"The breach" indeed!

What a day. 15 hours today and 15 tomorrow. I'm only coming online whilst I eat my supper, which is much needed after such a day.

It's really my fault, in a sense. I started the morning with the physios, spoked, as it were. I thought that'd make for a quiet shift.

Idiot.

I joined up with my mentor soon after and helped look after an old dear with dementia and a broken, operated-on hip. The patient was, as it can be termed: "pleasantly confused". If you didn't mind telling the patient, once every three minutes, that they were in hospital: they were a ball.

Then lunch. Lunch included my interim interview, in which my mentor let me know my ability to provide basic care wasn't proceeding along as much as my knowledge and ability to fit into the team. I was annoyed/upset at first, but then I figured: a) I have over half my placement to work on it and b) ICU sets trends essential care. It'd be silly if I thought I was up to their standards already, especially since I haven't been in a ward all year.

So, onwards and upwards. From 2PM upwards, I had a new nurse to work with (who worked me like a dog) in the admission of a patient. This is something, as previously blogged, I haven't had a chance to do. I took a big part in this, and it was a busy one.

The scary part was when we were changing this patient's sheets, later, and turning the patient, too. I took charge of changing the sheets, cleaning up the patient, whilst two nurses held the patient, mid-roll. When rolling a patient, the ventilator generally starts to alarm as breathing is interrupted. Very quickly, however, we realised the patient was going blue. Not just blue. Grey! I shit you not, straight to grey. So the nurses reacted quickly, bagged them, insisted the patient wasn't going to let themselves down so easily, and brought him back from the breach. Amusingly, once the patient was sorted out, a Band 6/7 came in to shout at us for talking whilst moving a patient. We were not talking about going out and getting pissed, or reciting Hitler's speeches. We were just chatting. Yet, apparently, you have to be robots.

After that, I finished most of the paperwork, which was an experience in itself, and handed over to the night staff. Exhausted, the nurse I was working with told me I'd performed really well and let me go. Hopefully she's checked all that paperwork, because I was, rather adorably, muddling through. I feel good, though!