For Real

Applying for new jobs.

Another hospital has to be better-and safer-than mine.

(Ok, I'm sure there are worse places to work at, but.....I'm tired.)

I'm tired of six patients when I should have four.

I'm tired of having six patients, getting my accuchecks, delivering meal trays, collecting menus, collecting finished meal trays, obtaining vital signs, all while trying to BE A NURSE (assessments, medications, basic care, communicating with physicians, educating patients, helping them get, you know-BETTER).

(and should I mention I'm orienting a brand new RN to the hospital? me, who has only been at the hospital for 7 months)

I'm tried of patients saying to me, "Are you the only one working here?" or "Don't you have a nursing aide" or "Shouldn't your tech be doing this?" or "I know you don't have help, don't worry about me; I know you're running around" (and I wish I could say, "we don't have a tech" or "I'm not sure what or where our tech is-and management doesn't seem to care"

It kills me that we can be so incredibly short (and incompetently) staffed when according to news reports there are so many people out of work.

For the first time since entering nursing school, I want to leave the nursing profession. And I know it's not the profession but this hospital that is making me think this way. Longer commute be damned; if it's safer it's worth it.

(Side note: I know this is more about the hospital than the profession; According to the new US News report, the hospital I used to work at is 3rd in its region (out of 90+ hospitals) -and that truly was a hospital I was proud to be associated with, even on the very bad days.)

Just Get It

Famous words of the husband when I called him at work to say, "so there are really only two phones to choose from.....unless I get a smart phone. Can I get an iphone?"

And I did.

And 4 hours later I began to feel buyers remorse. I tend to be super cheap about certain things. I will go weeks and weeks without spending much money on myself, and then the next thing you know, I'm buying $150 swimsuits, traveling to Miami Beach, and buying an iPhone (which is not only $$$ but means you have to spend $30 more each month for a data plan).

And silly me, I didn't realize that 1052 songs would take up nearly all 16GB!

But let's be fair for a moment. Last week, my phone became possessed; the touch screen wouldn't work and when I was just holding the phone flat, random 'buttons' on the touch screen would appear to be pushed by some other unseen being or spirit. Eventually the touch screen went completely dead, and in order for me to use the phone in any way (to make or answer calls, set the alarm, etc), I would have to OPEN the phone, dial out, and then carefully close the phone and hope that I was not hanging up on anyone. Clearly, I 'needed' a new phone, and it had to be an iphone.

ugh. I am officially a modern day yuppie: expensive taste (trina turk swimwear-you rock), Nikon dSLr camera owner, foodie, kindle loving, iphone owning 31 year old in a DINK marriage.

moving on.....

The trip to SoFla was great. Either I'm getting older and my taste is running on the more conservative side, or people now take their 'fashion' ideas from Jersey Shore (it was a birthday weekend treat-ugh, 31, you just look so old. Much more serious than 30). There were so many spring-breakers, and with that, so many short, tight, and cheap cheap cheap looking clothes. I think sexy can be done without showing or pulling a britney.

I ate a lot of food that weekend and drank even more cuban coffee. My dear friend treated us all to mini-cupcakes at what we thought would be an outdoor mini-concert, but was really a $2.50 per ticket 30 minute mini-concert inside a new performance space for the New World. If you're in the south Florida area, you'd be a fool to pass up the mini-concerts or FREE outdoor concert wallcasts. (the sound and feel of the music indoors was pretty amazing too!)

We ran along the beach twice and had our photos taken by two men with telescopic paparazzi like cameras. I'm sure once they looked at the images and realized we were not anyone remotely famous they deleted the shots. Either that or we're on some TMZ-like celebrity stalker site. (but seriously why they bothered to shoot us beats me...if I was worthy of a paparazzi shot I would probably wear a hat, glasses, etc.)

Speaking of running....seems like I've been falling of the band wagon and need to print out a training plan to keep me on track. I'm not putting the amount of miles that I would like; especially if I'm going to have to start training for chicago soon. for the first time in a few weeks I was able to join the Thursday night runners and made the mistake of talking to Val just before the run. Which meant I started running with Val. Val who qualifies for Boston on the new time scale. We call each other the road hogs, and I tend to start with tail hogs (ie, the back). Yesterday I started with the people I call the head hogs.

Mile 1: 8:10. Eeks. Fast for me

Mile 2: 8:03. uh, I have three more to go?! and a bridge?!

Just beyond the 3 mile mark is a 4 lane road to cross and I had to stop for a second to avoid being roadkill a la Frogger. And that's where I completely lost it. I tried for a bit to catch up and run with the group, but at mile 4, I lost all drive and chilled at a 9:18 pace.

Total time: 42:38; 8:32 pace

Clearly I didn't stretch and am feeling it now, but the beer and greasy pizza afterwords was so worth it (look at the twitter stream for a picture....speaking of which, how can I upload the pictures on twitter to the blog??)

Today's plan: clean the house, hopefully re-discover the gym and its medieval looking weight machines, and tonight we'll have the neighbors over for dinner before a 3 day marathon weekend at work.

To Do

1. get off this chair and go for a short run. First one in a week. blah. this week's work schedule stinks...plus getting sick earlier in the week and the bad weather didn't help (i know, excuses excuses).

2. go to the mall and try. on. swimsuits. And find one to buy!

