NYC Saga: 2

Greetings folks!

Well a lot have things have transpired and changed since my last post!

A.) Renewing at the same facility but A DIFFERENT UNIT (I will explain)

B.) End of my 2nd contract

C.) Hell on earth

I have renewed my contract on a burns unit! Yep, thats right folks. What do I know about burns? Guess I will be soon to find out! But then again, I had never worked in a cardiothroasic ICU before either. What I have discovered about ICU nursing is: at its foundation, its all the same! You just have to pick up and learn on the specific details of each unit. YES, each unit! Not condition! The books say the research based treatments, then there are the right treatments, then there are unit specific treatments. One of the complexities of travel nursing. ANYWAY...

Staying in the same apartment, its not the fanciest or the most luxurious however, when I walk out of my front door its awesome! AND I think I will be on the Halloween parade route (or just off of it). Didn't want to bother with moving, I have already started accumulating my signature piles of paper....its free for me so why not?

This new contract will be through Jan 15, hopefully I will be out of town before the brutal winter starts to come full swing out here. It seems so miserable...I am a Houstonian, we don't have REAL snow. We shut it DOWN for frost! So this burn unit is 40 beds, 20 ICU and 20 step down. All of the nurses have to change into hospital provided scrubs and you have to wear hats and shoe covers during your shift. Its OR-ish except people are burned up. They say there are chances I may be floated to the step down unit, but after working that shift in cardiac step down...i don't care. Patients require less attention and you just answer call lights...

So last night was my the last night working on the current unit (well I made it my last night). It was probably one of the worst nights of my career. I was tripled with three time bombs and one after another they went off! It was complete mayhem! Not to mention I was screwed over by the charge nurse and silly manager. So at the beginning of the shift I was being pulled in the room by my confused patient who needed frequent reorienting. Then the vented patient needed attention because of the needy family member who was present. While tending to their needs the resident runs up to me asking me why my other patient's blood pressure was above the parameters. I simply replied "I have them the meds, now what do you want me to do?" I was HOT! Two of my patients were on vaso active drips which I was trying to manage along with a vent (the 3rd). So after I got the one patient's blood pressure down to the parameters (they had a dissecting aneurysm) it was time to draw blood. Then I was confronted by the charge nurse stating the person I was covering for lunch would also be tripled meaning I would have to cover 6 patients!!!! And that other nurse was not the strongest of nurses at ALL and to be truthfully honest, didn't really trust them even clicking my vitals and doing I and O's. I told her that was dangerous and instead of me risking my license I would rather not take a break and if she didn't like it she could run back and tell that to the manager...Yeah, I was pissed so the mouth piece got a little loose! LMAO! So I went in the tend to my vented patient and right before my eyes they started having a freaking seizure! Ok folks, I am a CARDIAC nurse meaning neuro really isn't my strong  point...so shit I took it back to the ABC's and 123's of basic nursing and held down their arms so they wouldn't injure themselves (or in their case EXTUBATE themselves). So I am watching this patient while they go through this episode because i knew if neuro was coming, which they later did, that I was going to be grilled on what EXACTLY happened detail by detail. Next thing I know this dizzy ass manager come up behind me "OMG THEY ARE HAVING A SEIZURE!" At this point in time my cool went out the window... I was thinking, this asshole...you are a representative of this unit clinically how in the heck are you going to sit there and panic and proclaim the obvious! Why DONT YOU JUMP ON A LEG AND HELP ME prevent this patient from being injured!? Didn't say that! But I did say "no I don't want your help, I need help from someone who is calm and has it together." YEP you need not enter my patients room if you are the following: incompetent, panicky, yelling, or disrespectful of myself or the patient. Oh you know this "manager" did not like this at ALL. They started saying something but to drive the knife and twist it...it totally ignored them. They would live to eat those words a little later in the night, but let me finish telling the story...So we stabilized the patient had them good to go and moved on. ANOTHER patient came in and the "manager" admitted them and it was so funny watching them run around panicked about just 1 patient! I don't understand nurses like that, while you are wasting energy running around looking stupid, you could be focusing your energy on getting things done and prioritizing. They were so frantic about getting another IV in this patient, so guess who was sitting there dead center, ME. And yes i had three patients and I still found time to start an IV on their patient! Just a weak nurse disguised in a white lab coat!!! In the mean time, my confused lady tries to get out of bed! It was such a hot mess and I will never ever willingly work in that place again! But here is the cherry on top: out of all of that chaos, I was able to wean one of my patients OFF of their presser and cut down nearly 50% on the other one AND the seizure patient was resting comfortably! Not to mention this was the 2nd night straight I went without a lunch! I didn't have a lunch NOT because I didn't have my stuff together! But because of lazy ass charge nurses who put people in impossible situations! I ALWAYSSSSSSS have my stuff together unless a patient has a change in condition or in case of an emergency, then YES, a lunch has to wait. On top of all this crap, I have been basically taking care of the same patient for 3 dang months! So exhausting! Trached, Pegged, SECRETIONS SECRETIONS SECRETIONS!  My message to the charge nurses and managers of that unit: No weapon formed against me shall prosper!!! No bad assignments, no bad management, no people who serve for nefarious reasons!

I'll admit it, when presented with certain situations over an extended period of time, I will start to complain or have an attitude. BUT I am human! Bull is BULL, no matter how beautifully you stack it or arrange it. What is fair is fair! This place was like working for HUSTLERS, LMAO! Phil was right from the beginning! They just had the wool drawn over my eyes! Its over now, thank goodness. On to my next adventure on burns. I can say this however, I learned about myself...my new thresholds, knowledge, and ability to take care of myself independently as a nurse. That place isn't worth mentioning again, good luck to them and their staffing.

Mom (marylin) told me there would be places like this.....Good talking to you today! You helped me grow into the nurse I am today and definitely worth mentioning in my blog!

BS RN