucanero. It's a 3.5 star rated place. We're brining our own spices, ketchup, mayo, and peanut butter since these are in short supply there. And according to trip advisor they don't taste like what we expect them to.
And this is what I plan on doing while I'm there... sipping on some fresh coconut juice and sitting under some sun.
Last year we went to Cuba as well, but I didn't get to love me some sun because I was taking Accutane - a med for acne that makes one photosensitive and I BURNED unless I had a LAYER of visible sunscreen (60 SPF btw) on my skin. It was soooo bad that I had water blisters and my skin peeled from my shoulders all the way down to my fingers. This year I'm hoping to lay under the sun (still with SPF 60 on me, don't want melanoma thank you very much!) or swim in the pool or snorkel in front of our resort and love me some coral reef.
Hoping to meet some nice people while we're away like we did last year - Tina & Bonnie. I also want to do some adventuring, we're going to rent two mopeds for a couple of days (maybe even a week) and explore the near by city (25ish km) which is the 2nd largest city in Cuba, it's called Santiago de Cuba. We're supposed to lift off at 1530hrs and hubby said that he'll bring us somewhere for lunch before we go. OH I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED (as if you couldn't tell!)
I'll try to post some pics when I return. Hope everyone has a great week while I'm off enjoying myself some sun and warm water.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Back to normal and hitting it hard - so hard I cried
So I'm back at work, back to my usual schedule. This week I started off with 6 shifts in a row. Monday and Tuesday were day shifts and the other 4 are evenings. And let me tell you something, I HATE DAY SHIFTS!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially Mondays!
So ya, monday mornings suck!!! I knew it would totally suck but I wasn't prepared for the suckiness of my shift! I had a trach pt who was due for a barrium swallow test, to check and see if she was swallowing properly and to see what thickness the fluid had to be to prevent aspiration. And in our hospital at least, ALL trach pt's MUST be accompanied by a nurse for the ENTIRE procedure/test. So I ended up being off the floor for 2 1/2 hrs - which put me behind like CRAAAAAAAAZY. I came back to the unit to find out that the nurse that I gave report to had done NOTHING for my other pt's. So when I get back I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. While I was gone one of my other pt's went for a liver biopsy and when she came back (just before I returned) and had to have vital signs done like she was a surgical pt (so Q30 min X4 then Q1hr X2 and so on) and of course the nurse hadn't done VS for her so I had to do that one. The nurse hadn't done my meds while I was gone either so I had to get those done, and answer the call bells that were continuously going off. My trach pt also had diarrhea so I was CONSTANTLY going in there. I just couldn't catch a break, and was getting NO help from my colleagues. I also didn't have my break so when things settle down a sec (at 1400hrs), I spoke with my two other nurses who were relieving each other for breaks, just to find out that neither of those two while I was gone went for a break - which they really should have! So here I am expected to NOT have a break... not a fat chance in hell let me tell ya!
So I finally got a hold of my charge nurse to explain things and she told me to try to find another nurse on the floor to relieve me... so of course THAT took more time... to find out that there wasn't a nurse who could cover me! By the time I had all that information and I talked to the charge nurse it was 15 min later (because I had to track down all the other nurses) who said that she would cover my patients so that I could go for break. Later I find out she gave my patients to one of the girls who wouldn't cover me (the two nurses in my area who didn't do their breaks while I was gone) and they didn't do ANYTHING for my pts while I was gone. Hell I didn't even sit down my entire shift except while on break, I didn't even get ANY charting done!
Therefore when I handed my pt load to the next nurse at 1530hrs she acted like I did NOTHING all day and just slacked off which is complete bullshit. The good thing is at least the charge nurse had my back and knew what my day was like. But the nurse's attitude totally affected me and when I was done my shift I had to stay and do my charting for the entire shift since I didn't get to and it took me TWO hours to get that all done because of all the crap I had to chart about. I started to cry while doing my shift because I was completely overwhelmed by the suckiness of my shift and the way the nurse treated me like I hadn't done anything and was leaving it all for her. Thankfully I talked to the charge nurse to explain what happened and she calmed me down, letting me know that I had done my best with what I had to deal with that shift.
The next day was better but still craziness and my evening shifts I have a completely different set of pts but they're just as demanding and draining..... ah the life of a nurse!!!
