IT'S HOT!!!!!

Yep, it's summer in Arizona. I wasn't sure how bad it was going to be and I'm sure I haven't seen the worst of it yet...this past week the average temp was 112. I didn't mind much because I was at work...but we did have a couple of admissions from heat stroke. I had a guy who likes to keep his apartment at 85 degrees and actually called his maintenance guy because there was a draft coming from the fan in his bathroom(WHAT???). His rectal temp on admission was 104.8...nice...and he has 7 college degrees.Bright but not smart.
My boss is trying her hardest to get me to come on staff. I have a really hard time with that. I have been traveling for 7 years now and it would have to be a really exceptional place for me to decide to stay. I had a day last week where I got my cath patient back at 6pm. She had an ablation so she came to the floor with one arterial sheath and 5 venous sheaths in. She was oozing when she got to the floor, I was so thrilled. I called to get my CM (charge nurse) to come up and take a look at her. The CM's get report at about 6:30 so they are usually off the floor at that time. Well, they didn't come to help me. One of the internal med docs came to see the patient and was not happy about the amount of oozing so he called the cardiologist who said pull the sheaths. Ok, well, the patient has been on coumadin her INR was 2.6 and they had given her heparin during the procedure...not a good combo for pulling sheaths..plus it's the end of the shift and I don't pull sheaths.So, I call the CM again..it's now about 6:30. She finally gets there at about 7:20 and says oh it's not so bad...then she takes the dressing down....yeah, she realized then that she should have come up a long time ago to pull them...she pulled at 7:29. Yeah, I know what you are thinking "but, your shift ends at 7:30" yeah most days. I did end up getting out of there about 15 minutes later because the house sup came to help the CM hold pressure. I'm pretty sure they were there for a LONG time. So, that's just one example of why I would not jump at the chance to become staff.I don't feel I have the resources I need to provide the best care for my patients.
There are a couple of other hospitals close by that are in a different conglomerate...they are CHW hospitals. I have an orientation there through my agency the middle of July so, we will see what happens with that. The only time I have had a problem getting a contract here in Phoenix is in the summer and my contract ends the end of August so, I am not too worried.
As always, first do no harm.

Moved in and moved on

So, this is a picture that my husband took of our friends when we went on our boat trip. Jeannie has the hat on and Don is her husband (sitting behind her) and Shirley is sitting next to Jeannie. Jeannie and her husband went back to Napa to be with their daughter. It's been a little over a week and I still really miss them. It was nice having friends in town. We moved into our house officially one week ago, last night I got to sleep in my bed.. it was wonderful. When I came home from work I went out back and put my feet in the pool for a while. Then we sat on our double chaise lounge under the stars and talked. The temperature was about 75 or so it was very comfortable.
I had 8 days off (to move in)and then worked 4 in a row. I don't like working 4 in a row. I get really crabby on day 4...I had the same patients for almost the entire 4 days, which, in a perfect world would be great, but, I had the drug seeker who would follow me around in his wheelchair ( I still would like to know who gave him a wheelchair) and ask if it was time for his Dilaudid; I had the slightly confused old guy who cried and complained all day about how awful he felt, no matter what I did or what meds I gave him he felt awful, but he watched tv and ate ice cream at the same time; and the 300+ lb woman with a chest tube who had to be lifted from her air bed to the chair for all her meals. So, it was a very long 4 days.
Today I plan to catch up on some emails and to sit out by my pool. I am scheduled again tomorrow and the next day. Census dropped a little during Memorial day but, we have been full ever since. My boss is trying to get me to go core staff...she has had a traveler there for the last 3 years who is still there and there was another one that moved to a different floor this month who had been there for 2 years...so, I am not going to cave...there are plenty of travel jobs in this city...yes, I like this hospital but, not for a $10/hr pay cut.
Well, hope ya'll have a great day. Remember first do no harm.