Tick-tock, tick-tock. I don’t know about you but my entire day at work is ruled by the clock. Everything from the medication I give to the procedures my patients have to every ‘timed’ care event that we perform.

Everything in some way shape or form is on a ‘timer’.

Lately, my timing has been ‘off’. I can’t seem to get a leg up and stay ahead of the 8-ball. The other day I clamped an NG from wall suction after giving a med, and lets just say the tube remained clamped for the better part of my shift (thankfully it was only a couple of hours). I realized that looking up at the clock to see the time and calculating my next ‘event’ was just not cutting it. So here are 3 tips that I think are going to help me, and I thought I’d share them:

A Watch

Now, before you go poking fun. I’m not just talking about a standard time piece. I’m talking about a watch that has a timer, an alarm and possible a stop watch (if needed). I own one of the traditional ‘Ironman’ triathlon watches that has all the above. I’m starting to used the ‘timer’ more frequently, especially after the NG episode recently. Set your timer to whatever interval you need to remind you of your next ‘event’ (a timed med, unclamping a tube, your next blood sugar, etc.)

The IV Pump

Most IV pumps these days are quite advanced. I sometimes think they are a lil’ too much, but the advancement has definitely increased safety and decreased the likelihood of simple human error. This suggestion really doesn’t utilize those ‘advancements’. The next time you have a med to give, or a blood sugar to check (Q 1 hr. on Insulin gtts) set the volume of your infusion for one hour or whatever time you need. That way, in 1 hr., your IV pump will (annoyingly) alarm ‘low volume’ which will require your attention. You can reset the volume to the next desired interval to keep you on schedule.

A Smartphone

This last suggestion is only if you already own a smartphone. No need to go buying one just for this purpose. My iPhone and most smartphones have a pre-installed timer, alarm clock and stopwatch. If yours does not, there are million and one ‘apps’ you can download for free, or for a small fee. My iPhone is always on my hip now since I utilize it more for medication references as well as medication calculations (and just about everything else), so if I forget to wear my watch I utilize my phone. Heck, there are times when I use both my watch and my phone to help keep me ‘on time’.

Care to add any suggestions to this list? What do you use at work to keep you ‘on time’?

Another post over at Scrubs. I really gotta get in front of that 8-ball.

Three on-the-job time saving tips | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles

A high five to Shrtstormtrooper.

Priorities, seriously

So I got called into the Boss Man’s office this morning, because the floor wrote me up and he wanted to address the issue.
At this point, my feet hurt, I haven’t peed yet tonight, I didn’t get to eat anything, I have blood on my scrub pants…..

I have poop on my scrub pants…

I haven’t finished charting on that last arterial bleeder that came in….

and my coffee from 7pm is still sitting full on the counter next to my computer. It’s been a rough night.

 

I got written up because, in all the madness, I missed a skin tear on this patient. One skin tear, out of many. And actually, it wasn’t my patient to begin with,

New Nurse Insanity: The Adolescent Years | Priorities, seriously

Follow the link above to read the whole story. Be sure to leave a comment for her, let her know she’s not alone!

The video is a tad long, but well worth the information. It seems that research has shown money isn’t the motivation we thought it to be.

What motivates you?

So it’s official now. There was even a study done. Working longer hours at once or picking up extra hours of overtime is bad for your heart. I came across this study over at MedPage Today :Working Overtime May Hurt the Heart from MedPage Today and then also stumbled upon it over on Yahoo Health : 11 hour days are bad for the heart.

Some very interesting findings:

those working 11 to 12 hours per day had a 56 percent greater risk of coronary death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or angina than those who worked normal hours

OK. So try not to work a 12 hour day. Got it.

individuals who worked three to four hours of overtime per day had a 1.6-fold  increased risk of having an event compared with those who did not work overtime.

OK. So try not to pick up too much overtime. Got it.

….

….

Waaaaait a minute.

Who works 12 hour shifts and picks up overtime….?

We nurses are doomed.

Then I’d wake up for some of this:

  Whilst having that I’d then proceed to this:

Once I arrived I’d start a lot of this:

After a day full of that I’d return to this:

I’d arrive home with enough time to do this:

Get ready for the next day and then

Can I just tell you I am:

And I’m getting ready to do it again this week

All I can say is:

Talk again later.

Buh-bye

Room darkening panel??!!

