Life goes on

Hi everyone. I am still here in good old Richmond. The picture above was taken on Virginia Beach last week. The weather was not very good, by the time we got to the state beach, which is the only place we could take our dog, the weather had broken and started to clear up. It was about a 2 hour drive and the state beach was nice. Virginia beach was very commercialized, lots of big hotels and a boardwalk. We were going to try tandem bicycles but the weather kind of killed that idea. A wet butt on a cool beach didn't sound very romantic.

My time at the hospital has keep me sane while I am alone here.My husband went back to Columbus on Sunday last week. The clients are mostly poor or the poor from the nursing homes in the area. A lot of them are in pretty poor shape (otherwise known as a hot mess) and no family or anyone to claim them. It makes code status a difficult subject. It's also hard to decide what all should be done or that really needs to be done...luckily I don't have to make those decisions. I care for all my patients the same. I got a compliment from one of the doctors today on how good my patient looked. She had just been admitted from the ER about 2 hours before. With the assistance of my PCT ,I was able to give her good mouth care and clean and lotion her dry skin. My PCT has taught me just the right combination of things to use on their skin to make them less dry. I also passed on the compliment to my boss and the PCT...give credit where credit is due. I listen to my PCT's and LPN's, especially if they have been there awhile, they know the place and the people better than I do. I know my nursing, a lot of times they know the ins and outs of the hospital and can keep me out of trouble. Not so much trouble I guess as keeping my foot out of my mouth.

I am trying to pick up more shifts but the census is pretty low this holiday week. It's really messing me up having a holidayin the middle of the week. This particular hospital doesn't recognize the 4th as a holiday. They only pay time and a half for Thanksgiving and Christmas...kinda weird.

I pray for a quite time for all you ER nurses, but I know the holiday will bring some interesting times for y'all. Keep the peace and first do no harm.