flexibility

i have a new recommendation as a nurse: don't be flexible. when you're flexible, you get screwed. my day yesterday sucked because i was flexible.

7:00 - 11:00 nurse to two straight forward patients. easy day ahead.

11:00 - 15:00 secretary extraordinaire, plus nurse to one of previous patients.

12:45 secretary/nurse who answered emergency light to find patient seizing. assisted the patient's real nurse with seizing patient. transfused platelets for this struggling nurse who was drowning and falling behind.

15:00 - 17:00 nurse to first patient, nurse to third patient of day (same one i found seizing earlier).

17:30 transfer seizing, spanish speaking only patient to different unit, after attending a care conference in which the medical team told the patient and family he was dying and there was nothing more they could do (patient is 35 years old and has terminal brain cancer with metastases all over. he had about 27 family members in the family room, of all ages, 2 of whom ended up in a fist fight the previous shift).

17:45 - 19:30 nurse to first patient/bitch to the rest of the nurses (as in assistant, not cranky). answered call lights. completed other nurses' end of the day tasks.

note to self: don't be flexible. my day would have been nice and smooth if i had just stuck with my original two patients. instead, i wore every hat possible in one twelve hour shift and found myself in just about every patient's room at least once during the day. by night time, i hardly knew my own name.