Day Shift VS. Night Shift!!! hahahahahahaha!!!

I've worked in hospitals long enough to know that know one ever seems to be really happy no matter what shift people work...I've worked night shift, day shift, evening shift, 12 hr days, 8 hr days, 16 hr days...I've worked all the shifts and still to this day, there always seems to be the never ending "bitching" between the workers which shift actually works harder!

Day shift people just run more I think, trying to chase down patients, trying to beat the food trays, physical therapy, occupation therapy, nurses, doctors what-have-ya...

Night shift has a smaller crew because they don't have to compete with other disciplines for patient care, but because they work nights, they get better compensation...

I worked nights and on the average for full-timers there's about a $200 per paycheck difference after taxes and whatever...I liked working nights because there wasn't so much confusion with the patients/caregivers...but I couldn't sleep during the day..

One thing I always try to do is set up the next shift so that they don't have too much to do...change outs, stocking carts and drugs, etc...

When I work days though, I don't often get time to do the extra stuff and I'm very lucky to get done only my work for that shift...

I usually try to remain in good spirits throughout the shift, whatever shift I'm working..be it nights or days...

I've been at this place of employment now for about 3 months and everything that was fine and good over the last 3 months has now turned upside down....


I'm on days here and I really enjoyed it up to this point, but over the last week, the oncoming crew has just had very low morale, bad attitudes and simply put.....they've been very bitchy towards everything...the day shift just can't seem to do anything right this past week.....

I'm so disappointed!!! I'm embarrassed and frankly, newly fed up!!!

I worked hard for 2 years to get through college to get a degree to get a state license to be a professional to work with a bunch of "babies!"


There's just no pleasing these people!!! Ordinarily, I would just shrug this all off and say "whatever", but for some reason, people I barely know, hate my guts!!
I feel that its unfair and sickening behavior and I would never treat another person the way I've been treated this week!

It just doesn't seem as though there's any forgiveness for my lack of knowledge when I "heaven forbid" make a mistake or forget to do something I should have done...

"Nurse Beaner!" calls me the other morning on the phone yelling at me because he can't oxygenate his patient because he doesn't have a "respirator"....I'm like, "WTF?" Later I find out he just needs a "flowmeter"...anyways, when I receive the call, I'm gowned and gloved in an isolation room on a whole other floor....I tell him I'll get there as soon as I can...My current patient is on a vent and is stating she can't breathe...to me, that takes precidence at the moment...so, I get her set up and she's feelin better, so I hightail it up to the other floor with the flowmeter only to be yelled at some more by "nurse beaner" that, "ITS A GOOD THINK THIS PATIENT WASN'T CODING!!"...I elevate my voice and tell him "I was in an isolation room gowned and gloved and I couldn't get away right then!"

Nurse Beaner procedes to tell me that his patient is only satting 60% on Oxygen....I look at this patient and see no oxygen on this patient...to which I retort, "He's not on oxygen!" The nurse throws his hands up in the air, to yell again, "THAT'S BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A FLOWMETER!" as if to tell me "duh"....I said, "You have an oxygen tank sitting right there!" it was sitting at the head of the bed....but still, the patient wasn't on oxygen...Nurse beaner says..."I just went and got that!"...okay I'm thinking... BUT YOU STILL HAVEN'T PUT HIM ON IT!!....I just wanted to yell that soo badly...obviously this nurse's frustrations were running high and I just happened to be the one he took it out on....(piss me off)....

He gets all frustrated and then he can't explain things in an appropriate manner or an appropriate tone for that matter...but hey, it was only 8 AM...WHY SHOULD ANYONE BE THINKING CLEARLY AT THAT TIME???? I give up...

I would never talk to someone the way he spoke to me that morning...that was just the beginning...the day just kept getting better!!!!!! one thing after another...

then, the night shifters come in....their attitudes were equally as bright as nurse beaner's.....I didn't know that new treatment cut off times were at 1800...and one came down for my floor at 1740....so, girl RT yells out loud in front of everyone..."NEW TREATMENT CUT OFF TIMES ARE AT 1800 RIGHT?? THIS ONE CAME DOWN AT 20 MINUTES TIL AND IT WASN'T DONE!!!"... So, because of my ignorance, I get made to look like a freakin fool....that was completely uncalled for!!! IMO, you shouldn't handle things like that, she should have looked on the board, seen that I had that area and then talked to ME!!! "hey, maybe you didn't know, but this treatment should have been done, just tellin ya so you'll know next time!" I would have pulled that person aside and said something like that...but nooooooooooo not her!!

