Articles

It’s no secret that there’s a kind of turf war between paramedics and nurses. It’s not mature, nor is it productive, but no matter where you work it’s always there. Since the nurse’s love to give us medics such a hard time, I’m happy to take any opportunity to pay them back in kind. You’d be surprised how many opportunities...

  I work in the E.R at my local hospital and it was my night to answer phones at the nurse's desk. We get a lot of calls from people who live on the outskirts of town who don't want to drive all the way to the hospital if it's not a huge emergency. The phone rings and I answer...

  Being a nurse, I can remember quite a few patients who caused more than just a little trouble in the ER. There were always a few but one thing I noticed was, unfortunately, they all had substance abuse in common: Worst the First: A bride was dragged into the emergency room because she couldn't behave due to her level of intoxication....

Everyone loves a good medical horror story. The number one question most nurses are asked when it is discovered that they are a nurse: “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?” Every nurse has his or her favorite answer to this question, too. The longer you’ve been a nurse the more practice and better your anecdotes become. Without further...

So it was a pretty slow night in our local emergency room. Nothing too bad was coming through the doors, mostly walk-ins and only one or two ambulances. I had only done a few stitches and prescribed some medicine for strep. All in all, it was a pretty great night. Most of the staff, nurses, doctors, and even orderlies...

Night shifts at the Psych ward are often slow; however, recently we have had a recent set of weird behaviors in my unit which can only be described as bizarre and even bizarre might not be accurate.  It all started about a week ago when I heard a chicken sound coming from one of the patient’s rooms. Now, in mental health,...

Anyone who has had the unpleasant undergo of working the night shift knows the drastic lifestyle changes and drowning in waves of stress.  When you are going to work most people are going to sleep.  And once you get into a routine the work stress from the night shift can really leave you in a vexatious depression.  The invisible...

How does my day go? Well, I’m an early riser so I get up at 6, have my first coffee by 7, and I’m at work by 8. The thing is though, those are all during the night time. I sleep when the sun comes up. I’m not allergic to it, nor a vampire or anything. Someone needs to...

Working the night shift on a weekend is a total trip, and it never fails to surprise me when people turn up, having suddenly decided that 3:30 in the morning on a Saturday is the most appropriate time to seek medical treatment for an old injury. I like to think the best of people, but when you rock up to...

I hope no one makes this face as they read my report… Let me start at the beginning, as personnel we are required to have safety sessions where 90% of our patients attend at one time. Trouble is that everyone in my mental health ward has different active times, different triggers, and different calming techniques. I have a man who...