Psych? Am I crazy?

So some exciting news from work. Well, first some unexciting news. I was helping a patient get out of a stretcher and I pinched a nerve or something in my left wrist. It didn't seem that big of a deal, but it was still sore several hours later so my charge nurse sent me to the ER to get it looked at. FOUR HOURS (and a few xrays) later I was sent home in a splint with a prescription for ice packs and lots of ibuprofen. So I've been wearing this splint at work for the past two days, mostly just to remind me not to lift anything, which is super annoying, although it did have the perk of getting me out of some poop cleaning, and I can't deny that was a win situation. But still. This morning I had to go to employee health to make sure all the paperwork was in order in case I have to file for workman's comp or something, but I'm not really expecting it to go that far. I'm off the next week for vacation, and I intend to be in 100% by the time we get back.

OK, now for the exciting news. Starting in mid-December I'm going to start orienting on the psych unit at the hospital. I'll keep working my current floor on weekends, and will pick up 12 or 16 hours a week learning psych. I'm pretty excited about it, it will be a very different and new slice of nursing to learn. And, considering that at this point I've had this job longer than any other job I've ever had (excepting my two years at Mega Video in high school), mixing things up a little is a good thing for a change junkie like me. The only thing is they don't wear scrubs on psych, meaning I'm going to have to go out and buy some new khakis and polos to wear. (I'm not wearing my regular clothes into the hospital. Hospitals are gross. Really. Tangent, but if you must bring your children in to visit someone, make sure they don't touch anything. Seriously.)

Last night I took care of this lady whose doctors didn't want her to eat or drink anything as they were afraid something was up with her pancreas and wanted to give it a little rest. She wasn't so much confused as just she could care less what the doctors wanted. I walked into her room and she was on the phone apparently talking to 411 saying "Can you connect me to the Hospital Cafeteria please?" Twice I came into her room and she had rummaged through the garbage can and found a paper cup and was drinking from it at the sink. GROSS!! Don't drink out of cups that have been in the garbage!! I thought she was going to try and leave when I took the second glass away from her, but luckily she decided it was time to go to sleep, so I dodged that bullet. I feel very sorry for the day nurse taking care of her today though, I'm sure she is busy being a handful at this very moment.