I had a horrible day that day and I was still working literally on paperwork trying to get it done so I wouldn't have to leave it "undone"....I didn't get out of work that night until 1/2 hr after I was supposed to...

I'm not a tattler either...so I didn't say anything to anyone about that, but I've been given work to do on my shift that wasn't done on the night shift and I've happily done it, I've never been mean to anyone and I've never questioned anyone as to why things weren't done...sometimes you just can't get everything done in 12 hours...I understand that...but man...this is some shit!!

Today...a couple days later, the Dept Mgr comes in to talk to both shifts saying stuff about how we all need to get along and that we all need to help each other out instead of griping and complaining... Though I agree with what he said, he wasn't really speaking to the main people who were causing the problems...so I don't know if this speech meant anything to anyone other than me and I don't believe for a minute he understood how much their nasty attitudes really affected me given the fact that I never told him "my side" of the story or that I was even there enduring this "mental ass-whippin"....

My philosophy is just this...You applied for a job as a professional to be a Therapist and if what you're doing/not doing is not therapeutic, then you're in the wrong position...and when you treat someone so badly for whatever reason, it's time for you to take some time off and get yourself back into check...


1.) Be happy you have a skill that's transferrable
2.) Be happy you have a job
3.) Treat others with respect, no matter what
4.) Be professional at all times
5.) Be honest with yourself and others
6.) Do your best at all times, always give 100%
7.) Don't get involved in gossip
8.) Never be cruel
9.) When you need help, ask for it
10.) Always smile!!


A little effort goes a long way and sometimes I think people forget that...
We all work together to do the same things...help our patients and help each other and I don't understand why people would want to be so mean sometimes...

I like being happy no matter what I'm doing and I guess I just don't understand why people would want to be so miserable...

I want to be lazy sometimes too, but there's just no time to be lazy in the field I have chosen for myself...

ahhhhhhh, at least I'm home now!!!

sorry for the ranting!!
I'm going to go to bed now and I'm off tomorrow so I know I will be happy!!!

good night
kT

Praise, Exhaust, Defeat...all in one week!!!

This last week was a busy one for me, I left for Texas Sunday night after working 10 hours at work, I drove 12 hrs to be with my dad when he had his Left upper lobe removed on Tuesday. I arrived Monday morning exhausted from lack of sleep and I got about 4 hours of a nap, woke up and visited with my grandmother and my father. When my mother got home from work, we had dinner and basically just visited that whole night. Tuesday morning, dad had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am so my mother drove him up there and Grandma and I slept in to arrive at about 10 am. Dad was still in surgery when we arrived and mom hadn't heard anything up to that point. About 11 ish, the surgeon came out and informed us that he had came through it all okay and the worst part of the surgery was cutting through the old scar tissue from the last operation he had. He did mention that the mass was larger than they thought and it had been sent off to pathology. When the reports come back, they'll know more. Once they opened him up though, everything went smoothly. He was to stay in recovery for about an hour and then he would be transferred to ICU. I asked the surgeon how it went extubating him and the surgeon stated that he was extubated prior to leaving the O.R. Which was good news for me. I asked the surgeon what condition the other lung lobes were in and the surgeon stated that the other lobes were pretty beat up from smoking but he believed that dad would be able to come off the oxygen soon. I was astounded to hear 1.) that he was extubated without problems and 2.) that he would be able to come off the oxygen before he was released from the hospital.

Around 1:30 pm we were able to go see my dad in the ICU, when we arrived, he was "eating" lunch....woah....isn't that a bit too soon?? But he did manage to eat a full plate of food. Later we found out that he did get a bit nauseous from eating too soon. But at that point, there were no other complications.. The chest tube appeared to be draining adequately and he was putting out an acceptable amount of urine. His saturations were good on 3 lpm O2 and his HR and BP was stable.

After visiting with him for about an hour, we left the hospital and told him we would be back at the next visiting hour. We skipped the next one though as it was to begin at 5 pm and we came back at the 8 pm visit to find that dad's BP had gone down considerably and that the chest tube was at about 1200 cc's. His Hb was about 6 and they were wanting permission to transfuse 2 units of PRBC's. They ended up transfusing 3 units and sent down labs afterwards. His BP was stable again and his Hb was up. So we left around 11 pm to go home and get some rest.

The next day, he remained stable and they transferred him to the step-down unit. They gave him some ativan to help with the detox from the alcohol and by that evening, dad was pretty testy!

He wasn't happy with much. His pain levels though were controlled pretty well with the epidural and he was more aggravated by the constant flow of traffic by the nursing staff...RN's, CNA's, Pain Management Nurses, RT's etc...

