Anyone bored enough to know what a typical day at work looks like for me?
2:51 PM- Sitting in my car outside the building. I usually arrive a couple of minutes early and sit out there listening to talk radio.
2:54- Clock in
3-4- Do rounds with the nurse going off shift. Count the narcotics. Make the CNA's assignments for the day (who has which residents, baths, that kind of stuff). Check results for any labs drawn that day. Take assigned blood sugars. Set up my med cart (a more involved process than it sounds like).
4 (if I'm lucky)-6... or 7- Five o'clock med pass. I usually have nearly 20 patients, many with PEG tubes (translation: all medication must be crushed and administered with liquids through this tube). On a good day, I might complete my treatments (dressings, creams, etc) while doing this med pass. I also try to sign out all my treatments and check for safety devices (bed alarms, mattress on the floor next to the beds) during this time.
7-7:30 (or thereabouts)- Dinner break. This past week, I escaped from work by diving into Sense and Sensibility. I am reading it to prepare for my next read: Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters.
7:30-8- Do treatments that I may not have completed before. Prepare for my next med pass.
8-9:30 or 10- Nine o'clock med pass. Usually lots of injections.
9:30-11- Tie up loose ends. This includes completing treatments that can't be done until someone goes to bed, hanging new bags of tube feeding to help the next shift, and straightening up. I also do my paperwork, which takes up a nice chunk of this time.
11-11:24- Make rounds with the next nurse, count the narcotics.
11:24- clock out and go home. Usually I get to do it all again the next day.
Did anyone make it to the end?
3 comments:
I did!
You have pretty busy days. Way to be!
All the way. Do you get to visit/talk with the patients on your rounds? It sounds so do this, then do this, then do this. What are your thoughts and feelings while you are doing your rounds?
Excellent question Ellen. Answer: yes and no. Many of my patients don't seem to have any idea that anyone is there, so I basically have a monologue with them. Some are somewhat responsive and others can converse just like normal. I love talking to my patients. That is the highlight of the day. Unfortunately, the great challenge of nursing is trying not to be completely task oriented at the expense of your patients. It can be very difficult not to do when your plate is so very full. A 1:20 nurse to patient ratio is pretty crazy, especially considering that my floor is considered a "skilled unit", meaning the patients have a lot more needs. I don't get to spend as much time with them as I would like to.
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