Calm to Crazy in Seconds

I worked today. We have been slow for summer time. The slowest I can ever remember for summer. This is normally a crazy time of year. I can remember, in past years, where we had to work mandatory extra shifts just to get by during the summer. Not this year - it has been weirdly quiet and we are actually leaving people home on-call each shift.

At the beginning of our shift to day we had about 3 patients. After awhile we were left with one laboring mom. There were 5 nurses at home - waiting to see if they would get called in.

A couple of hours pass...and boom - all of a sudden we have 10 patients. Ok - it happen in an hour or so...but geez, one patient to 10. I called nurses in and finally told my clinical coordinator that we were a little tight, so she came out and took over the desk so I could go take care of the two patients that did not have a nurse.

By the end of the night we were back down to 3 or 4 moms left to deliver.

It never ceases to amaze me how we go from nice and calm to crazy in just a short amount of time. We sure know how to be flexible and do what we need to do to care for our patients. But if someone could figure out how to make a labor and delivery unit more consistent instead of moments of calmness followed by sheer craziness... then I'll give you a huge star for the day :)

Debbie