Shift Report

As a new grad nurse shift reports were one of those nerve racking parts of the job, but over time like everything else it becomes routine. You have your nurses who expect you to tell them everything about the patient, even as far as doing their whole shift assessment. Then you have the veteran nurses who just like you to hit the abnormalities.

Last shift I was taking over for a nurse who just worked 16 hours and I told her hit the highlights and go home. Her report for the first patient was short and sweet as he was a fresh heart cath, then she started with the second patient saying he was a 55-year-old morbidly obese Hispanic male who was crossing the border when he ate a burrito and experienced an MI, but he's fine.

I looked up from my paper because what I just visualized a Chris Farley comedy moment.

She may have been tired but this was too good to let go. I look at her and said, you just told me that an overweight Mexican was crossing the border when he ate a burrito and had a heart attack. I let her think for a minute before she had the same visual I did and laughed.

Nurses have a warped sense of humor and this patient is fine, but sometimes you need to take care of your co-workers and if you can lighten the moment then do it.

Later I looked at the doctors H&P and saw that three days ago he was crossing the border with some friends in a truck and had eaten a burrito while waiting. He then started experiencing some chest pain, and after three days of this intermittent chest pain he decided it was a good idea to go the hospital.