My fight song

Well I had my first days on my own. And I survived and I didn't cause harm to any one.

Day one I was with another traveler that started with me. It helped that we were both a little lost. I did feel bad because I had the easier assignment.  I had all COVID positive patients and they were decently healthy otherwise.

I start the day by going into the nursing administration office to get my assignment. Then I get my PPE (personal protective equipment) for the day. This hospital is blessed to have enough PPE for every employee. I get a new N95 mask every day and new surgical mask. The only thing that I reuse is the jumpsuit cover thing and the face shield. I really should take a picture to show you what I am talking about. But it's weird to ask them to take a picture of me. Anyways, I put on all my gear and go to the unit I am assigned to.

Day one I am assigned to a make shift unit that they opened for COVID. It used to be a sleep study/wound care unit. This unit has nothing. I am running my IV meds without a pump, and by pump I mean the machine that infuses the medication over the correct amount of time. It's so hard for me to explain to my non nursing people reading this. All the supplies are as organized as they can be but just not as organized as I am used to. They receive donations, thank goodness, but the gloves are all different and the medications don't always scan. It is just pandemic nursing. Again, it's hard to explain. Day one goes pretty well. I have one kind of rude man that just wants to get out of the hospital and is receiving mixed messages from all his doctors. I forgot that grown ups can be so rude and confrontational. I have no control over whether people are discharged or not but patients love to take out their frustrations on nurses. Also, these doctors are SO busy. And don't have time to sit and chat with their patients. It is so different from Children's Mercy. But I am remembering that this is adult nursing. Doctors don't seem to spend the time in the patients room or if the plans change, the doctor doesn't go update the patient. See, I went to check on this man and he was asking about his discharge paperwork and I told him he wasn't going to be leaving today and he got mad because the doctor had told him he would discharge him. But that was before the doctor spoke to me and I told him that the patients other doctors were not okay with him going home. So I am the person that relays the bad news and I am the person that gets yelled out.  This isn't just a COVID thing.. I was in this situation all the time when I did adult nursing. I feel like I am rambling but this is a reason I hate adult nursing. Back to COVID nursing. My patients are all on oxygen, out of breath when that get up to go to the bathroom and coughing. I can't walk them in the halls because they cant leave their rooms. They can't have any visitors. I ask them if they need anything and they say well their is nothing you can get me and they aren't wrong. I can get them water, maybe, on day one this unit didn't have water or ice!! The rooms are hot and it doesn't seem like the AC is working.  The patients with COVID can't have fans in their rooms because it puts the staff at risk for spreading all those germs around in the air. I feel like I could type for ever and ever about my day.

Day 2 I was assigned to the Telemetry Unit. I loved that my patient are on monitors that I can see outside their rooms. See, I am used to being able to see a patients heart rate and oxygen saturation if it is a concern. And oxygen is a big deal with COVID patients. The day before I had patients on oxygen that was being adjusted but I wasn't able to see what was happening or what their levels were because they weren't on continuous monitoring. It is just way different from my comfort. Their tele unit is like their step down unit so their patients are very sick. When we were getting report in the morning we found out there was a patient that had just passed away. Her body was still in the room in the bed for a few hours that morning. It was so weird walking by that room knowing someone was dead in there. It is a crazy time. This unit is also disorganized. I asked if it was always like this and they said no, it was just pandemic nursing. Everyone was doing the best they could. I feel so bad for these nurses. They have told me stories about how they had to take care of 6 patients on their own.  I heard that nurses in the ICU were taking care of 4 patients at once. I heard about a nurse being on a make shift unit all by herself with a care assistant and 10 patients. I can not imagine what these nurses have gone through. They have seen patient after patient pass away or crump and get sent to the ICU. The hospital starting playing Fight Song by Rachel Platten every time a person is discharged.  It honestly is kind of annoying but I have to remind myself that that is a person that survived, this  a person that is going home to see their family again. It is all just crazy and weird and overwhelming. And I'm not only learning a new charting system and how to contact doctors and which doctors have residents and who have texting capabilities and getting back into being comfortable with adults, which would all be a lot on its own, but I also am learning how to take care of a whole new disease process.

Lets just say for the first two days were a lot.

16 more shifts.