A day in the life….

I’m sitting in O3, as Jeremie (my newest partner in crime) tries to figure out how best to take off a section of our patient’s cast. This is not the first time the old man has had a cast. In fact, he has had at least 2 different casts on his leg and one on his arm. We’re cutting of a portion of the cast on his leg because there is a severe infection that occurred after he had several pins removed. After about 20 minutes of arguing where exactly the infection is, Jeremie starts, the old man stops him, they argue some more and finally Jeremie really gets going. The saw is so old and doesn’t quite get all the way through the cast. Out come the scissors. We are going to work really hard today comments Jeremie. In my head I think yes you really are, I’m still in the watching stages and even if I weren’t, I’ve never in my life cut off a cast, that’s not something we even learn learn in the States.
So I take a seat and watch.
The nurses here work hard. They barely sit, and when they do, the fall asleep because they’re so tired.
Our day has consisted of 8 wounds, countless IV’s to watch and 10 different injections. It’s only 10:30am and I’ve only been working with Jeremie since 8:15am. He’s been working since 6am.
We’re on a 18 bed unit, 12 of which are filled. The hospital is relatively empty but there’s still lots of work to do.
We finally get the piece of the old man’s cast off that we want an start on his wound. It’s a rather pretty one, I can see the bone. He’s been in the hospital 37 weeks. I start the wound care while Jeremie puts away the saw. I clean and dress the whole wound all by myself and Jeremie is very proud of the work I’ve done.
We head off to the nurses station to grab some water and put our tools away.
Linda grabs me and we’re off to fix colostomies. Yay poop!
It only takes us about 45 minutes to get our little munchkin in A9 squared away with a new contraption. We both shoot up a silent prayer that it won’t leak like it has been for the past 3 weeks.
Back to the nurses station we go.
I’ve barely sat down to take a break when Jeremie sends me to get vital signs of our one day post operative patient on A11. He’s waiting on A5 to get out of surgery and doesn’t want to leave since anesthesiology will give report after the bring back A5.
Off I go. Taking vital signs will be the easiest thing I’ve done all day.
I’ve just started to head back to chart my findings when Joel grabs me to help feed the babies. There are two premies on unit P, and I of course don’t mind holding tiny hands to keep them from pulling the tubes out of their mouths while Joel gives them milk. One is particularly feisty. As soon as we think she’s gone to sleep, I let go of her little hands to reposition her and she reaches right up and starts pulling the tube out. I catch her just in time. This little girl is going to be trouble for her mom! She’s already figured out the “make them think you’re asleep” deal.
At 1pm I finally head to Linda’s to eat some lunch. I’m exhausted.
And that’s a day in the life of a nurse here… Well half a day…