Little things sent to try us

The vagaries of the rota meant that I was the only doctor on the ward today covering our 35 inpatients. I knew it was going to be hellishly busy before I arrived at work but sometimes, I think events conspire to make life even more difficult that it is already.

All of the following happened today.

- Our boiler broke down meaning I had to start the day with a cold shower.

- The hospital was having a bed crisis. This meant I had the Matron and the discharge planner hassling me to send patients home all day long. You’d think that they’d realise that

- The lifts to the ward broke down meaning two patients couldn’t go for important scans.

- Four patients decided to go outside together for a cigarette and stayed out for about an hour and a half in the morning. This meant they missed the phlebotomists (blood-taking team) which meant I had to take all the blood samples myself.

- There was a problem in the laboratory (I think a centrifuge broke or something) that meant that all today’s blood test results were delayed until half four in the afternoon.

- Two nurses phoned in sick meaning that we were (even more) understaffed nursing-wise so lots of things just didn’t get done.

- After doing a discharge letter and medication list for a patient, some clown lost it so I had to re-do it. This happened twice.

- My man with renal failure’s drip stopped working. He has hardly any accessible veins left and it took me 20 minutes to eventually get one into his foot. God knows what we’ll do when that one stops.

I’m usually a very calm person but when I eventually left work at 18:40, I have to admit I felt more than a little stressed out.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.