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You have to realize that there is no easing into a shift in the emergency department, especially the night shift. It’s kind of like the baseball bat of awakening being smashed across your face. You walk into pandemonium, jump in feet first and start frantically swimming against the currents of chaos.
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So what’s this routine you ask? For starters it’s leaving home early enough so I don’t have to face the frenzied feeling of being late. More importantly, it’s the drive into work that sets my mood and the thing that I like to do most is drink iced coffee and nibble on chocolate.
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Even in the dead of winter, it’ll be an iced coffee and I counteract the chill by blasting the heat. Most of the time it’s vanilla with half-and-half, but sometimes I’ll go for the peppermint or pumpkin spice flavoring.
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As for chocolate, I’ve found M&Ms to be the preferred choice of sweets. The pretzel ones are my favorite followed by caramel (do you say car-mel or kara-mel?) and third place goes to plain ol’ M&Ms. These small bits of candy provide the near perfect ratio of coffee to chocolate gustatory satisfaction.
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While this routine prepares me for what lies ahead, it in no way guarantees success. Case in point was my Sunday night shift. I have to believe that all of us, at one time or another, has had zero desire to be at our places of employment. I’m not talking about those little feelings that annoyingly peck at our longing to go home. But rather that deep rooted sense of “get me the hell out of this place, now!”
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Sunday night was the last of a five day stretch and despite my usual routine, I just didn’t want to be there. I don’t know why or how it developed (every once in a while it just happens) and I began to wonder if a lobotomy would be a more enjoyable way to spend my time. In the end I made it through the shift and I have to thank my colleague, Anthony, for offering to help me out by switching assignments.
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I have to say that switching assignments is not something I take lightly. Call me superstitious (most emergency nurses and paramedics are) but I believe that purposefully switching spots tempts fate and she somehow, and in some way, gets back at you.
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And yes, she did have a plan for me as I neared the end of my shift. With the stereotypical fifteen minutes to go, EMS brought a cardiac arrest through the doors. After taking the necessary two or three seconds to regroup from the blast of the “this can’t be happening” bomb, myself and three other nurses jumped into the fray.
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I work with some amazing and dedicated doctors, nurses and technicians and I’d like to give a shout out to Christina, John and Amber. The four of us took responsibility in our hands and stayed an extra hour past our off time to make sure the patient was properly taken care of.
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It was this notion of responsibility that churned inside my head as I drove home. I wondered, and this could easily turn into a larger discussion, if the ideal of responsibility is missing from our society. All too often I hear excuses for a lack of action or finger pointing to pass blame. Is this becoming the norm in our behavior? Are we only concerned about our own well being because we don’t want to be bothered with other issues?
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Despite my deep desire to go home, I knew there existed a bigger responsibility to help with the situation. This sense of ownership was also shared by my colleagues. We stayed without any expectation for reward, recognition or compensation. We did it, not only because it was our job, but because of a deeper sense to help someone in need. And it’s this intrinsic ideal that needs to be brought out of each and every one of us, so we can make this world a better place for all.
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I still believe that most of us want to be in this together, let’s not be too close together while we’re all in it.