It’s a beautiful sunshine morning and my shift is over. Every day it is the same routine. I am wondering if there is something that could change this routine. I know that other people have the same problem too. Except, when you are working as a nurse, people are calling you day and night .This not the boring part, this is the routine part of your day and night, and the part where you cannot sleep at night. Your colleagues wants to give you the night shift; one of your patients has a problem and calls you; other patient doesn’t know what to do and calls you again; and that is how you are getting a bunch of phone calls and your night is ruined.
I have been reading a book written by a nurse, her story spans from the mid 1980’s to present day and it was stunning to see that even in another country and another time the nurses are plagues by the same problem we are to this day. It was both affirming and frustrating to see, but on the other hand it was nice to know that it wasn’t just my unit or this city that these problems keep cropping. The same fact about most facts that surprises me every time I read something is that as nurses, have been fighting with the same issues for over twenty years!
Most of my colleagues blame the doctors, patients and the other medical staff. I am not mad at anyone but myself. I like what I do, I am satisfied with my salary and I think that the patients are always on the first place. We need to provide the best care possible in a short period of time. I love the part when I work all day, my legs hurt and I come back home, lie on my bed exhausted. I just hate the part when people are calling me after work complaining with their own problems and I cannot say anything. One of my colleagues said to me that I should take care about myself. I agree with her. She said that if I don’t do that no one will.
I just want to say that we should take care of us, but in a different way. Most of our patients are taking care of themselves by drinking pills every day. Can you imagine taking a pill about anything? You have a headache? Take a pill! You cannot sleep? Take a pill! How that sounds? How about we don’t take a pill? Imagine how would be if we go and visit our doctor and instead of taking a prescription he does something entirely different, like telling us that we need a break and we have to go and have fun tonight or go and see a movie. I think that most of our doctors are actually afraid to say no. It’s easier for them to say yes and pass it along to the next person. There was a man who came in who had someone managed to get over 800 tablets of pain meds (two different kinds) in 2 months. I am talking about 800 tablets! That is insane.
We have to start explaining people that this is not normal and do something against this tablet mania. At least someone has to do it. Otherwise we will have a big problem in front of us and we aren’t going to be able to solve it.
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