I think when I look back on this past week I am going to have to call it like it is: this was the week from hell!
When I became a nurse I understood that my life was going to change. I understood that weekends and holidays and special occasions would occasionally have to take a backseat to my profession, and I was OK with that. It helps me out actually when Hannah goes to her Dads house for a holiday... I go to work so I'm not home feeling sorry for myself and I make a little extra money (loving holiday pay!). But here is where it gets interesting.
In my current position I am a pediatric home health nurse. I go to homes and take care of children who are basically on life support at home. Some of these kids are on ventilators, feeding tubes, etc., but are stable enough to not be in the hospital. The nursing staff (me) spends 8-12 hours a day with the patient giving medications, providing treatments and other nursing duties- not to mention giving the family a much needed break.
The families I work for are amazing. Although their lives are difficult, I have never seen such loving, compassionate people.
I was given the opportunity to become one of the on call nurses. Sounded fun. Thought it may look good on my resume someday and the extra pay would come in handy.
Boy was I wrong!!!
Being on call is hell. My "job description" is basically to put out fires until the office opens. If someone is sick, I find a replacement nurse, if a patient goes in the hospital, I call the nurse off. Sounds easy, right? Oh hell no! Add to this equation that we have kids that require 24 hour care, families who are burned out, flu season, nurses who don't answer their phones, and one tired, grumpy on call nurse. My boyfriend pointed this out to me Friday night. He asked me if I was ok, and of course I said yes. He then said something to the effect of ''you've been really quiet the last few times I've seen you, really serious, are you sure you are ok?" and I said yes again, then he said, "You're not thinking about breaking up with me are you?" That made me sad! I can't believe I let the stress of my job interfere with the best relationship I've ever been in. I have to fix this, and fast!
This is where I get annoyed. As I said before, I understood what becoming a nurse entailed, but it is obvious that not everyone became a nurse for the same reasons I did. The other night I had a very sick nurse (I obviously couldn't send her to work) and another family whose child had just been discharged from the hospital and needed a nurse that night. I made around 30 phone calls. Guess how many people answered their phones or returned my calls? 2. Yep, that's "two". Of all of those people I had two nurses who had the common decency to return a phone call. Anyway, I could complain about this all night, and you can imagine the earfull the office got from me this morning. Lucky for me I just spoke to the other on call nurse, and she really needs the money---so she has offered to take my next week of on call, and I'm giving it to her!!! And I'm going to spend that time with my super cute boyfriend. :)
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