Had an odd, yet very good, shift this evening

When I got my assignment at 1500, I was a little concerned. One of my pts was going to cath, and not coming back. One was to be discharged ASAP, as the family was getting antsy. This would leave me with two spaces for admissions. Wheee!

So I got my two out of there as soon as I could. While I was trying to get ducks in a row for my DC, I get a text from monitor tech saying that one of my pt's leads was off. So I go into the room, and my pt is practically dancing out the door, tele box on the bed. I ask her what's up, and she said "The doctor said I can go home!" "Well that's all well and good, but we prefer if you tell the nurses before you start tearing off equipment." She laughed and apologized, and I went to go see if there was a discharge order. Sure enough, in the space it took me to go see her and get back to the station, there was a new order. Okeydokey, I thought. Why not just let another one go...

Did the DC in record time. I was down to one patient by 1630 or so. And my last patient was a young walky-talky who came in for ACS, and had been chest pain free since the morning. Pretty much just here for Lovenox to thin his blood so they could try to avoid another cath (he'd had one in July).

So I was the best damn nurse I could be to my one patient. I also helped 2 other nurses pass meds. Frankly, I was bored lol. I was told I'd be getting an admission, but by 1830, no one called to give report. The Charge and I did the math, and figured that I could go on committee and give my pt to one of the incoming RNs at 1900.

When on committee, you're supposed to do audits and paperwork. I ended up being more Resource-like (as I always do) because it helps the unit far more than all the paperwork in the world. I got to help orient one of our new traveling RNs, a nurse who'd been on the job since I was in kindergarten. I know it's hard getting used to a new hospital with a new system, but she seemed extra frazzled. I helped her out with the computers, drew some blood for her (she said she wasn't very good at it) and found her brain when it went missing. She gave me a hug and a peppermint candy when I found her brain lol. It was very cute.

When I finally went on dinner around 2015, I decided that today would be the day I EKG myself. I've had a weird arrhythmia for a couple years now. Hard to type out, but it's something like lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub......DUBlubdub, lub-dub. Everytime I have one of the weird beats, I imagine it looking like a PVC on an EKG. Not that I think/know that's what it is, but it's what it feels like if that makes any sense.

Alas, plain old normal sinus arrhythmia.

After all that effort to hook myself up (granted I only used 5 leads out of laziness) I hoped at least the mysterious rhythm would be identified. No such luck. Maybe I need to be hooked up for an hour or so, maybe overnight, to give my heart a chance to act up.

I even got the opportunity tonight to make the assignment for the unit at 1900 and 2300. I hope I did it okay, and no one was too mad. I think those assignments are easier than the 0700 one. At 0700, *everyone* leaves and you have to start fresh. At 1900 and 2300, only 2 people left each time, so you just sorta fill in the blanks. It was good experience, though, despite the battle with the copier that followed.

I can only hope for another good night tomorrow, day 5 out of 5 in a row. I can't wait for some days off!!!