Fun on Night Shift.

Things I could do without on a Night Shift:

How about taking 20 phone calls from relatives at 0700 in the morning because they want to see what kind of night grandad had.

Do I sound like a total bitch?

This is at a time when there is no unit clerk on duty to answer the phone. The only phone this large ward has is pretty damn far from the bays where the patients are located. Great set- up huh?

It is only 30 minutes before I have to give report to the day staff and I have just had a cardiac arrest leading to a death 10 minutes ago (needed to inform the family and should lay him out, document and pack his belongings and clean the bed before day shift arrives).

Had an acute surgical admission arrive on the ward as the cardiac arrest was happening, a terrified LVF patient who is going bad and couldn't breathe and was in AF and needed multiple interventions and meds administered IV, a catheter for low output and fluid balance, and there is also all of the usual morning stuff do to like meds, multiple IV's due that need to be prepared and given etc etc. As usual this stuff is all happening simultaneously and I have to knock it all out in a ridiculously short amount of time and I am the only nurse. Oh. Shit.

There are 10 patients in wet beds and call bells ringing like mad at this time. Four of them were fall risks with dementia and were trying to climb over the side rails. There was only myself and a health care assistant for 20 patients. Couldn't get near the patients because of the phone calls. Trying to keep the LVF man from dying via lack of nursing intervention kept me at his bedside constantly. The doc can order the meds but if I don't give them at all and correctly and don't continually moniter the guy the shit will hit the fan. Should I leave him to deal with the wet beds and then go back to him? He might be dead by that time. I was worried about him, the acute surgical admit who was bleeding heavily and I can't see her from the LVF man's bed. I am worried about other 18 patients who all needed help, especially the 10 or 12 who are lying in their own filth. Others are ringing for pain meds. Leaving LVF man and bleeding out admission long enough to check out and draw up all those pain meds could be fatal. Shit. Shit. Shit.

So I blew off answering the phone and prioritized sorting the LVF guy, the acute surgical admission,and getting in touch with the dead man's family to tell them he was gone and remember to be gentle, calm, sympathetic and supportive even though I was nearly in tears myself. I hate making these phone calls. I would rather eat shit actually. This was an unexpected crash and death. Not pretty.

My HCA busted his ass trying to get to all the call bells, the wet beds, and finish morning observations on 20 people. He couldn't get around to them all himself. He spent most of his time keeping the fall risk dementia patients from landing on their heads. The patients were pissed off at him and complaining about how they were waiting so long and felt rushed when he finally got there. Then they didn't like the fact that he was a "male" "nurse" etc etc.

The phone was ringing non-stop and we blew it off. Felt bad because if my dad was in hospital I would be on the phone to his ward like a shot.

At 0730 I had to leave the floor to give report....rushed and incomplete. That is dangerous in itself. I ran through it quick as we really needed to get our asses back onto the floor pronto to the LVF man who was deteriorating. A bad report could lead to a chain of events that hurts a patient. None of this is good. The day nurses were sympathetic as we all have nights like this. I took over the night before from a nurse who had the evening shift from hell and many things were left undone. Everyone understands. We are a good team.

Can't wait to watch the complaints flood in from patients' relatives saying "I just rang to see how my loved one was and the evil nurses couldn't be bothered to answer the phone Friday morning....and granddad tells me he waited in a wet bed from 0630 until 0800!! Where is matron to whip these nurses into shape?" Um Er ...how about we ask where are the nurses? Oh that's right...they are looking for non-existent jobs.

What a lovely end to a 12 hour night shift. I was supposed to leave at 0800 and got out about 0930. No I won't get paid overtime. As a matter of fact I was off the clock and not getting paid from 0700 onwards as they deduct an hour for breaks we don't get. Getting out at 0930 was not bad considering. Sometimes night shifts are dead easy and sometimes they are like this. More of the latter I am afraid. 99% of them are more of the latter in this place.

I do love nursing but I could really do without all the simultaneous problems at the end of a long shift. That's just part of the job really but another five sets of hands would be nice.