He just wanted everyone to come in at the same time so that in between he could rest.

I showed him how to use the incentive spirometry correctly and he voiced that he thought that was a "game" useless in his recovery for lung re-expansion...I told him that he needed to hold his breath for 10 seconds and then cough afterwards...he said, "The respiratory therapist didn't tell me anything about needing to cough or hold my breath!" I told him otherwise and coached him through it. He wasn't a happy camper!!!

The next day brought even more ill temper from him, though he did comment that he got some rest the night before. I didn't get to spend too much time with him that day but some is better than none.

Grandma and I packed that night to leave on Thursday so I could be back to work yesterday (Friday). We drove straight through getting updates from mom throughout the whole trip.

In short, they did another scan and it showed that they didn't get all the cancer, but dad is just too weak to go through anymore, so they are keeping him in the hospital through the weekend and they will discuss it more early next week. Dad's been weaned off the oxygen all but 1/2 lpm during times of exertion.

I dropped Grandma off at her place and got her settled in, then I drove home.

I returned back to work yesterday, it was pretty busy, but I made it through. Then, all Hell broke loose today! I arrived to see that the board was being made out roughly so-so...then, everything was re-arranged all to hell...I ended up with nearly 50 points....some of them being in ICU!!! WTF???

Everyone else had around 25 - 38 points and I have nearly 50?? Shit!!!

I hightail it outta there to get started on what could be a disaster (for only me) and I run over to the ICU to see where to begin. I inform my other ICU partner that I have 2 other sections and we decided for me to start with the other sections and then run up there after I'm finished...I forget my phone & pager, so I have to run back to the office then back to the ICU to pick up my stuff, then to the elevators...

Another RT who had the ER today was being truly considerate by offering to help Thank GOD!! so we hurried up and knocked out the treatments on the 2 other floors, then I headed back to the unit...since I'm fairly new at this place, none of the ICU people really know me...so all of a sudden, while trying to help with ventilator changes, I become (invisible) ........the doc pushes my hand out of the way of the vent so that she could make the changes herself.........??? WTF??? Am I not an RT?? Do I look like I'm stupid?? Then she doesn't like what the patient is doing to the vent, so she decides that the problem must be with the HME...so the nurse offers to go get a new HME....WTF??? Am I not standing here??? oh brother......


so I'm like, whatever....and I went out to find my fellow RT and when I find him, I'm like...so since I'm not needed in that room, what can I do for you?? He says, "What?" so I told him how I was pushed aside during that whole nightmarish incident and he said, "oh yeah, we're staffed with the "know-it-alls" today!" I guess I should have been warned...I'm like well, didn't they say they wanted a gas?? He said, "yeah" I said, well, let them get it, they can run it and you and I can go get some breakfast............ LOL... cause by that time, I was starvin....

So, the day just kept getting worse...by that I mean, I just kept getting more ignored...I was in a patient's room and she's intubated on the vent and she's trying to talk to me, since in my previous job I was good at reading lips, I totally understood her when she said she had been sweating in bed all day and she wanted a bath...so I go to her nurse and tell her what her patient wants and she just freakin looks at me like I'm retarded.........

whatever, I'm just letting you know.....that was about 2:30 pm and the patient didn't get her bath until about 4:30 pm...I was pretty pissed off!!

Then, while giving report, I'm really stupid in that this place has set protocols for breathing treatments...while I was learning about the protocols I never got anything strange in orientation, so now, here's my first strange order....the patient was placed on bronchodilator protocol, so I went to evaluate the patient and found out through the family and the patient that she had been getting treatments at her home facility twice a day, at 9 am and 5 pm...well, we don't have a protocol like that, so I "add-libbed"....well, I find out in report tonight that we can't do that...if her nebs weren't listed in her "home med sheet" then we had to protocol her out by "our" standards...so now, the oncoming therapist is pretty much shaking her head...I apologized for my ignorance and she said it was alright, but its not alright with me...

I feel super defeated tonight.......

For the last 2.5 years I worked in a place where I had freedoms to do a great deal with my patients and here, I have no freedoms and I have to solely wait on doctor's orders be it for protocol or not...well, I disagree...not every patient needs treatments just because they're bedridden and they don't have available chest x-rays...

Here, because they're bed-ridden and don't have available chest x-rays they get to be 4 times daily breathing treatments...how about giving them incentive spirometers, teaching them how to effectively move around secretions should they have any and PRN treatments???

Am I just plain stupid??? I guess I must be!!

I know one thing, I'm exhausted!!!

Y'all have a great weekend...
kT