Dreaming my dreams behind closed doors

2005-03-05 - 7:09 p.m.

Today, for some reason, was a really cruddy day. I don't know, I was just in a really down mood all day. I worked a full shift of overtime. It was slow today, but not as slow as it could've been, especially considering it was a Saturday. I worked with Miko and Frosty. There was one particularly bad incident that happened. But I was in a bad mood before it happened.

It was just after lunch. I was checking the stuff on the IV counter, there was a lot that had built up there, when Miko took an order for a stat tpa to the angio lab. I have very little practical experience with that. I mean, I know quite a bit about how it works and how it's supposed to be administered and all that, but when it comes to knowing what it actually looks like, I didn't have a clue. So when the tech asked me, I asked Miko. Miko went over and sort of yelled at the tech that this was stat and she should know what it looks like. This particular tech is Russian and doesn't have a particularly good handle on the English language, but I think I was able to explain that there should be a syringe to push and bag to drip. At any rate, she got the bag made and handed it out for me to check while she worked on the syringe. I checked it very carefully against the empty tpa vial she gave me. It seemed good to me. Miko came over to see how things were going. I told him that the bag was ready and we were waiting on the syringe. He asked how she was making the syringe if the vial was out there with us, and empty. I told him it must be a partial, see, this vial is dated from when it was opened. Oh man, Miko went ballistic. Turns out that tpa is only good for 8 hours after it's been reconstituted--this vial was dated February 28th, five days ago. I was clueless! If it had been up to me the patient would've gotten the old, completely ineffective stuff and probably died. Fuck. So after what seemed like an eternity of Miko stomping around swearing and fuming, the tech finally got the tpa remade from fresh vials and we got it up to the lab. I'm sure he will have cooled off by next time he sees me, but Miko was pretty pissed today.

And I haven't heard a thing from Magellan since he called to cancel on me last Wednesday. We were going to "do something" tomorrow. I assumed he was going to call me. Obviously he doesn't care enough to bother. So screw that.