Thank you for the birthday wishes :) I had to work the night of my birthday, but the night before we went to this sushi place in Harker Heights called Shogun. One of the nurses I work with used to work there and highly recommended it. We were pretty impressed! It still doesn't compare to our FAVORITE place back home, but I'm happy to have found some GOOD sushi.

Work wasn't too bad. Our crazy director got fired earlier this week for unknown reasons, but all of us have a good idea as to why. The start of the shift was hectic; I had a patient whom was anxiously awaiting discharge. We were awaiting the doc to write the paperwork and prescriptions. Patient was supposed to be discharged at 1830 but obviously wasn't. It was 1945, I told the patient I kept checking but nothing was in the computer. Patient was getting really angry told me to take out their IV right now. I told them I would grab a piece a gauze and come back. I got the piece of gauze, but I wanted to check one more time to see if the paperwork and the ORDER were in the computer (can't discharge a patient unless the order is in there). Nothing. I started to walk back to the room and the patient was walking down the hall, then said I "lied" to them because I didn't come back to take out their IV. Then the patient threatened to "sue the hospital" because they has been "lied to" during their whole stay (huh?) We told them they could leave but they would be leaving AMA and would need to sign a form, but they refused to sign. One of the hospitalist doctors (who doesn't like me, but whatever) was nearby and since this was a hospitalist patient, we tried to see if this doctor could do anything and hasten the process. No discharge order, no prescriptions. Finally at 2008 the order popped into the computer and the prescriptions were tubed up to the unit. The patient's physician called me and was angry with me, saying that everything was in there an hour ago, blah blah blah..."you're creating mistrust between physicians, nurses and patients" blah blah blah...then told me to tell him what the time said on the order. I told him 2008. He basically said that wasn't possible, it wasn't his fault, etc. While I was listening to this physician's bickering, the charge nurse printed off the paperwork and gave the patient his instructions (which they didn't want to listen to, they just wanted to sign and GTFO) and their prescriptions. The physician then decided to call the RN who did the paperwork in the first place, then I never heard back from him ever again.

Turns out another nurse from A DIFFERENT FLOOR put in the paperwork and the order. I told my supervisor (and made sure the night supervisor knew about it, too) who then called this RN and said she shouldn't have done that. The doctor should have been the one to put everything in.

WTF. Then to top it off, the patient went home without their inhaler (they left in such a rush) which I could totally get in trouble for...but I called the patient later that evening and told them they could come pick it up. They told me they appreciated the call. Maybe now that the patient was home that eased up some of the tension.

And while all of this was going on I also had a patient going through acute ETOH intoxication with a BAC of 407 (with that level you should be in a coma!) with a VERY high BP (systolic >180, diastolic was >100!) so I was also trying to PRIORITIZE...but I guess I was "wrong." Whatever.

Why do I always have to get the patients and family members that are upset with something? A month ago I had family members who were very upset because the patient didn't have an MRI that day, even though the doctors said it wasn't medically necessary. Oh, and they were also pissed because one of the tele leads was off when they walked in (they pop off all of the time!) They were telling me this is all my fault, etc...I literally just got report then went to see my other patient because they were DESATING to the 70's...again, I was prioritizing. I didn't tell them why I was in another room, I just said I was in another room...and the family member, "a fellow nurse", had the nerve to say to me, "I don't care if the patient next door was DYING, this is unacceptable" - WTF!!! Family members were yelling at me/the charge/the doctor in the hallway and all of this bickering and shit went on for FOUR HOURS....finally they apologized, but really. WHY ME???

Last night hubs and I were in the mood for Italian, so we went to Giovanni's in Copperas Cove. Too bad they were PACKED, so we went down the street to Seoul Garden for some Korean instead lol. Tomorrow we're planning on going to Waco to go to the zoo lol...just for something to do and to get out of here for a bit! Plus there is a Quaker Steak and I'm dying to have some buckeye BBQ ribs and supercharged wings :)