Swan song

Well, not quite, but my last evening shift in charge recently was definitely interesting.

First problem: Since it was the boss's first day of vacation, I knew someone would call in sick. Mike, one of our nurse assistants (who will not miss me as a charge nurse) decided to be the one. No surprise, really. Mike likes those extended three-day weekends just like the rest of the slacker patrol and he's made it a  habit of taking off the day before and the day after his weekend off, or when I'm in charge.

Second problem: one of our RNs, who has a chronic medical condition gets sick at the beginning of the shift. Docs are called (ours, not hers) and lots of fuss is made over her, because she could have gotten all wigged out on us. I let some of the crew keep her safe while I got the rest of the folks to hold down the fort until the super could determine whether I needed an ambulance or not.

Happily, she was fine within a couple of hours, but was pissed at me once she felt better. I was a witch and changed her assignment, so she had very little chance of potentially hurting any patients. Sure, she was bored, but what choice did I have? Not much. Oh, the joys of lots of CYA documentation!

Finally, I redistributed the load to the rest of the crew and we did well. My patients did well. I was so happy they were cooperating with everything, especially when I took a little longer on my regular rounds.. Even with all that, I still managed to get one in the shower, so he could get ready for an appointment tomorrow, and wash his hair, which he said was driving him crazy.  Head and Shoulders to the rescue!

It was crazy, but  we survived, even if no one stuck around to leave with me once I'd finished giving report to the  next crew.

I won't miss the BS at all....come on clinic!

More to come...