It is never the same for a nurse from day to day. Especially on a hospital ship in West Africa.
On the Ward we rotate shifts, a week on days, evenings and nights. This week I happen to be on days, which is 7am til 2pm. Nice because I end at just the time when a nap is best;) Anyway...
I'll tell you a little about my day today.
We have 4 wards and I was in "A" ward where all the new admissions are. When a patient comes for surgery they need to come the night before. Actually they come around 4pm and that is when we have them take a shower to get nice and clean. Then we tell them about their surgery with the help of our lovely translators. They have dinner and then we start their IV. I always feel bad with this because they seem to really yell and holler when we do this. I've made it a practice to pray before I "juke" them and it seems to calm them a little. But I'm still glad to be on the non-pointy end of the needle. We put up a "NPO" sign (nothing by mouth) above their beds and they settle in for the night.
So, with all of that said I had 4 patients awaiting surgery this morning when I arrived to the ward (coffee in hand). We have been doing a lot of hernia repairs and goiter removals with a smattering of other general surgery stuff. A few of my patients had random tumors to be removed (when is a tumor not random?). So, with the NPO signs up there was no breakfast to be served nor meds to pass. Just a surgical check list (remove underwear, empty bladder, sign consent, etc) to do and waiting to get a call from the OR to tell us who they will start with. The doctors rounded early and came to my patient with a small tumor on his left cheek. They came to the conclusion that the risk of severing a nerve was greater then the benefit and therefore, both doctor and patient were in agreement not to do the surgery. I then retrieved some bread/butter and tea for breakfast (the standard breakfast), he called his daughter to come and pick him up and away he went. I'm always sorry when it doesn't work out. They get this far, hours before their scheduled surgery, so close to hope and free medical care, and then it just doesn't work out. Although he got an experience to tell his friends (that place were they speak strange english and have it so cold;) and a free dinner (the translators and housekeepers make abundant rice and soup/sauce stuff for every patient to get a heaping plateful at lunch and dinner).
I send another patient to the OR to get his hernia repaired. And go to lunch. Oh, by the way, we had amazing cinnamon rolls at breakfast this morning. What a treat!
I get back from lunch and send another patient off. The doctors were deciding on what to do with one patient. He had his lower jaw worked on last month and a metal plate inserted to secure the bone as it healed. Well, he came back to the ship with pain and an infection so he needs to go back to OR to get that plate removed. The doctor who usually does those is not currently here and there's a possiblity of not having the surgery done today. So, after a little while with our current doctors in discussion (our surgical coordinator is amazing by the way) he does get to have surgery today after all.
This brings us to the end of my shift. All my patients are either in surgery or recovery. I may have to pop down later to visit and see how they are doing.
This shift was a little slow going and quiet but not for my coworkers in the next ward... they had a crazy busy day with crying babies and discharges and a lot of IV medications to give. I'm glad for them that we have gone back to the 8 hour shifts.
I managed to get back to my cabin to have a nap;) Now it's off to dinner and probably a nice walk on the dock if it's not raining.
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