I have had a run of very busy days with depressing cases lately and it's really got me down right now. 
The last few shifts I've been running all day between new patients and critical patients that have been here several days. Forget lunch, I'm lucky to even get a drink of water on days like those. I work ER so being busy is expected and I enjoy it (that's why I'm here) but the last two shifts I've stayed 5 whole hours after my shift trying to get everything done - either paperwork or laceration repairs (which I love). My shifts are already 10-12 hours long usually so by the time I get home on days like that my whole body hurts. And I've had multiple critical patients where despite all my efforts, the efforts of the specialists, and the best treatments they end up crashing anyway because they're just too sick. My last one died on the table right before we could start surgery to save it. And I've had some people decide to euthanize when I could have saved their animal if they'd let me. The worst one of all is a dog that I diagnosed with a disease that was completely manageable but because the owner was going through a lot at home (mom dying, single mom with 3 kids, etc) I offered to keep her dog overnight so she had one less thing to worry about because the dog needed a bucket of medications and special feedings. Well, I went home that night like I was supposed to and the technician wasn't paying attention and let the dog out of her sight and the dog went into the food room and gorged herself on food to the point of making herself very, very sick. So sick that it was just too much for the owner so she euthanized her. It was a completely inexcusable mistake and I feel absolutely awful for the owner when I told her we would take care of her dog for her. I cried about it a lot when I found out what happened even though no part of that situation was my fault at all. And then with these late days lately I'm just exhausted...and I'm working overnight tonight (14 hours shift) and already had an owner yell at me that his dog was surely dying when there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I had tests to prove it.
I just needed to vent a little. I'm just exhausted because I care too much for my patients to watch them do poorly and working 16-18 hours shifts is just too tiring. Sometimes I need those cute puppies to snuggle with! Don't see a lot of those on ER though, which I guess is a good thing. One day at a time sometimes...
The last few shifts I've been running all day between new patients and critical patients that have been here several days. Forget lunch, I'm lucky to even get a drink of water on days like those. I work ER so being busy is expected and I enjoy it (that's why I'm here) but the last two shifts I've stayed 5 whole hours after my shift trying to get everything done - either paperwork or laceration repairs (which I love). My shifts are already 10-12 hours long usually so by the time I get home on days like that my whole body hurts. And I've had multiple critical patients where despite all my efforts, the efforts of the specialists, and the best treatments they end up crashing anyway because they're just too sick. My last one died on the table right before we could start surgery to save it. And I've had some people decide to euthanize when I could have saved their animal if they'd let me. The worst one of all is a dog that I diagnosed with a disease that was completely manageable but because the owner was going through a lot at home (mom dying, single mom with 3 kids, etc) I offered to keep her dog overnight so she had one less thing to worry about because the dog needed a bucket of medications and special feedings. Well, I went home that night like I was supposed to and the technician wasn't paying attention and let the dog out of her sight and the dog went into the food room and gorged herself on food to the point of making herself very, very sick. So sick that it was just too much for the owner so she euthanized her. It was a completely inexcusable mistake and I feel absolutely awful for the owner when I told her we would take care of her dog for her. I cried about it a lot when I found out what happened even though no part of that situation was my fault at all. And then with these late days lately I'm just exhausted...and I'm working overnight tonight (14 hours shift) and already had an owner yell at me that his dog was surely dying when there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I had tests to prove it. I just needed to vent a little. I'm just exhausted because I care too much for my patients to watch them do poorly and working 16-18 hours shifts is just too tiring. Sometimes I need those cute puppies to snuggle with! Don't see a lot of those on ER though, which I guess is a good thing. One day at a time sometimes...