Ugh. I don't remember the last time I tried on swim suits. I've had the same swim suits for at least 7 years (there are pictures from our time in SC). And our shopping selection in these parts are slim pickings, so wish me luck! The mall here has an overwhelming stench of mold & mildew and you can feel the vibrations of the air conditioner running. Classy :)

Value

When I have a patient, if they suddenly show blood in their urine, I call the doctor. Especially when it is new and unexpected. It's what you should do as a nurse. Anything new or unexpected-like blood in the urine- typically warrants a call to the doctor.

If you are an employee-or ahem, nurse- at my place of employment, and you suddenly notice blood in your urine, you're told:

'I can't afford to lose you right now. Let me see if the pharmacy can get you an antibiotic and some pyridium. In the meantime, drink lots of water and cranberry juice'

Employee: "So I can't leave to go see a doctor?"

Charge: "No, I don't think so....we can't afford to have you go."

Employee: "The last time this happened it turned into a kidney infection. I can not make it through the day without going to see a doctor."

Charge: "I'm sorry-my pharmacy connection doesn't get here until 1:30pm. In the meantime, just keep drinking lots of water and cranberry juice."

Issues: (Besides the obvious-you know, the issue of blood being where blood shouldn't!) I already drink 1-2 liters of water during my 12 hour shift. Hardly think I'm dehydrated. Every morning begins with a small glass of cranberry juice. While we're on the cranberry juice comment, drinking cranberry juice is not going to stop or reduce the amount of infection -or blood- in one's urine. It's not going to stop an infection from traveling north to my kidneys when, after a matter of one hour I went from discomfort to blood tinged urine. (which is exactly what happened in college: it went from mild discomfort to a trip to the ER and a full out kidney infection in a matter of hours.)

Had they sent me to see a doctor (it is an acute care facility and they do employ medical doctors and have a pharmacy), I would have been able to start an antibiotic and pyridium before noon, AND I probably would have been able to work in the afternoon.

Instead, it wasn't until 12:15 that I was able to find someone higher up. At 12:45 I was given the go-ahead to leave and get treatment. At 1:15 I was in my car. My doctor's office couldn't get me in for an appointment and had already referred me to an urgent care center (35 minutes away-the irony). I spent 20 minutes waiting at the urgent care center, 10 minutes in the exam room waiting for the doc, 5 minutes with the doctor, before leaving with a prescription in hand. I dropped off my prescription at about 2:45, and my "20 minute wait" was more like 45 minutes. I finally took my first dose of antibiotic at 3:45 pm.

My symptoms started around 9:45am. I couldn't find my charge nurse. I found her at 10ish, told her "I'm getting a uti, I need to see a doctor." I found her again at 10:30 to say, "I have blood in my urine." Not to get all TMI and all, but by the time I made it to the urgent care center, it was certainly more than blood tinged....as evidenced by the comment I overhead the nurse made to the doctor.

I understand that my charge was upset that she would have had to give everyone six patients. I don't think she realized how urgent my situation was. Had I not mentioned it to 4 other people and some 'higher ups,' I don't think I would have been able to leave and seek treatment, but would have had to be treated much more aggressively as I would have been much sicker, and then off the floor for an extra day.

I value my health. If I am not healthy, I can't do my job well or care for my patients adequately. If I can't care adequately for my patients, they are at a greater risk of missed lab values, missed orders, gaps in care, etc, all leading to an increased length in stay. Had I not been able to go and get treatment, I have no doubt that I would have had to miss out on a couple of days of work.

My husband, impressed by the stellar treatment of their employees, asked what would have happened if I had cut off my finger at work.

I don't know. But I imagine they would have told me to put my finger on ice and go to the ER after work.

All I Wanna Do...

is log my run.

Seriously, running ahead's site must be down and I REALLY want to log today and yesterday's run now. I work tomorrow and Friday, which means I won't remember to log the runs until...some other time, if at all.

Yesterday I did a nice-n-easy 3 miler because I was planning on meeting up with a co-worker at the running club to do a run-walk (or as she said, a walk-run). Bummer that she failed to mention that she hasn't run at all yet. AT ALL. Our .25 mile run was the longest distance she's ever ran.

We all have to start somewhere I guess; and at least she made it out. A for effort. I'm just glad I had the foresight to run earlier in the morning.

And since I'm back at work tomorrow & Friday, I ran again today (I rarely run two days in a row). The run started off FAST for me.

And just got faster. I felt like I was in race mode (I only feel race mode tempo when I'm actually running in a 5k or 10k, or what others call 'racing.') Anyways, somehow I managed (barely) 4 negative splits. woot-woot! And while I know it's not my fastest (it was just me by myself after all), I'm still a little excited about the pace. (which is why I want to log my run...darn you 'service unavailable' message!)

Today's Run...temp: 60*s...time: 4:45pm; 4 miles, 33:03 final time; avg 8:15

Mile 1: 8:36

Mile 2: 8:16

Mile 3: 8:06

Mile 4: 8:04

Tomorrow is my first day after having a pretty easy work schedule (one a day, off a day, on a day, off 4 days...). I'm on for two, off for two, and then it gets hairy:

after this weekend I will work Monday, off Tuesday and then...

work Wednesday/Thursday, off Friday, on Saturday/Sunday, off monday, on Tuesday/Wednesday.

But I shouldn't complain because then I'm off for five sweet days and will hopefully be here: