Double Shift

Last Saturday I was pulled out to ICU during the night shift. Boy am I so glad! I miss the ICU! True enough, I enjoyed the experience of being there again, though in a different hospital. It's like being at home. I handled a benign (easy to manage) case. My patient has a heplock (a device inserted into the vein of your hand into which nurses inject some medications) and an oxygen via nasal (through the nose) cannula ONLY and the usual hourly monitoring of vital signs, e.g., blood pressure, temperature, pulse rate, and breathing.

Come 5 a.m. the senior staff nurse asked if I wanted to render another 8 hours (that's 6am-2pm!) because some staff nurses won't be reporting for work. I thought it's ok so I said yes. I was groggy by 7am. I couldn't focus. I'm making medication cards for the nth time and I couldn't get it right. I tried to focus on medication administration just to make sure my license won't get provoked by medication errors.

As the day progresses, I am able to cope with lack of sleep. I didn't get a nap at all out of hiya with my superiors in spite of them asking me to try to get a quick nap.

Note to self: hindi ko na uulitin ang mag-16 hours when it's 10pm-6am going to 6am-2pm.

Anywhere but Here

Ngayon ko lang ulit naramdaman ang burn out. First time 'to sa pagiging isang nurse ko. Not because of nursing care or toxic patients. This is due to some unavoidable elements. I wanted to be reassigned to other areas but this. I wanted to go back to the ICU or the Ward 4. Masaya kase at professional ang mga staff dun. They're task oriented and patient-centered.

The other day, I dropped by Ward 4. It was holy week so medyo benign ang floor. Naglalaro lang sila ng pinoy henyo and I was asked to join them. The word was "Erceflora," a medicine used to treat diarrhea for kids. Napaatras yung orderly na makulit kase ang hirap daw nung word. Ayon nahulaan ko. Hahaha!

I always try to drop by the ICU and Ward 4 before and after my duty at Ward 6. Nakaka-miss kase mga staff na nakaka-inspire sa 'kin to go on my duty as a newbie nurse. Never sila nagsungit, nagtaray, or nagparamdam na isa lang akong hamak na volunteer na wala pang masyadong alam sa nursing tasks. Pag may pera ako, I am planning to give them a treat. Pag madami akong pera, bibigyan ko sila ng mango bravo ng Conti's or icecream with cones. Basta wag lang pansit or spaghetti kase may curse ang mga 'to sa hospital, nagiging toxic daw ang situation.

Some kind of a farewell party at the ICU

Last night was my last duty in the intensive care unit. There were four of us nurses in the ICU and four unstable patients. Everything went well, the usual morning care was rendered, vital signs were all manageable, NGT feeding were ongoing until one of the patients had seizure attacks--a total of 4 episodes, longest was 9 minutes. After the seizure, the same patient experienced oxygen desaturation. We notified the resident on duty (ROD) and we flushed 10cc of sterile H20 into his ET tube to liquefy tenacious secretions while ambu-bagging in-between. Thank heavens his 02 saturation went back to normal.

One of the senior nurses was so nice and generous to treat me for a pizza on my last day, as a sign of gratitude for all the help I've rendered to them. She called Pizza Hut at 12midnight). We ate at around 2 a.m. after the toxic moments have passed and everything is stable again.

Saan ka nakakita na ang senior nurse pa ang magti-treat sa isang hamak na nurse volunteer na tulad ko. To me, that is so rare and precious. Sa Marikina Valley - ICU ko lang na-experience ito. I'm so touched by her gesture. Hihintayin kang matapos mag-document/charting kahit graveyard ang shift nyo, pagod kayo pare-pareho, para lang sabay-sabay kayo uuwi kahit hindi naman pare-pareho ang inuuwian nyo or sasakyan nyo. Tapos magte-thank you sa iyo every after duty in a really sincere manner. I mean, most of nurse volunteers were taken for granted, being bullied, being abused of their skills/abilities, and so on and so forth.

Thank you, Ma'am Mikee, for showing such generosity to a volunteer nurse like me. Hope to work with you some time, maybe in the same hospital, or in another land.

ICU it is

My area of assignement is the intensive care unit (ICU). Good thing I'm with the 3 of my barkadas in our batch. At least may umaalalay sa isa't isa. I was expecting sa Ward ako i-assign kase I don't have past hospital experience. Anyways, yan ang binigay sa 'kin kaya wala na kong choice. Meron pala, kaso pag umatras ka sa special areas eh iisipin daw ng mg trainers na weak ka. So I'll just take it as a challenge. Ano bang skills to develop pag ICU nurse ka? Critical thinking and acting on it as quick as you can. Why? Kase ang mga patients sa ICU are usually 50/50 (as in 50% oxygen, 50% carbon dioxide). At pag may nag-"code" or yung may nag-hihingalo na patient at malapit na sila kay Bro, dapat mabilis kumilos at hindi dapat mataranta. Wag naman sana na baka magtago ako sa gilid pag dumating yung moment na ganyan. Dapat bibbo kid daw. Wag ipahalata na hindi ka confident or first-timer. Pero watch and learn muna ko next week. Kakabisaduhin ko na ang color ng mga IV bottles, catheters, suction tips, aalamin ang difference ng packaging ng sterile water for injection vs lidocaine kase magkamukha at magkakulay sila halos. aalamin ko ang bawat position ng mga emergency drugs or inotropics (a.k.a pampabuhay/pang-revive). Etc.