#icu nursing

[bluevelvetea]

Are you even a nurse if none of your patients ever projectile vomited onto you?

#I'm not having a great night here #Neither is that poor old lady #Help please #ICU nursing #Nurblr

[andhumanslovedstories]

I work in float pool which means I don't have an assigned floor, I just go wherever in the hospital is short staffed that night, and it gives me an interesting perspective on the hospital that I don't think you get when you have a home unit and only occasionally work outside of it. Namely that almost every unit in the hospital is convinced that they have the most difficult unit, and the weird thing is that almost every unit is correct. And sometimes I wish I could convey respectfully to the occasional person every unit in the hospital is hard in a unique way but also it's not unique that your floor is hard, if that makes any sense.

#this is my respectful yet slightly bitchy way of saying that sometimes i think ED and ICU nurses think medsurg is easy

[populationpensive]

Working in an ICU...

...Means that you meet people on the worst day of their lives.

A colleague of mine said this over the weekend, which was a very rough weekend for me in so many ways. My patients were complex and very sick. The families were challenging. So. Incredibly. Challenging.

I see the worst things that can happen to people. Every. Day. I am able to push it out most of the time. Some times, there is a true shit storm of circumstances that emotionally bankrupts me. That was this weekend for me.

I think it is sometimes easy to forget how vulnerable patients and families are in the ICU. It's easy to forget it is the worst day of their lives. And when these families can't control the illness of their loved one, I think they look for literally anything they can control. Sometimes that results in verbal abuse about policies, staff, and treatment. It can be so hard to deal with this. The amount of patience it takes is astronomical.

I will freely admit that I am very detached. You almost HAVE to be to a certain extent to DO the job. But even the most detached people have a breaking point.

It makes me grateful for every family that simply thanks me for my time. Every colleague that "gets it". Every person willing to listen to me when I am going home from work.

So, to all you health care people that struggle with this as I do, we've got this. Some how, we've got it.

#health care #icu #critical care #pablr #pa-c #medblr #nurblr #physician assistant #physician associate #pa school #pa-s #pre-pa #md #do #medical school #nursing #nursing school #rn #bsn #pharmblr #pharmd

[plaguern]

Two weeks ago, I walked into a unit that was utilized as the main COVID ICU of my hospital. Myself and many other nurses spent all of 2020 and the majority 2021 in this space. At the time, it was only lit with artificial lights, was run down with old equipment, and felt more like a cave than an ICU.

The smell of fresh paint and the brightness of the unit were in stark contrast of the heaviness I felt in my chest. This particular area of the hospital had been all but abandoned after the surges were over, and now it was being repurposed to once again house critically ill patients.

Ignoring my internal conscience’s screams of, “Don’t take another step”, I walked a bit further into the unit. I should have listened to myself; I shouldn’t have taken that last step. Something caught my gaze and I froze, effectively thrown back into a place and time I would rather keep deep in my memories. Ventilator settings written in dry-erase marker on a glass ICU door.

The scent of the fresh paint and the bright, natural light merged together with the memories of the most difficult and painful experience I have ever experienced as an ICU nurse. The faces of every patient, each Code Blue, every family FaceTime that occurred before we intubated-with the intention of saying goodbye, because they knew they would more than likely not make it-flashed before my eyes in full technicolor.

I snapped back to reality and felt angry, an anger that was so overwhelming, breathing became difficult and hot tears fell freely. I was angry about the loss of precious life, the unsuccessful resuscitations, and the misinformation that spread like wildfire, that only lead to more death. Most of all-I was angry at the ventilator settings written on glass doors for eliciting such a vehement response out of me. I was caught off-guard and completely unprepared to face the trauma that imprinted itself upon me; so I turned and left the unit for (what I thought would be) the last time. I had no intention of ever going back.

I spent that entire night thinking about what I had seen that day and my reaction to it. I finally came to an agreement with myself. I would go back in there and erase the ventilator settings, but I needed to make it a calm and healing experience. My favorite chaplain was all-too agreeable to helping me through this. The next day, I entered the unit I had promised myself I would never step foot in again.

