I really never had an opinion before on torture. When all the water boarding controversy was in the media I knew about it but didn't really give it much thought. I guess it was because I didn't have any background information on it and didn't really expect it to happen to me anytime soon. I'd also never been around anyone that had been tortured or that had tortured anybody. Well......maybe that's a little white lie 'cause I do have some brothers. But since I started on wards I know without a doubt that I am against it. It's inhumane and it screws with your mind and by the time you've been tortured for 30 hours straight who knows if the information your spitting out is truth, lies or a dream. When you're on call on wards you take care of your regular patients and you take care of other doctor's patients and somewhere among the chaos you try to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. You expect to be overworked, overtired and at times overwrought by the challenging decisions you have to make. But one thing you don't expect is to be tortured....not by water, but by the pager. The nurses on the other end of the pager don't have a clue that you're in the bathroom, or eating or drifting off into desperately needed sleep, and they don't care. What they do care about is their patient, but that means if there are 40 different patients then there are 40 different nurses (they come and go over 8 to 12 hour shifts) that want orders, updates and an occasional pat on the back. Between their coming and going they sleep, eat and visit with their family. For the most part they arrive at their job refreshed and ready to start the day and sometimes forget that hour number 1 of their shift might be hour number 19 of mine. So to all you nurses out there reading my blog (like nurses would want to read my blog) here are some tips. Please read through all the recent and prn orders before you page me; it just might be that the last shift had the very same problem you are having and has already called me about it. Please get a current and accurate set of vital signs and know the patient's intake and output for the last 12 to 24 hours. Peruse the lab work and see if there is anything new or pertinent that I might need to know. Ask your co-workers if they have any questions for me about their patients so I can take care of several problems with only one page. And last but not least try to solve non-life threatening problems yourself and if you are a new nurse ask a seasoned nurse first what she would do and if she thinks your patient's problem is worth paging the doctor. Please remember that we are a team and for some unknown reason I was picked to quarterback and I am trying my best to win.....not just for us or notoriety or that next paycheck.....but for all the kids that are counting on me. I can't do that if I'm walking around like a drooling idiot who has only had a total of 1 hour of sleep in a 30 hour period.
Thanks for letting me vent....if only I had a bullhorn instead of a blog I might actually feel better.
Newbie Doc