So ya, monday mornings suck!!! I knew it would totally suck but I wasn't prepared for the suckiness of my shift! I had a trach pt who was due for a barrium swallow test, to check and see if she was swallowing properly and to see what thickness the fluid had to be to prevent aspiration. And in our hospital at least, ALL trach pt's MUST be accompanied by a nurse for the ENTIRE procedure/test. So I ended up being off the floor for 2 1/2 hrs - which put me behind like CRAAAAAAAAZY. I came back to the unit to find out that the nurse that I gave report to had done NOTHING for my other pt's. So when I get back I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. While I was gone one of my other pt's went for a liver biopsy and when she came back (just before I returned) and had to have vital signs done like she was a surgical pt (so Q30 min X4 then Q1hr X2 and so on) and of course the nurse hadn't done VS for her so I had to do that one. The nurse hadn't done my meds while I was gone either so I had to get those done, and answer the call bells that were continuously going off. My trach pt also had diarrhea so I was CONSTANTLY going in there. I just couldn't catch a break, and was getting NO help from my colleagues. I also didn't have my break so when things settle down a sec (at 1400hrs), I spoke with my two other nurses who were relieving each other for breaks, just to find out that neither of those two while I was gone went for a break - which they really should have! So here I am expected to NOT have a break... not a fat chance in hell let me tell ya!
So I finally got a hold of my charge nurse to explain things and she told me to try to find another nurse on the floor to relieve me... so of course THAT took more time... to find out that there wasn't a nurse who could cover me! By the time I had all that information and I talked to the charge nurse it was 15 min later (because I had to track down all the other nurses) who said that she would cover my patients so that I could go for break. Later I find out she gave my patients to one of the girls who wouldn't cover me (the two nurses in my area who didn't do their breaks while I was gone) and they didn't do ANYTHING for my pts while I was gone. Hell I didn't even sit down my entire shift except while on break, I didn't even get ANY charting done!
Therefore when I handed my pt load to the next nurse at 1530hrs she acted like I did NOTHING all day and just slacked off which is complete bullshit. The good thing is at least the charge nurse had my back and knew what my day was like. But the nurse's attitude totally affected me and when I was done my shift I had to stay and do my charting for the entire shift since I didn't get to and it took me TWO hours to get that all done because of all the crap I had to chart about. I started to cry while doing my shift because I was completely overwhelmed by the suckiness of my shift and the way the nurse treated me like I hadn't done anything and was leaving it all for her. Thankfully I talked to the charge nurse to explain what happened and she calmed me down, letting me know that I had done my best with what I had to deal with that shift.
The next day was better but still craziness and my evening shifts I have a completely different set of pts but they're just as demanding and draining..... ah the life of a nurse!!!
Friday, April 6, 2012
Hi Hoe Hi Hoe, It's off to work I go
Tomorrow is the first day that I'm due back at work. It's about 75% back to normal. I'm still having the dizzy spells but rarely now and I've stopped having the shaking spells, thankfully. I still have a cough but I will live. So tomorrow I find out if I can be a nurse again.
You never realize how much you value health until you're sick, and boy do I miss being healthy! I miss going to work though. Being sick has certainly put a dent in my finances, I've been out of work for like 3 weeks now. I don't work full time and therefore do not get sick pay - rather a bummers for me! I'll survive, bummers it has to be on savings considering we don't have a whole lot at the moment!
I guess even if I'm not feeling the best tomorrow I'll have to suck it up and go anyways. Especially since I have a vacation that I want to go on and can't if we don't have the money for it! Pray that I can make it through, I don't want to have to come home sick cuz then my co workers have to work short - the hospital won't replace a nurse if it's in the middle of a shift, only if it's like before an hour after the shift starts.
So Hi Hoe Hi Hoe, It's off to work I go....
You never realize how much you value health until you're sick, and boy do I miss being healthy! I miss going to work though. Being sick has certainly put a dent in my finances, I've been out of work for like 3 weeks now. I don't work full time and therefore do not get sick pay - rather a bummers for me! I'll survive, bummers it has to be on savings considering we don't have a whole lot at the moment!
I guess even if I'm not feeling the best tomorrow I'll have to suck it up and go anyways. Especially since I have a vacation that I want to go on and can't if we don't have the money for it! Pray that I can make it through, I don't want to have to come home sick cuz then my co workers have to work short - the hospital won't replace a nurse if it's in the middle of a shift, only if it's like before an hour after the shift starts.
So Hi Hoe Hi Hoe, It's off to work I go....
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