This is my evening shift floating at the Med-Surg COVID floor.
1500: Got shift report and briefly looked up all the patients (10) assigned to me.
1530: Made a quick round around the floor and updated the whiteboard in the patient rooms and introduced myself.
1610: Answered a few call lights and then started taking blood sugar.
1700: Dinner was served to all the rooms. Made sure patients were sitting up comfortably and everything was within reach.
1830: Charted and went for lunch.
1910: Started taking vital signs and charting.
2000: Went around the unit and helped nurses with patient needs. Also in between emptied foley bags and repositioned patients. Answered call lights, too.
2130: Measured blood sugar that’s due before the pm medications.
2230-2330: Did rounds one more time, made sure patient and the rooms were clean and everything addressed. Charted and handed in shift report for the next PCA.
This was my 8-hour shift and all the times noted are not exact but everything happened within those hours. I cannot add too much details as it can be a HIPAA violation. But I tried giving out an overall summary of my day. This was the busiest I have been and I think I prefer my ICU/CCU floor. I was so exhausted when I got back home. Most of the time I was up and about on my feet and I had to wear full PPE when entering the patient’s room so that was time-consuming and I was really hot in the gown.
And……. I decided to quit after this shift because after I started my semester and the syllabus was handed out, I realized that I needed my weekends to focus on school. My initial plan was to continue working and building my skills but it didn’t work out that way, unfortunately.
So, I am planning on trying to get into the accelerated program for my final semester just so I can finish in the summer of 2022 instead of fall 2022. I have to meet certain criteria like keeping my GPA above 3.5 and passing all my HESI exams with a score above 900. That means I really need to study my butt off and pass all the classes. So wish me luck! I will definitely keep you all updated 😀
The Studious Mom 