Work makes me cranky

At the end of a hard day my impulse is to blog about it.  But I try to hold off, wondering the rant will really make me feel better.  I already released a lot to Ben, so what’s the point of putting it here?  Feels like garnering pity.  Still, this is my journal.  I won’t go into detail, but it was yet another crazy busy day of
trying to treat too many patients in too short of a time
constant push push push to get people in our chairs
many catheters and fistulas busting
working with a doctor who is difficult
getting lost in the hospital system while trying to give meds or get patients beds or lunches
starting the day off short-staffed
being assigned to charge nurse when I really shouldn’t be charge yet
being on the phone 95% of the day
endless questions from the techs about when so and so will be picked up
wrestling with machine malfunctions

I come home from days like this feeling incredibly unappreciated and ready to quit.  We are still short-staffed with no end of in sight.  Too many hours with too many demands and too many promises broken.  Oh Rachel, we probably pushed you into the charge role too fast, let’s back off and have you gain more experience [then they assign me charge every time I’m at our big hospital]. Oh Rachel, you shouldn’t take care of isolation patients while you are pregnant [then I have to do a hepatitis B+ patient, among many others]. Oh Rachel, take it easy while you’re pregnant, be sure to eat well and drink a lot [then I’m the only RN, meaning I CAN’T leave the room to take a break for the whole shift].  Maternity leave is looking more and more like a glorious summer vacation.