I was on the PM shift. I came in almost an hour before my shift. I want to have enough time to browse through my patients’ charts. As I looked at the board for my patient assignment, I was not surprised to see that I have 2 level 2 patients out of the 4 assigned to me while the other bedside nurse has only 1 level one patient out of four. I was appalled though that I will be receiving the first admission should there be any. The division of labor is really not fair. Then again, my only consolation for playing the underdog for the next 6 months is that, the bedside and the charge nurse are not allowed to go home without me. A fair deal.
The outgoing bedside nurse get to endorse the concerned patients to me just before the grand endorsement happened. I asked her to slow down a bit as I list down the medications of each patient but she commented that I should come in early to do it. Bitching out aside, I asked her that the reason I came in early is for me to do that exactly but she asked me to make an early endorsement. She rested her case because I was not gonna take it sitting down.
In almost a month of being an orientee, I could say that this was the most smooth shift. We call it suave shift. At 4:30 a.m. I was done doing my final vitally signs, input and output monitoring and charting! I was only waiting for my 6:00 am osterized feeding and medications. This was my best shift ever! Until the admission group called in as there was a patient that will come in from another hospital. Aaargh, admission is the most toxic job for me as there are so many forms to fill out plus there is the task of doing the patient assessment. I am kinda obsessed with the assessment part as I do it thoroughly from head to foot including the patient’s medical background. This was the comment of my preceptor and I am guilty for that, if that is a sin. The patient came in at 5:30 a.m. and I hurriedly but thoroughly did the assessment. At 6:10 a.m. I was done with it, I hurriedly prepared my feeding and medications. At 7:00 a.m., I was done with all of it. I set aside the task of finishing the documentation for the patient who just arrived. I had to make the endorsement for my four other patients. At almost 8:00 am my other patient who will undergo coronary angiogram buzzed for help. She pooped and the daughter needs assistance for a diaper change. As soon as I finished changing her diapers, I went back to the endorsement table. The same patient buzzed again after ten minute. This time she wants to have her hair shampooed and she is level one patient. This means that even though is on complete bed rest, she does not have any contraptions and her Glasgow coma scale or GCS is 15. But in the private ward, you cannot say no to a patient’s request. Technically, she is no longer my patient but since the endorsement is still ongoing, she is still under my care. I went in to shampoo her and as I was patting her hair dry already she insisted on having her daughter to do it for her. My ears flapped in joy.
My preceptor handed me a time table giving me an idea what tasks should be done by when. I looked at him with my eyes speaking “seriously?”. He told me that it was just a suggestion and he does that to all the orientees that he handles. He noticed that I was quiet finishing the newly admitted patient’s chart and I was not laughing at his jokes. He began filling out some forms for me while the other bedside nurse was chitchatting with some nurses from the other ward. It was nearly 9:00 a.m. I was done doing all the charts and as I told them to go home already, they insisted on waiting for me.
Nurses are like diamonds. Undergoing trainings and real life experiences are like series of tests in fire to make them as polished and as priceless as they could ever be. I am hoping though that I could withstand the tests.