We were slammed today at work. Suh-lammed. Four years, and this was without contest the single busiest day I have ever worked.

We rocked it though. I was stuck over in the minor care area, which didn't even matter because there was no such thing as minor care for a large stretch of the day; it became an extension of main er (minus the top two priorty levels) because we simply needed the beds. And I actually found that I do enjoy the minor area; the problems are more simplistic, but the autonomy we get to exercise over there is worth more than I would have thought.

The downfall of this is that it's staffed with on PA, one RN, and me, with the charge nurse backing us up and the docs consulting where needed. It can get a bit stressful.

We kicked so much a** though. People should have been cranky as hell at us given the wait times, particularly when we finally got down to the lowest priorities, but we were still joking with the patients and families, they always got plenty of face time. Even if most of it was just with the peon of the department, their questions got answered and their concerns were addressed, and they were always kept up to speed on what they were waiting on and what could be expected to happen for them next.

We had one patient leave ama. One. On a day like today, that is huge, especially considering the large numbers of minor complaints. I did feel horrible for that one though; she was clearly in a lot much pain and I saw her walk out in tears. It felt like a failure that she didn't at least get her pain under control for that stretch. I tracked her chart down and gave her a ring when things settled enough that we could get her back and seen immediately. She had finagled into other arrangements and didn't actually come back, but even she was greatly appreciative, despite us not actually helping her.

It was just a great day all around-- one of those days where I'm completely exhausted now, but completely satisfied as well. How wonderful it is.