Shift 68

When I first got in, things weren't busy but it was slow either.  Our fast track area hadn't been opened yet.  Usually, it opens at 11am, but if its slow enough, they keep it closed and have the extra nurse and either the PA (physician's assistant) or NP (nurse practitioner) stay in the back.  It did pick up a little bit and they opened up the fast track area.  But after that point, there was never a time where all the rooms were filled.  After shift change it really slowed down.  I never had more than 2 patients at a time, and I had 4 rooms I was assigned to.  There was a lot of sitting around.  I even completed 4 out of 6 online courses that I needed to complete that are due yearly. It was definitely a nice change.  Too bad we were short a nurse, because I surely would have went home at like 10pm and even though that means less money, I am never opposed to going home early because going home early means getting to bed at reasonable hour and getting up at a reasonable hour as well.  At any rate, it was unusually slow, thats for sure.  Even the fire rescues were slow......I think we had 3 or 4 my whole shift.  When I left, there was one patient in the ER and there was a fire rescue that just walked in the door with patient #2.  There was one more rescue calling in on the way, but that was it.  Two patients and one on the way.  In the whole ER.  Slow. (and those fire rescues when I was leaving weren't counted in the 3 or 4 from the entire shift, since I was technically clocked out, but still, a total of 5 or 6 is not much in a 12 hour time span).

It made the time go by slowly, but I do enjoy a slow shift like this every now and then.  It was nice.

Obviously, there was nothing interesting to report this shift.  I did hear the day before I missed a trauma (my day off).  Apparently, someone was stabbed, but the fire rescue didn't think it was that deep or serious, and brought them to my hospital.  After stitching up the wound, inside and outside, the bleeding could not be controlled, so fire rescue was called to take the patient to a trauma hospital.  Crazy.  I haven't witnessed this yet, but every once in a while, things like this happen.

Well, thats all for now.  Until Saturday......