I admit, I've felt a little burned out lately. However, I have to say that the light of righteous indignation made me a better nurse yesterday. I was the admit/discharge nurse, and I was covering a nurse for his lunch break. While he was medicating a patient, I heard another of his patient's cry out. This poor 75 year old man was halfway off the ER stretcher, sheets bundled around his back, looking terribly uncomfortable. I found a friend, a tech, and we changed the sheets, resituated him, and took his vital signs again. Bad Nurse breezed in, noticed his patient, who'd been there for 4 hours was "suddenly" running a temp (last vitals being 3 hours prior) and rated his pain 10/10, and said, I'll put them in the chart. I said, tightly, with as much civility as I could muster, that I'd take care of it. Got an order for some tylenol and dilaudid and the poor old man was so much more comfortable. You know what? Nurses who can't handle 3 patients alone in the ER, and put a patient in that much discomfort, should be consigned to their patient's fate at that age. See how you like it, buster.
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