Change of Shift

Go and read it! Great job Amanda.

17 hour sleep

I think the first 6 months of being a nurse plus the uncertainty of a job in Emerg after this week has been mounting. To the point that my body states it needs 17 hours of sleep. No joke, and no, I don't have mono (i've had that before and this is nothing like that).

I went to bed at midnight, slept until the alarm went off for Mr. E to go to work, than I fell back asleep and no joke, woke up at 1700.

It wasn't planned. In fact, I have a lot of stuff to do, but my body apparently needed the sleep. Now, i'm wide awake and probably will be till about 5.a.m.

Also, yesturday God decided that Ontario needed to be punished and sent about a foot of snow our way. Yes, that's right, snow right before Hallowe'en. It brings me back to when I was a kid and I had to wear snowpants underneath my Hallowe'en costume.

Here's a pic of an area near my apartment.

















Have a snowy day!

Thank you

Thank you, miss 3 year experienced "senior" nurse, for stepping in when you were clearly needed.

I do not need you to "rescue me" from a discussion with a patient that was about his pain meds. The patient had been acting out all evening, this was nothing new.

But by not only interfering with my work, but also undermining me in front of the patient was absolutely uncalled for. Thanks again, you bitch.

Also, thanks for cutting me off when the other nurse asked what had happend. You really know now to undermine and be a complete asshole.

Once again, thank you.

Admitted patients in the ED

24 admitted patients...

in a 34 bed emerg. Some of those leftover "beds" are chairs, and a mental health room.
That means every possible actual bed in our department was taken up with an admitted patient.

This means ambulance holds over 4 hours, and over 6 hour waits in the waiting room for the 2 beds we have left.


How the heck are we supposed to run as an EMERGENCY department, when inpatients have taken over? We even had to hold someone in the resuscitation room because there were no ICU beds immediately available.

At least I'm getting "floor" experience, sigh. I hate when I arrive and the three to four patients at the start of the shift stay with me the whole time. I'd almost rather be at an Urgent care clinic or doctor's office.

The unfortunate part is that it's not getting any better. We need to increase 1) the number of inpatient units, 2) hire more staff to care for patients in areas that are closed, and 3) reduce the number of patients waiting nursing home placement.

Then MAYBE we can have an emergency department, and wait times will be more close to normal!

The great Canadian north.

Time is flying by! Sorry for the lack of posts recently.

Lately my days off have been spent with a lot of family visits. Mr E and I drove 13 hours to Northern Ontario to visit his parents. Gosh I have forgotten how beautiful it is up there, as the last time I went it was in 2005.

Here are some photos of the landscape.




This picture is overlooking part of Lake Superior.
















And here is a picture of the Canadian sheild jutting towards a small lake.








Even the drive is beautiful.











Overall, a wonderful trip. I hear they have snow now.

I'm just starting to get caught up with sleep!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For the Canucks out there, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Today I spent my day outside in the gorgious 25 degree celsius weather, and went to a local fair.

I even saw a cow-show... Like a dog show but for cows. They have a person walking them and everything. Secretly I was hoping one of the teenagers that were managing the cows would tip them over, but of course that didn't happen!

Now I'm stuffed with Turkey and gravy, taffy, pumpkin chiffon pie and candy-apples. Yum!

WOW

Today was a fantastic day.

A patient came in and was VERY sick. We had no background story and no clear reason why the patient was the way they were.

Numerous interventions began: Intubation, blood glucose check, bloodwork was drawn, ECG completed. I was in the thick of things trying to help this patient... grabbing the glucometer, setting the patient up on the monitor, etc. However the patient's SpO2 was in the 40's, the BP was dropping; essentially the patient was dying.

Anyway, there was something I noticed along the process that I verbalized out loud to everyone. Everyone stopped and looked at the monitor. The doc agreed with my observation, and after a bit of further investigating it was deemed to be the reason for the patient being sick.

The thing I noticed was some slight ST depression on lead II that was being displayed on the monitor. It had not been there earlier upon the patient's arrival, and an earlier ECG hadn't shown anything.

Another ECG was called for. Sure enough, it indicated the patient was having a STEMI in multiple leads.

20 minutes later the patient was on a dopamine drip and on their way to the PCI lab. Afterwards I heard that the patient was doing much better.

This was the first time I have ever actively noticed something, or done something that saved a patient's life.

Don't get me wrong, someone not even 2 minutes later would have noticed the same thing as me and mentioned it.

But this time it was me. COOLEST... SHIT.... EVER.

I'm proud of myself.

Flu Vaccine

I received this email the other day asking me to take a look at a video on YouTube. I highly recommend it.




Here was the actual letter.
******

Dear Sir or Madam -

As a blogger who writes about parenting and/or health topics, I wanted to let you know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), together with Families Fighting Flu, Inc. (FFF) has launched a compelling video documentary via YouTube, featuring parents of children who have tragically died as a result of the flu. The documentary is available online at http://www.youtube.com/cdcflu.

We think your readers might be interested to know how bit a toll the flu takes on young children. Each year in the United States, an average of 20,000 children younger than 5 are hospitalized because of flu-related complications. Tragically, around 100 children die from this serious disease each year. Last year 86 children died of flu-related complications, half of whom were age 15-18. During the 2006-2007 flu season, of the patients for whom flu vaccination status is known, 94 percent of the children who died had not been vaccinated against the flu.

Directed by Emmy award-winning Mustapha Khan, creator of “House on Fire,” and Tommy Walker, award-winning co-director of “God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan,” the video will be shown nationwide at events hosted by public health departments and CDC and FFF partners. It will also be posted on CDC’s and partners’ websites.

For more information about the flu and the influenza vaccine, please visit www.cdc.gov/flu. For more information Families Fighting Flu, please visit www.familiesfightingflu.org.

Let me know if you have any questions about the film or are interested in sharing it with your readers.

Very best,

Allison

______________________________

Allison Bozniak

Public Relations/Marketing Specialist

Center for Health Communications

Academy for Educational Development (AED)