When and where did this item crop up? Where was this when I was working straight night shift? Uh- where was this when I was flip-flopping from days and nights?

I have hope now.

On top of sticking the cardboard-like insulation into my windows, I have the option to use these new-fangled Room Darkening panels that are basically the frilly more eye-pleasing version of sticking towels over your windows to block out the sun. Something that is key to sleeping in the middle of the day when working the night shift.

Yes, yours truly would push-pin dark (preferably black in color) towels over his windows to give the false sense of ‘night’ when attempting mid-day sunshine sleep. Working nights, while the shift itself is a whole different animal, comes with the challenges of actually getting some rest and sleep when the rest of the world is awake, active, and living the life of all the normal human beings out there.

I still to this day applaud any and everyone who can do this shift as a living. You become so disconnected from society. I still don’t know how ya do it.

So here’s to better hope for me and my lack-there-of sleep during my rotating day-night shift with my new job in the coming months.

Oh by the way.. These were found at Wal-Mart last night.

Carpe Diem

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Sniffffff!

Blllfffffffssssssttttt! (That’s the sound you make blowing your nose if you didn’t know )

Excuse me? Are you sick? Do you have a cold? You don’t have a case of the FLU do you?!

Then what the HELL are you doing at work?! (I’m referencing this to my fellow nurses, but this applies to ANYONE!)

Why do we insist on going in and working when we are sick? I understand we have labeled ‘sick’ with many different levels of severity, but the bottom line is.. uuhh you’re sick.

Now I’m not talking about your typical hay-fever allergy-type runny-nose eye-watering annoyance. I mean sick. You have the body aches. You may or may not have a fever. You’re sneezing your head off. You’re cough so much your face stay a permanent shade of read and your chest and back start to hurt from all the coughing and sneezing.

This type of cold has you getting rid of all those ‘colorful’ secretions through your Kleenex. (Shades of green and yellow ring any bells?) Being truly sick and not playing hooky.

If this is you (and I used to as guilty). Then why in the world do you think going to work is a good idea?

Oh.. I see. You’ll feel guilty for ‘stiffing’ your co-workers with some added ‘work’. You hate being a burden to anyone. You know how it feels when you go to work and there is a call-off. So you hate being the person responsible. I get it.

But just how effective ARE you at work? How sharp is that fogged brain of yours? Is your medicine-head still floating? Oh, I forgot. Still sneezing and coughing in a ridiculous manner? How many times have you washed your hands in between each cough and sneeze? How many fomites have you infected with you germs? (gee I guess you want to spread the wealth?)

Wait, so you went to work to not ‘screw’ your co-workers with a burden…. buuuuut you’re now at work spreading your ‘love’ (germs) so that your co-workers can feel as great as you!

So when you DO get better, given incubation time, transmission type, immune system capabilities, and the simple game of odds, your co-worker will be the one sick! And then they will play it smart and actually call-off!

So who are you really helping here?

Are you still going to work when you’re sick? I don’t.

Carpe Diem

Energy

Effort

Result

We all want the maximum benefit for our efforts. We don’t want to waste our time.

Let me put it in simple terms.

You want to lose weight. You want to improve your overall fitness profile. We all know one of the keys to accomplishing that is by burning calories. So what do we do? We perform some sort of exercise that gives us the maximum work-to-benefit ratio. You can either jog a mile or bang your head against a wall. Both activities burn calories (yes, banging your head does burn calories). But it’s obvious which one yields the maximum work-to-benefit results. Banging your head Jogging.

So why do we (the public) have to take this concept and warp it into something else?

It’s safe to say, that if we worked harder, we would benefit more. Right? No. Instead of having a society where we search for THE-VERY-BEST maximum work-to-benefit  activities. We have the majority of society looking to cut as many corners as possible. Searching out the most convenient, quick and easy solutions to our ratio problem.

We have warped the concept into: How little can I do to reap the most benefits and rewards?

We all want the maximum benefit for our efforts. We don’t want to waste our time. And apparently we WANT more than we are willing to GIVE.

Sooner or later you have to work for everything. Work HARD and  work SMART.

I want to thank Craig Ballantyne from Turbulence Training who inspired this post with his blog post.

Carpe Diem

After you devise your said plan, be sure to follow through.

As any good baseball pitcher and coach can tell you, “It’s all in the follow through”.

Carpe Diem