i am (finally) off orientation. i survived the grueling eye (and tapping foot) of my nursing educator and gained a good reputation on the floor (or so well i think). yesterday was my first day on evening shift (3pm to 11:30pm). it was heaven. i was able to sleep and stay in bed until 10 in the morning. had lunch and took an hour and a half nap before getting ready for work and still get to the hospital a good 15 minute early. as soon as i got to the floor, the people in morning shift greeted me well and gave me a vote of confidence. i also had a small chat with the clerk in the morning shift, and his comment was right. you see, i was in the morning shift friday leaving me the rest of the day and weekend off until monday morning. it felt like a long weekend. if only horacio wasn't working that weekend...
anyways... when 3pm came, the head nurse pulled me aside... uh-oh. she started off by telling me how sorry she was to pair me up with the nurse i would be working with that night. at first i was like -- it's ok, no problem. then she goes to me "no, you don't understand. this is no smiling matter." yet i was still smiling.. but this time i know that it was a nervous one. then she goes on telling me how i should be careful when working with her since she is cunning and tends to assign patients unfairly. after few minutes of talking and telling me who to go to when i need someone and who would/could stand up for me i went back to the nurse's lounge. in there i found both people from evening and day shift. as soon as they learned that i would be working with that very nurse, they started to open their mouths. as in everyone, including the clerk! i was starting to get scared. then another co-orientee of mine, who started the day before, also told me to be careful. she had that nurse the other day and she is so cunning.
then it was time to start... i was in charge of the narcotic key that evening, so i started counting with the nurse from the day shift. when that was done, i took report from the nurse. turned out i have four, she has three and the lpn has four. it was ok, since (at that time) two of my patients were scheduled to be discharged. after taking report, i went to my patients room, did vitals, neuro checks... and all the tasks that i have to do. i come back to the nurse's station and started to work on my discharges.
after two discharges, the two other patients started to give me hell. they both want to go home and we have been paging the doctor to no avail. they both changed into their street clothes and i was afraid that one of them would leave the floor without me knowing. after what seemed like thousands of attempts, the doctor finally called. this time, one of my patients are no where to be found. i started to panick, what only comforted me is the fact that he left his jacket in the room. after going back and forth into the patient's room, i finally found him lying in bed (turned out, he went out for a smoke!) smiling. i nearly strangled him! so, i told him because of him leaving the floor like that he missed the chance to speak to the doctor and can't complain if it took another hour or so for the doctor to call back.
by 7pm, it was time for me to go for my dinner break (i have to get used to saying this, instead of lunch break!). i told the nurse about the situation (as what we are supposed to do). she told me she'd do the discharge if necessary. [one of the patients is going home against medical advice - more paperwork... and the other one is a regular discharge]. i was having dinner and was on the phone, she comes in and asks me to sign the form for her. stupid me, i signed the form. then the evening clerk (thank God for her) came in and told me that i shouldn't have done that and that she would do something to get me in trouble and she would lie it. so, as to fix the problem, i went out and told her i would do the discharge myself since i already signed for it (this time i didn't have the appetite to eat at all!). she insisted on doing it herself... and eventually gave in. telling everyone that she tried to help. as i was doing that discharge, this other guy (same guy who left the floor) came up and ask me where his papers were. since he was a regular discharge we were waiting for the discharge summary to be on the computer (done by the doctors). i explained to him what's going on... another nurse and the clerk came to my rescue and tried to explain things to him for me since, i think, they sense my frustration. after giving the papers to the other guy, explaining to him once more the consequences of him leaving and the whole nine yards. i went back to the lounge and took a breather. the nurse came in once more, this time with the discharge papers of the other guy. i was on the phone with horacio (again) and she asked me to sign the papers. this time, i told her that i wouldn't sign it since i wouldn't be doing it and i am on a break. she told me it was no big deal and that she would do it. i replied by saying if she doesn't want to sign it, leave it and i will do it when i come back from my break (by this time, the patient was outside and really getting annoying!). then another nurse comes in (oh God, how thankful i am for her!) and told her that the policy is that if you did it you sign it, no matter if it's your patient or not (her defense was that it wasn't her patient). she left the room and did the discharge and came back again asking me to verify all that she wrote and sign for it. i look at the other nurse for help, she signaled to me that it's ok to sign. so, i signed... she left. after the break, i went up and finished all the discharges -- charting, putting all the papers together. by 9pm i had no patients. i was praying that there would be no admissions or if there would be to come really early or by 10:45. since the policy is that if a patient comes to the floor by 10:45 the admission is done by the night shift. at 9:30, i got a call from ER, giving me report for a patient. i took the report. hoped that the patient would come up soon or at 10:45. the rest of the time i fixed the bed for that patient i took report from and hang-out. 10:40 came, the nurse told me that i wouldn't be doing the admission anymore. then the patient came. she announced to everyone that the patient came at 10:45, wrote it down. all i did was take vitals.
11:00pm came... night shift people nowhere to be found.... 11:15 they started to come in. by 11:20 i was counting narcotics again with the incoming night nurse. 11:45pm i left the floor.
it was an experience that i was... weird. although all the evening nurses said that it was really an unusual night, since we had at least six empty bed and only one admission came in. usually it was discharge and admission, left and right. i actually don't know what to take from that nurse... i know i have to be careful when i am working with her. and although the word "team", "teamwork" or "teamplayer" is not in her vocabulary or the fact that she is cunning and a liar... and everybody on that floor knows that. i know that one day she would learn her lesson. i know that one day she would realized why people doesn't like to work with her. i just hope that as i (or, if i) continue to work with her, i would have that guts to say something. since, i have the tendency to help people out and all... i guess this time i would have to say no.
