Well, it pretty much qualified as a bad night. Ran most of the night, dammit.
There were a lot of things that didn't happen, though. No major traumas, and nobody died... although there were some close ones.
But there were lots and lots of patients. And my traumex rooms was occupied for a good part of the night with patients that shouldn't have been there...
I need to get over being pissed when the nurses put patients in there just because they have no place else to put them. After all, they have to find a different place for the next one that they have no place to put, don't they?
But when they decide to use a $1/4 million dollar xray room for a waiting room, I have to consider that they aren't doing their best thinking.
Just in case I haven't been over this before... about fifteen years ago, we built an x-ray room in the ED and equipped it with a machine that is almost perfect for doing x-rays on trauma patients... seriously injured people that can't be moved off of a spine board, for instance. It is also great for doing regular x-rays of injured and sick patients, simply because it's where it is.
I can do an obstructive series on a patient in that room in about seven minutes, and a chest x-ray in three, tops. When I have to take the patient over to the main radiology department, the obstructive series takes about 25 minutes, and the chest x-ray fifteen.
And, on top of that, if I have trouble with a patient in the traumex room, or need help moving, I can have someone in there almost immediately. In the department, I'm by myself. Last night, I had an immobile patient for an obstructive series... this requires moving the patient onto the x-ray table. After I realized that the patient couldn't move (nobody had told me this) and that the patient weighed 250+ pounds, I called for help... and waited for about ten minutes before deciding to go ahead and risk my back. With great difficulty, I moved the patient onto the table, shot the film and moved him back.
I hate being inefficient, and I especially hate it when it's caused by ignorance. What I do is part of what has to happen to get the patient treated and out of the door... to make a place for the next patient. When something slows me down, the flow of the patients that need my services slows down.
But I can't seem to get anyone to see this, especially on the nursing side...
Which is why I should just accept it and not get pissed about it.
But I'll get pissed anyway, next time... which will probably be tonight.
A night toward which I will not be looking forward.
I have to go in at 19:00 and I'll probably run all night. On the other hand, I'll be getting time-and-a-half... but my legs will still hurt.
And I'd better get to bed now. More tomorrow...