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Saturday, November 8, 2014

Time Warp!

You've probably already read my vents about this semester's nursing shifts being ALL day shifts...meaning I need to wake up with the birds (or before the birds), at around 5 am. No beloved evening shifts for me this term.


And it has caught up with me.  It seems that my internal body clock has shifted.


Yesterday, I checked the bloodwork results on a few patients, and their potassium levels came back with numbers that mean I had to give them extra potassium, as per the sliding scale on the unit. I mentioned this to my buddy nurse, and she said we'd just give them the pills with their lunches.


I stared at her, not comprehending. Clearly, I must have looked like an idiot, but I thought they'd already had lunch. I'd seen the trays go by. I saw them eating.  I could have sworn that it was already mid afternoon.


I looked at my watch and it said 10:30. AM. (My first thought was that my watch must have stopped!)


I simply could not believe it was only 10h30 in the morning. But then I realized I'd had my breakfast at 5 am, when I woke up. I'd gone for break at 9h30 am, and eaten well...so that was technically my lunch, with the shifted time. So by 10h30, it felt like early mid afternoon, so clearly the patients had already had their lunches, right???  Those were just their breakfast trays I'd seen them eating.


We laughed when I re-oriented myself to the current time, and laughed some more. I guess this is a real welcome to the realities of nursing life. 


And yes, my patients got their potassium at the right time.

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