And What Is Your Profession?

I have discovered a new answer to this question
Seriously some nights I feel as if all I do is pass out pain medications like it is candy.
The other night I had two pts that had pain medications due q2h. Now they couldn’t have made my life simple…no instead, they had to be on separate schedules…so yes…I was passing pain medications every HOUR. It makes it very difficult to get anything done or focus on anything…when your pts call out on the dot every hour of the night.
I understand that you are in pain…but sometimes I catch myself wondering if you are really in as much pain as you say…I know it’s horrible…especially since I learned in school that pain is… “what the PATIENT says it is”…
But really, if I have given you 4-8 mg of morphine (and of course always the 8mg) q2h and 1-2 percocet (of course 2 tablets) q4h…and on top of that…since that isn’t working…how about 2-4 mg of dilaudid prn for break through pain…it is very surprising to me…that you are STILL alert and coherent enough to keep demanding your pain meds…especially since you asked for 10mg of ambient on top of all the pain meds…I mean really!!!???? How in the world are you NOT sleeping???!!!!!
And it is especially frustrating when I am trying to control your pain, and I see that you are beginning to experience side effects that include: falling asleep in the middle of having a conversation, seeing things that aren’t there, and saying things completely out of your mind…While these may all be a little entertaining…to me they are in actuality a sign that…guess what…I may need to hold off on the pain meds, the next time around…
And while it may be hard for your family members to understand…this does not mean I that I need to be belittled, yelled at or overhear a conversation including…”She is not a very good nurse…She does not care that you are in pain…she just doesn’t care about you at all!!!”…when I hear this…it makes me want to just turn around and walk back out the door and not give you any more pain meds or help with the pain!!!!
Believe me when I say that I do in fact care…I care so much that I am only trying to protect you as the patient…and I would rather keep you alive then have you die from overdosing!!!
Yes…one of the things I spend most of my time at work doing is passing pain medications…and next time you ask me what I do for a living…I swear I’m going to tell you “I’m a LEGAL DRUG DEALER”…now if only I got paid like one ;)