I work on an orthopedics floor but because there is rarely enough ortho patients to merit a whole floor we are really a medical / surgical floor. One side of our floor has single rooms for isolation patients who either have a contagious infection or who are at special risk for infection. We also put patients who are detoxing in single rooms. We used to carry 5 patients each, those were the days. Now its usually 6 to start and last night it was 7.
I had a whole row of single rooms. One of my patients is on super infection lockdown. I think infection control is going a little overboard but they have us wearing the gown, the booties the face shield and a respirator. We keep the supplies just outside the door to the room so every time you go in you have to put all the stuff on and then take it all off on your way out. It doesn’t seem like much but when you’re in a rush it slows you down.
I was walking back from a bathroom break when lookout told me the call bell was going for super isolation man. I put on all the stuff quickly and went in but it looked like he was sleeping. As I pulled back the curtain all the way he woke up and I realized I was in the wrong room also the sleepy patient whose room I was in realized there was a spaceman in his room and totally wigged out! I got out of there as fast as I could. Ana and Lookout were at the desk barely keeping it together, they had moved the supplies down one room to see if I would notice. That’s what I get for going to the bathroom.
At the start of our shift Ana had pulled me aside and said it was time. She said they finally have enough support in surgical services and the leaders of each unit have all signed a letter to make public this week. She told me the plan is we all sign union cards and when we have a majority of the nurses on the cards we can have an election. It sounds like a lot of steps. She said no one from management ever sees the cards.
I was very nervous but I signed it.
I love working with the people I work with but the hospital keeps making it harder and harder to stay. Now that we are actually doing this thing I feel like I have to see it through. Also I need time to plan revenge on Ana and Lookout.
Posted by Nurse Lyssie on March 23, 2012 at 4:16 pm
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Posted by JENN JENN =) (@mzjennx) on March 29, 2012 at 1:52 am
aww I feel for you. working as a nurse is so hard we hardly get any breaks!!! I check all my patients out and hope everyone is ok before I finally go for my pee break… this is the only private moment I can get where I can just zone out and not think of ANYTHING. even if it means hiding out in the bathroom for 15 minutes I just sit here sometimes, lol.
BTW I am a nurse too and I stumbled on to your page while looking for nurse blogs so dont mind me just thought I say hello =)