#36 - The All Nighter

#36 - The all Nighter.

One of the amazing experiences of this job, is sensation of climbing into a fresh bed, after a 12 hour night shift.  At 9am this morning, I walked up the steps from the clinic to my unit to a nice warm bowl of Baked Beans (comfort food), kicked off my boots, and slunk under the covers my bed in a darkened room.  As I lay there reflecting on the last 12 hours, It dawned on me that I love this job.

For many nurses the thought of night shift is an intrusive annoyance that plagues their consciousness leading up to start time.  There is for many of us, a sense of dread, or impending doom, which encroaches on ones psyche.  But for a RAN you never know when a night shift is going to occur.
Up here when a patient has to be retrieved by medivac, a call is placed with QEMS or the oncall doctor, then we wait.....and wait....and wait.

I had a key community leader in the clinic last night.  830 an emergency call went out from the family blo em (his family), he has pain in his chest!
Now if we were anywhere else (other than remote Australia) the ambulance would come with highly trained paramedics, lights and sirens, and all the bells and whistles.  Here, you get Me, and I dont know where any one lives, and there are no street names and houses are not numbered!!!

It is culturally appropriate to phone the on call Health worker, and Pick them up from their home (few islanders drive or have cars), then once you've picked up your human "Navman" you then make your way to the patient's house. 
Last night the call came in at 830, but it was not until 850 (20 minutes later) that we arrived at the house!!!  The irony was that the people live 3 minutes walk from the health centre!!!!

So I do my assessment, I say "mmmm" with a concerned look on my face, a few times, and we transport "old mate" back to the clinic.

The bloke had a convincing story for having developed a blood clot in his lungs.  In the industry, we call this a Pulmonary Embolism (PE), and it can be fatal.   These folk have a culture of blame.  If someone dies whilst in my care, it is My fault, not the fact that their condition was going to kill them anyway.  They tend not to use the words dead or died, they say "Passed away", it's softer, and I like it.

Anyway.....I called the medical officer on call, and rattled off the symptoms.  Then that sweet, sweet sound that all isolated nurses want to here...." Yep, I agree with you Rob, It sounds like a PE.  I'll talk to QEMS and we'll come and get him"  I silently did the happy dance, took clexane orders (clexane is a drug to reduce blood clots), and commenced the paperwork for the medivac.  Then the waiting game started.  That was at 10pm.   The MO rang back at 1030 and tells me that they wont be able to come get him till daylight (no lights on the air strip) and my night shift was set.

By all accounts it was a breeze of a night.  But when Annie the other nurse cruised in this morning at 830, 12 hours after I had started this patient's care, she was a sight for sore eyes.

I slept like a log...thank God for air conditioning and a dark room, and no traffic.  But as usual, that hung over feeling lingers, and after Tea at Chris and Annie's tonight Im looking forward to my bed again.  I feel like I have lost a day somewhere, and I still didnt get to go and do what I wanted to on my day off!!

Oh well.  Im loving it, despite the challenges, and cant help but think I am be prepared for a change in career.  but we might keep that provocative suggestion under wraps for the time being.

Yawo!!