smell the roses, blow out the candles
It is time, my friends, for another nursing update. Unrelated to obamacare. Politics is not my strongpoint. I've discovered this blog post is going to be stream of consciousness. Hope you enjoy it. Because I was thinking, is (are?) politics singular or plural?
So I was thinking recently, and I realized that I have moved 5 times this year if I am allowed to count the times my unit moved to a different floor, and then moved back. The first work move was low stress; I wasn't there on the moving day, so all that I did was show up to a different floor for work the next day. Our more recent move back to our original floor was indeed stressful. For half the day, we only had 1 thermometer for 16 patients. Our supply room code wasn't working. The stuff in the supply room was in different spots than we were used to. Our medication-dispensing computer was on a different floor, or didn't have what we needed. Order forms went AWOL, as did several charts, our glucometer, and a phone. When we tried to communicate between our old and new floors, we realized the same extension called both locations--so if we were on floor A and wanted to talk to floor B, the number for floor B also called floor A. Which was confusing. While unpacking, we discovered that we didn't know where a lot of the stuff came from in the first place--who ordered a bunch of biohazard bags? or notepads with comic covers? or a pain infusion pump that I haven't seen used in a year and a half? And then, of course, the hallways were clogged with moving beds, furniture, and moving people. One of my patients wanted to walk, and I asked him to wait til at least one side of our floor had cleared.
That patient likes to talk, and he likes to walk and talk even more. I walked with him for a while, listening to him talk, until he complained that he was short of breath and his throat was dry. Basic assessment: "Your oxygen tubing is going in your nose. Are you breathing through your nose?"
"No, I've been talking."
"You need to breathe through your nose to get the oxygen, AND you need to breathe through your nose so that the air is humidified, which will help your dry throat."
"Oh, I guess I should stop talking"
So I was thinking today of that advice I gave. Our physical therapists tell our patients to smell the roses and blow out the candles as a reminder of the proper breathing technique. Well, I need to stop and smell the roses. On the bright side, no one was injured in moving. Our managers tried hard to minimize the interruption of daily nursing care by bringing in a lot of help. I have great co-workers, who don't seem to mind that my method of dealing with stress can be singing the Mickey Mouse song, or laughing hysterically when I run smack into people.
So come along and sing a song and join the jamboree.
So I was thinking recently, and I realized that I have moved 5 times this year if I am allowed to count the times my unit moved to a different floor, and then moved back. The first work move was low stress; I wasn't there on the moving day, so all that I did was show up to a different floor for work the next day. Our more recent move back to our original floor was indeed stressful. For half the day, we only had 1 thermometer for 16 patients. Our supply room code wasn't working. The stuff in the supply room was in different spots than we were used to. Our medication-dispensing computer was on a different floor, or didn't have what we needed. Order forms went AWOL, as did several charts, our glucometer, and a phone. When we tried to communicate between our old and new floors, we realized the same extension called both locations--so if we were on floor A and wanted to talk to floor B, the number for floor B also called floor A. Which was confusing. While unpacking, we discovered that we didn't know where a lot of the stuff came from in the first place--who ordered a bunch of biohazard bags? or notepads with comic covers? or a pain infusion pump that I haven't seen used in a year and a half? And then, of course, the hallways were clogged with moving beds, furniture, and moving people. One of my patients wanted to walk, and I asked him to wait til at least one side of our floor had cleared.
That patient likes to talk, and he likes to walk and talk even more. I walked with him for a while, listening to him talk, until he complained that he was short of breath and his throat was dry. Basic assessment: "Your oxygen tubing is going in your nose. Are you breathing through your nose?"
"No, I've been talking."
"You need to breathe through your nose to get the oxygen, AND you need to breathe through your nose so that the air is humidified, which will help your dry throat."
"Oh, I guess I should stop talking"
So I was thinking today of that advice I gave. Our physical therapists tell our patients to smell the roses and blow out the candles as a reminder of the proper breathing technique. Well, I need to stop and smell the roses. On the bright side, no one was injured in moving. Our managers tried hard to minimize the interruption of daily nursing care by bringing in a lot of help. I have great co-workers, who don't seem to mind that my method of dealing with stress can be singing the Mickey Mouse song, or laughing hysterically when I run smack into people.
So come along and sing a song and join the jamboree.
hey nice post mehn. I love your style of blogging here. The way you writes reminds me of an equally interesting post that I read some time ago on Daniel Uyi's blog: Being Thankful .
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work.
Regards