From nurse preceptor to human crib

My preceptee A is doing so well. In about 2 weeks she is going to graduate from the nurse resident program and go on-shift. Tonight was my last day precepting her, and she is doing so well and functioning so independently that I was often bored. I as able to send her with TN down to the ED to do post-mortem care. And although TN is wonderful and sensitive and thoughtful, A still had to process afterward. She got a little teary, and said that having to "wrap the patient in plastic" was overwhelming. However, we talked a bit about the realities of the job (especially as we see some of the sickest children on the west coast), things that help (spiritual aspects, religion, having a fulfilling life outside of work), etc, and I think it was a good experience to have.

Anyway, since I had had such an uneventful day, I volunteered to stay over until 2300, for a nurse who had to come in late. Helped out around the unit until the first admission came. I won't go into specifics, but the patient was about 2 years old, hungry and mad. Grunted and screamed for an hour straight. For most of that hour, I was keeping watch and preventing him from crawling out of the crib (so that the nurse who was going to take him could chart, etc) until we could get a canopy crib. Then the bad news came that there were no vacant canopy cribs in the hospital. SS then had the good idea to take the crib from room U and swap out. At this point the docs decided that a little apple juice couldn't hurt the kid, and calm was instated. Ahhh, the wonders of a little apple juice on a hungry stomach. I held the cute toddler in my arms while his crib was removed and cleaned, then swapped out for the canopy crib from room U, which then had to be cleaned as well, until we were able to place juice-boy into it. JB was really quite content in my arms ... it may have been my comforting presence, the apple juice, or The Wiggle playing on the VCR (if I never see it again, it will be too soon). I was amazed at how much heat he generated in my lap. Then I had awful images of him peeing past his diaper (what with the AJ and being so relaxed) and blanket. So I had TB bring a plastic chux, thus increasing my discomfort due to the heat, but increasing my mental comfort in not being peed on. So ended my night: cuddled a cute toddler, and earned a few hours of double-time.