Hello, goodbye!

Tomorrow Ali starts her gig as Alice in the Flagstaff Youth Theater production of Alice in Wonderland. Break a leg, kiddo!

I've been feeling a lot like that frazzled rabbit she chases when I'm at the hospital on Mondays and Tuesdays. For 6 hours each day I've had just ONE patient to help look after (along with the nurse, LVN, and nurse tech who are also assigned to that patient, plus the doctors, wound specialist, inhalation therapist, dietitian, volunteers, the list goes on...), but I still feel like I'm on the run and can't even stop to think the whole time.

Tuesday I had 2 patients to help look after for the first time. What did I do with those 6 hours?? I just tried to make a list:

> Wash or disinfect hands -- 20 times
> Put on/take off gloves -- 12 times
> Go in and out of patients' room -- 30 times
> Search the 5th floor for temp/blood pressure machine -- 4 times
> Take patients' vital signs -- 4 times
> Plug the temp/BP machine back into the wall out in the hallway -- 4 times
> Go to the supply room -- 10 times
> Find what I need in the supply room -- 8 times
> Talk to patients and their families -- 20 times
> Change beds -- 3 times
> Make sure Bed is down, Rails are up, Brakes are on, Call light is near -- 15 times
> Go to the patient pantry -- 5 times
> Do top-to-toe physical assessment of patients -- 2 times
> Go to the meds supply room -- 4 times
> Search 5th floor for a pulse Ox machine -- 4 times
> Look for Mrs Harmon -- 4 times
> Read and write in patient charts and make notes -- 12 times
> Hunt around the nurses station for patients' "big" charts -- 5 times
> Read big charts and make notes -- 2 times
> Go to the bathroom -- 0 times

I do hope it will all start to fall into place and make sense after a while, but for now it still feels like all I do is run around in circles, holding my head, madly searching for something and muttering "No time to stop! Hello! Goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"