Since it had been quite a while since they were written, the ventilator settings would not wipe off the glass easily. It was almost as if they were taunting me and making me work to erase them. Once the first glass was wiped clean, I felt a wave of grief wash over me. I was no longer angry, I was saddened. Saddened by loss. Loss of so many lives, loss of friends that left our amazing profession, and loss of our way as a society. Guided by my emotions-I erased all the writing off of each door to each room. It was cathartic to erase every trace of grief and despair that I could see. I then threw away the paper towels that held the remnants of another time, and walked out of that space feeling lighter than I thought I would.

#Nurse #icu nurse #fuck covid #ptsdawareness #trauma

[yvmoveon]

Was charge nurse in NICU this weekend. We’re moving on up. 😌🫶🏾

#they actually feel like i’m capable #whew lawd bb #p #spilled thoughts #i’m finally getting confident in myself as a ICU nurse #almost 1.5 years after lawd !!! 😭🥲

[wastehound-voof]

There's a woman at work who is sick and chooses to wear a mask. Great. But every time right before she has to cough she pulls down the mask and coughs freely into the air in front of herself. WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU WEARING THE MASK?

#i truly want to know her reasoning #and she claims to be a nurse #her second job is a janitor in an icu

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

They make nurses a serious pay offer, so they call off the strikes. HTH.

Nurses believe ICU is already unsafe, so you can’t guilt them into not striking.

#uk politics #strikes #nurses strikes #ICU strikes #solidarity with the nurses

[albonium]

cross your fingers touch wood and more importantly vote left wing to give appropriate budget to your healthcare system and workers my mom is out of the coma she was extubated yesterday and she's doing relatively well

#i told the nurses if i could id do a cartwheel in the icu and my sister said do you want a bed next to mom 💀

[prick-love-for-arting]

"Don't worry, Aone, I've only got a few hours to go"

more hospital AU! I've mentioned nurse Aone, but also I think him and Futakuchi run into each other as one leaves and the other arrives most of the time. They have breakfast/dinner together. Sometimes Futakuchi works longer hours and Aone isn't always the biggest fan.

#art #haikyuu!! #aofuta #aone takanobu #futakuchi kenji #fan art #digital art #sketch #haikyuu art #hq rarepairs #hospital au #i forgot to ramble in the tags #how could i #anyway better late than never #so more AoFuta hospital au headcanons! #they take a while to actually get together and during the long mutual pining the other ngc catch on and mess with Futakuchi about it #but also its not like they wouldn't do the same to every other developing relationship in the group like no one is safe #again ICU nurse Aone he cares a lot about every single one of the patients he works with and is also the muscle on the unit

[bisexualalienss]

men on tiktok are so stupid. “women basically do jobs they do at home anyways like teaching, nursing, etc”. okay king if no women were nurses you’d die lmao

#like an icu nurse is not comparable to caring for a kid with the flu etc

[a-young-doctors-journey]

The worst part about the ICU is that you get to a point where you're on a first-name basis with family.

Frederick was at bedside every day, sitting beside his wife. When he wasn't, they were on speakerphone, her work of breathing worse each day. We explained to the family that she was really really sick, and they understood that the prognosis was poor.

But when it came time to decide about intubation, they couldn't bring themselves to withdraw care... so we intubated, knowing there was no way that she would ever come off the vent.

It was after 10pm when the nurse came over to us.

"Room 7 won't make it through the night. Maybe you should call family."

My senior looked at me, and asked, "You wanna call the husband?"

"Frederick? No."

"It's important to learn how to have these conversations, you know," he said, somewhat gently.

"I know. And I have them plenty. But you asked me if I want to call him and tell him his wife is dying, and I don't. But I can, if you want me to."

He nodded and dialed the number from our 'Next of Kin' list. "Mr. Smith, I wanted to..."

Not even half an hour later, the monitor by my computer started beeping furiously. Her blood pressure, which had been dangerously low already, tanked. I ran to Room 7 as nurses from surrounding rooms crowded into the little space, code cart already in place.

