My Patient Who Has Staphylococcus Infection

My patient yesterday was very poorly and she was isolated in the side room as she contacted *Staphylococcus infection which I heard is widespread in the region right now. She is young, on her 40's but she is a smoker which doesn't really help when you get chest infection. Poor lady. After we removed her *endotracheal tube because her blood result from *ABG's was all in normal range she did not managed. She was very distressed and was about to arrest so ICU consultant decided to put one back again. Normally the minimum of registered nurses that will help during *intubation process is about 3 in case something bad will happen but because I was in the side room and other nurses are busy of what they are doing of I'm not sure what! We intubated the lady and I was the only staff nurse who is present, with a consultant and a 2nd year nursing student. Thankfully we managed well and nothing wrong happened.

*Staphylococcus is group of bacteria, familiarly known as Staph (pronounced "staff"), that can cause a multitude of diseases as a result of infection of various tissues of the body. Staph bacteria can cause illness not only directly by infection (such as in the skin), but also indirectly by producing toxins responsible for food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome. Staph-related illness can range from mild and requiring no treatment to severe and potentially fatal.

*ABG or arterial blood gas test measures the acidity pH and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood from an artery. This test is used to check how well your lungs are able to move oxygen into the blood and remove carbon dioxide from the blood.

*ABG or arterial blood gas test measures the acidity pH and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood from an artery. This test is used to check how well your lungs are able to move oxygen into the blood and remove carbon dioxide from the blood.

*Intubation is a procedure by which a tube is inserted through the mouth down into the trachea (the large airway from the mouth to the lungs).

picture from Google image

Back To Work

After five days of being off, I'm back to work now. I was on long day today and that was a very busy shift. I started with two patient, discharge one, admitted one and transferred one to the other side of the unit because I supposed to admit another patient. Good thing is, it was already time to go home when the patient arrived. What a very busy shift! What I want to do now is to put my feet up, but I can't because I am dropping entrecard :)

Overworked!

My night last night was pretty tough. My legs is shaking because of heavy workload. Instead of looking after 1 ICU (ventilated) patient or 2 HDU (high dependency) patient. I ended up looking after 1 ICU and 2 HDU patients, not to mention the other patients that needed a hand. What a nightmare! It is not safe at all!!! The reason is one nurse was sick and no health care asisstant. This is the result of NHS (National Health Service) crosscutting no staff on standby in case the unit will get busy!

My Plan Failed

This morning is the opening of the Olympic Games. My patient has a television and I was planning to watch it with her...naughty me :~) It was all set up and the countdown begins... and then one of my colleague called me and asked for help. So I said if she can wait for another 5 to 10 minutes because I want to look at the opening. But she can't because the Doctor's are waiting for us inside. What can I do? Nothing!

My Night Last Night

One down, one more night to do. When we we're in the old unit before I don't mind doing night shift but since we moved to a new unit everything changed. Less break and more work. We don't have a central station now, so if we have a ventilated and confused patient we need to stay at the bedside for the whole shift, unless we are on break. Last night I had an admission, a ventilated patient who was admitted of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar that made patient into a comatose condition. He wasn't too bad but he is not on any sedation because of his comatose status, so anytime he will wake up. Being his nurse I need to be on his bedside all the time. Poor me!

What's My Day Like

After 12.5 hours shift with 4 breaks, 2 x 15 minutes and 2 x 30 minutes, my shift has ended. Nothing much happened. I had 2 patients who is wardable so I was just waiting for a bed from the ward and since nobody is around knocking on the door to be admitted in ICU we are not pushing patient to be move today. So overall, a bit boring shift! But I'm still exhausted :(