Physical Exam

Went to DLSMC for my physical exam. The total package cost me P650: anti-hbs, hbs-ag, ua, fecalysis, cxr, pregnancy test, cbc. The anti-HBS or hepa-B titer which I had 2 days ago cost me P581. Dang! Patience is a virtue. I should have waited for HR's text.

The hepa-B titer was supposed to be for PGH volunteer program. Perhaps it's not my destiny to be in PGH. How many attempts did I take to apply for that institution? staff nurse, APCN, EVRP--laging nauudlot, always something's coming up. I dunno. Maybe my first course (BA ES) in UP naming mahal is enough? I dunno.

Moving forward, I'm not excited about my upcoming nursing job. Or this is anxiety, maybe. God please help me cope with everyday stress at work. Please guide me and lend me your wisdom so I won't get incident report or something like it.

Note to self: take multivits and neurobion :)

Toxicity

I'm so thankful of my area that is 4A. Supportive at understanding ang staff sa 4A.

2 weeks pa lang ako sa Ward as a trainee (meaning, I still need mentoring and coaching) nito nahihirapan na ako. What more kung rookie staff na ako? Oh gosh! Please pray for me. Any area but the other side of 4A. You're asking why? Because "nangangagat" ang ibang staff dun, based on my experience last Tuesday.

The experience was pretty... pretty ugly! 2-10 shift ko that day. Tapos absent ang mga senior staff namin kaya nag-pull out ng 2 senior staff from 2 different floors. Yung isa mabait, mahinahon, maayos ang trato sa mga noobs like me, and maayos makipag-usap.

The other one is the EXACT opposite of all the traits I've stated above. Hell yeah!

Toxic begins at around 4p.m. Patient X is for thoracenthesis stat due to some fluids accumulated in her lungs. "Stat" means now which results from panic among young doctors and nurses (me and my supposed mentor) because we have to prepare the materials needed which are not readily available in our area. True enough, when the consultant (specialist doctor) does the procedure, kulang-kulang ang gamit nila kaya labas pasok ako sa room ng patient.

After the procedure, the specimen aspirated from the patients lungs is MISSING. That's the start of the crankiness of my "buddy." She's a smoker, by the way, kaya ganun. She scolded me hanapin ko daw kase patient ko yun dapat alam ko ano ginamit sa kanya etc.

I found the specimen vial in the yellow trash bin (yellow=infectious). She's the one who discarded it. Darn it.

Toxic relative: Now, the patient's daughter, who turns out to be a health worker, arrives and complains that the procedure was incorrectly done daw. She wasn't even there kaya natatawa lang ako nung umaangal sya sa kin na kesyo "mali ang tusok nyo."

Toxic patient: The husband calls the nurse's station to report that his wife has turned into paper white appearance. Sobrang pale nya. So the resident doctors arrive and checks her blood pressure (60/palpatory=hypotension) and made some orders: ECG (c/o me), CBG (c/o me), dopamine drip (c/o me), lab works (c/o med tech.). My buddy left me alone on these tasks. Good riddance, tinulungan ako ng co-trainee ko who has 8 months experience in the ICU. What a relief!

Aside from these tasks, may mga documentation pa yan, may 2 pa akong patients na aasikasuhin who need medications and monitoring. May charting pa. In fairness to my senior buddy, she did naman the charting of the toxic patient. Grabe, every hour may doctor's order pa.

Finally, that patient was ordered to be transferred to ICU (c/o me and my senior buddy).

After transferring the patient, akala ko uwian na. May 2 patients pa pala ako. I did a skin test with the newly admitted patient to test if he's allergic to the antibiotic that he needs. Tapos charting/documentation ulit.

Ayon, natapos din ang gabi, nakauwi ako ng intact ang sanity at license ko.

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.

PVZ

I've been so preoccupied with playing plants vs. zombies the past few days that's why I haven't been blogging. It's my only outlet after a hard day's "work" at 4A in the hospital. I survived 69 flags in endless mode and still trying to beat myself for that. Pag sinipag, I would try to cheat on lots of suns to get me through the 100 flags.

4A is the next most toxic floor in our hospital. What I mean by "toxic" is when there are so many patients with too many things to monitor plus irate relatives all to be handled by one nurse. Thank heavens there are relievers, nurse trainees, ward clerk, and nursing assistants who make a staff nurse's life easier.

Good day!

After long weeks of waiting, here at last is the text message from Delos Santos-STI Medical Center:

Now I'm ready for it! I'll say good bye to Plants vs. Zombies once duty starts (sacrifice). I won't be late or absent until I'm a regular employee (hehe! joke!). I will be good (even if others are not).

I need to thank God for this long-awaited opportunity. At long last, after 2 years of being a jobless nurse, here it is. I know that He directed me to be a part of this hospital because He knows that it is the best one for me (after so many failures in SLMC --2nd priority in Global, and failed in the 2nd exam in QC).