fredericks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fredericks) wrote2007-10-03 02:36 am
fredericks) wrote2007-10-03 02:36 am
(no subject)
I floated last night. I can already tell it's going to be a common occurrence, because we have three orientees already on nights and one orientee on days who'll make the transition to nights in a month or so, and one girl who just got off orientation and started on nights two weeks ago. The senior nurses with orientees can't float, and the new nurse can't float until she's worked for six months, so all of us relatively new folks will be getting mighty friendly with other floors in the next half year or so.
The floor I floated to is one I've worked a couple of overtime shifts for; it's larger, better-stocked, and just overall *nicer* in spacing and appearance than my floor. The one thing that bugged me last night and that continually bugs me when I work there is that the nurses don't answer patient call bells. Nor do they answer the phones on the floor unless they've paged a physician. I'm not sure if the nurse's aides on my floor are exceptionally lazy or the ones on the other floor are exceptionally hardworking, but I'm always surprise when I see call bells going off while the nurses sit and do their paperwork and leave the aides to find out what's going on.
My thing is - when you go and check on your patients when they call you can do assessments on their well-being or ask the aide to step in. For example, if a patient calls because they need assistance to go to the restroom and you as the nurse answer them, you can either choose to have the aide help the patient or you can help the patient yourself. If you help the patient you can do a number of things: observe the way the patient ambulates, the way the patient breathes, the patient's skin integrity (those infamous backside-out gowns), the patients urinary output, whether the patient's bowels are moving, you can educate them during the whole process, etc etc. Along with checking vitals and all that good stuff. And it makes the patient feel better to have their nurse at the bedside. Every time I go to this floor the aides I work with are amazed at how much I do. If I have the time to do things of that nature, I'll do it. If not, I'll still see what the patient wants and ask the aide to lend a hand. Simple. I dunno.
I came in at 9, ate breakfast, showered, and slept until 6:30. Now I'm wide awake with not much to do beside have fun on teh internetz. The floor in the room has to be done by the weekend, because middle bro is coming down over the holiday weekend and he's bound to kick little bro out of his room during his stay. I've gotten a large range of quotes for the floor, so I figure I'll call again early in the morning and go with the lowest one. I also need to get someone to put the fan up. Once those are done I'll put up shades and start with the furniture. Will it be done by Vegas? Hopefully. Dang it.
*headdesk* I feel out of sorts and I'm not sure why. I think I need tea. Or a Guinness shake. Must find condensed milk.
The floor I floated to is one I've worked a couple of overtime shifts for; it's larger, better-stocked, and just overall *nicer* in spacing and appearance than my floor. The one thing that bugged me last night and that continually bugs me when I work there is that the nurses don't answer patient call bells. Nor do they answer the phones on the floor unless they've paged a physician. I'm not sure if the nurse's aides on my floor are exceptionally lazy or the ones on the other floor are exceptionally hardworking, but I'm always surprise when I see call bells going off while the nurses sit and do their paperwork and leave the aides to find out what's going on.
My thing is - when you go and check on your patients when they call you can do assessments on their well-being or ask the aide to step in. For example, if a patient calls because they need assistance to go to the restroom and you as the nurse answer them, you can either choose to have the aide help the patient or you can help the patient yourself. If you help the patient you can do a number of things: observe the way the patient ambulates, the way the patient breathes, the patient's skin integrity (those infamous backside-out gowns), the patients urinary output, whether the patient's bowels are moving, you can educate them during the whole process, etc etc. Along with checking vitals and all that good stuff. And it makes the patient feel better to have their nurse at the bedside. Every time I go to this floor the aides I work with are amazed at how much I do. If I have the time to do things of that nature, I'll do it. If not, I'll still see what the patient wants and ask the aide to lend a hand. Simple. I dunno.
I came in at 9, ate breakfast, showered, and slept until 6:30. Now I'm wide awake with not much to do beside have fun on teh internetz. The floor in the room has to be done by the weekend, because middle bro is coming down over the holiday weekend and he's bound to kick little bro out of his room during his stay. I've gotten a large range of quotes for the floor, so I figure I'll call again early in the morning and go with the lowest one. I also need to get someone to put the fan up. Once those are done I'll put up shades and start with the furniture. Will it be done by Vegas? Hopefully. Dang it.
*headdesk* I feel out of sorts and I'm not sure why. I think I need tea. Or a Guinness shake. Must find condensed milk.