Chapter 24
“You’re getting a cardiac alert, Paula. Transfer Bed 7 up to stepdown. I have a bed for him,” Dave said to Paula about an hour into her shift.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. I already have three patients and just finished getting report. Now I have to move one out and get an admission?” Paula asked if someone could pack up the patient’s belongings and get him ready to go while she called report.
“No such luck,” Dave said apologetically. “Everyone has three patients already, and I have two.”
This had become the norm. No room to breathe. No one to help because everyone was slammed already. It’s not that they didn’t have enough nurses assigned. The schedule looked good yesterday, but the directors had been told to tighten up their numbers, so they destaffed a nurse. Makes a lot o