She had no pulse. The ICU team really did have an intuition for this sort of thing.

We went through the motions of the code, not for a moment believing that we would get her back. But we did. A short-lived miracle... but maybe it would give Frederick just enough time to come back.

The second time her heart stopped, my senior asked me to let the family know that we had done everything we could. I stepped outside, the sounds of the active code behind me, and explained that there was nothing to be done.

"So this is it?" he asked matter-of-factly.

I nodded. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Smith." He thanked me as I walked back into the room just in time to hear the pronouncement.

"Time of death: 10:39 PM."

Gloves came off. Supplies were discarded. The code cart was wheeled unceremoniously out of the room. One of the nurses placed a fresh sheet over the patient, tucking it gently around her.

As I headed back to my workstation, a heart-wrenching sob pierced the hallway. Frederick - a stoic, quiet man who had spent countless hours with wife, ever so hopeful - was sobbing into his knuckles.

I felt the tears well into my own eyes, swallowed hard, and looked up to see the surgery resident coming towards me, no doubt seeing my watery eyes but making no comment.

"Are you taking care of...?"

And the rest of the night went on.

#medicine #residency #personal #intern year #residency chronicles #nursing #doctor #med life #med student #doctor patient stories #icu #intensive care #nurse

[liverpool-enjoyer]

i see medical stuff and then i laugh cause i think "oh hey max is a yess isn't she?"

gdsjlfhdslj assuming you mean nurse then yes i am well on my way!!! im so glad you think of me hehehe >:)) makes sense tho im the future of healthcare (be afraid)

#my friends joke abt me doing malpractice all the time cause i accidentally sent a patient to the icu IN A SIMULATION #ty for the ask <3 #nursing school ramblings #zowa

[kakejiszkas]

.

#i got recognized in our department huddle this morning bc a super nice nurse from the icu emailed our pharmacy director #and commended me for fast turn around time / my attentiveness/ being friendly #every time i had to bring her her patient’s dialysate this weekend 🥹 #it really is so nice when people appreciate your efforts? #especially in a week that’s as crazy as this one has been / the way that other nurse spoke to me the other morning… #it’s so easy to feel rundown and overwhelmed especially in a healthcare setting #and it’s amazing what a kind word/ some encouragement will do for your mindset #like I wish I wasn’t that bitch that needed words of affirmation/encouragement but apparently I am 🙃🫡 #but yeah. that was a nice surprise this morning and it really does put a back in your step when ppl notice how hard you’re working #*put a pep back in your step #hannah rambles #(yes I moved this to a tags post it felt too Real as a text post dndndnd)

[the-cookie-of-doom]

So I haven't really written any fics since I started dating my ex, and now that we're broken up + school is over, and I'm recently obsessed with KP/KimChay, I'm about to go feral with pent-up writing urges

#cookie speaks #do i even REMEMBER how to write? #no #im functionally illiterate at this point #HOWEVER #I'm a nursing student and I work in a trauma ICU #and that means i have REALLY GOOD IDEAS how how to torture this lovely bbys #so I'm gonna take an hour to write all of the things #and worry about editing later #just gonna Make Words #yknow #for therapy

[simplyghosting]

My super power is not being able to understand sarcasm. Someone tries to use it on me and either I think they’re genuinely uninformed or impressed or if it’s explained to me that they were being mean/sarcastic then I think they’re a pathetic and lonely little bully who can’t find better things to do than keep a stick up their butt.

Win-win for me.

#ghost posts #doctor was rude to me and instead of realizing he was insulting me #I thought he genuinely didn’t know how things worked #my sister was ready to punch him though #all I did was ask a medication question for pain relief for my grandmother in the icu #the nurses apologized to me too #I left thinking I’m not angry I just think that guy is a total loser #I got my question answered in any case and that’s what I care about

[kenniegeex2]

And I’ll dream each night of some version of you. That I might not have had but did not lose.

#noah kahan #stick season #personal #selfie #nursing #icu #icu nurse #exhausted