Working in the ER is a complex beast. You have to be able to juggle a lot of situations at the same time and you have to be able to prioritize what comes first. If a person isn't breathing they take precedence over someone with a sprained ankle (obviously). Sometimes it gets sketchy. What if you have multiple people who are very ill and an attention seeking drunk? Security isn't available to help you out.
This was very similar to my situation the other day. I get 2 ambulances at the same time. I help one person who doesn't have lung sounds and the oxygen saturation is 40% (that should be above 93%). As I am trying to get her stable and increase her blood oxygen my drunken ambulance starts wandering around the nurses station screaming "I need help, doesn't anyone care if I die?"
Going back to the complex beast that is the ER, I am in a section where help is nonexistent at this time. I work with multiple other nurses who need so much help that it takes 2 people to do what one nurse should be able to manage on her own. The techs that work with us cannot get to me because they are being utilized by other nurses and the charge nurse is doing something else.
I am able to take care of both patients (and my other 2 less needy but just as sick patients) but by the end of the night I am just shy of yelling at my drunken attention seeking butthole. At one point after I tell him to get back in his room and get in bed he asked me "Just who do you think you're talking to?" I replied "A noncompliant patient who can't follow simple instructions to stay in bed." (security isn't available to help keep him in bed).
My patience was very thin at the end of the night. I am very grateful for the understanding my other patients had with the situation.
This is a situation that happens regularly. Occasionally I will get help from my peers and depending on what is going on I will sometimes get quite a bit of assistance. The problem is I usually get forgotten and dumped on. I don't complain when I get a lot of sick patients. I do my job. I don't complain (a lot) when I have 4 patients when others have 1 or 2. Maybe this is why it continues to happen to me.
Will I complain, probably not to anybody in charge. Mostly because I know I can handle the situations they throw at me. If I do get to a point where I'm drowning there are a few people that will come to my assistance.
Besides, when it comes down to it, I like my job. I don't want to be known as a "trouble maker". I do my job (most of the time well in my opinion) and I try to have fun. I can see myself doing this for quite some time.
No comments:
Post a Comment