My back is so happy today!

natalie_ca

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
21,136
Purraise
223
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Usually when I get home from work I feel like a rag because I've been run off my feet, and my back is so sore that I have to gulp down Tylenol #3.

Today was my first evening as charge nurse on the ward I work on so my work was at the desk and involved a good combination of sitting, standing and walking and wasn't at all taxing on my back!

I am home and having a cup of tea and actually feel like a million bucks!!!
 

GoldyCat

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
15,759
Purraise
4,676
Location
Arizona
Glad to hear it. Is the charge nurse position permanent, or is it just going to be an occasional thing? for continued back health.
 

carolina

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
14,759
Purraise
215
Location
Corinth, TX
Good for you!!! Vibes for many more pain-free days going your way! Enjoy your tea!!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

natalie_ca

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
21,136
Purraise
223
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Glad to hear it. Is the charge nurse position permanent, or is it just going to be an occasional thing? for continued back health.
Just an occasional thing that we have to do as part of the job. We have 2 permanent charge nurses (Clinical Resource Nurses) on day and evening shifts Monday to Friday. When one of them is not there one of the other nurses fills in for that shift. Also, a nurse has to be in charge on nights, as well as days and evenings on the weekend.

We take turns depending on who is working on the shift(s) that need to be filled.

I'm at the desk yesterday, today and Saturday and Sunday. My next shifts worked whether I'm at the desk or not depends on if there is anyone else with the ability to be in charge.

The nice thing about being orientated to the desk is that it will make it easier on me when I do a double shift. I like to do a couple of double shifts per month, but our ward is generally so busy that being on the floor and looking after patients for 16 hours is very exhausting. When I get home I don't know what hurts more...my head, my feet or my back.

So depending on the day, usually a weekend, if I do a double I can request that one of the shifts be at the desk. And there will be times that I'm in charge on a day shift on the weekend and have the opportunity to do a double shift that evening and do it at the desk. Doing a double at the desk, or a double with one shift at the desk, is a so much better than doing a double on the floor looking after patients and running from one end of the hall to the other end.
 

sneakymom

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
910
Purraise
21
Pain free days are a good thing.

I have to admit- this is the one thing that REALLY scares me about becoming an RN. And I'm not exactly starting out as a "young" person, by the time I graduate I'm going to be pushing 45.

Do you have any tips (other than lifting correctly- I'm practicing that NOW when I lift stuff) so that I don't throw my back out in my first year of nursing (or worse yet doing it during clinicals?)

Cheryl
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

natalie_ca

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
21,136
Purraise
223
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Originally Posted by Sneakymom

Pain free days are a good thing.

I have to admit- this is the one thing that REALLY scares me about becoming an RN. And I'm not exactly starting out as a "young" person, by the time I graduate I'm going to be pushing 45.

Do you have any tips (other than lifting correctly- I'm practicing that NOW when I lift stuff) so that I don't throw my back out in my first year of nursing (or worse yet doing it during clinicals?)

Cheryl
Patients can generally do more for themselves than they let on, even when they first come back to the ward from the operating room.

I try and make my patients do as much as they can for themselves and I'll assist them with what they can't do.

For example, last Friday I picked up an evening shift on CVT. One of my patients rang and wanted use to give him a boost up in the bed because he had slid down and his head was too low from the top. The nurse that was with me grabbed the sheet under him and was getting ready to boost him up. I told her to wait a minute.

I asked him how he got into bed. He admitted he had done it himself and he had been high enough up at that time, but he's slid down. I asked him who was going to boost him up when he went home. He said "I will be." So with that, I uncovered him, he stood up and moved up higher in the bed and got himself back into bed all by himself. 2 nurses backs saved that time.

Tonight we have a patient that is very heavy care. A very sick lady, but even she can help herself when encouraged. One nurse and I were in a rush with other things and this lady needed a boost up. So we took the "easy" route and boosted her up. OMG! She was complete dead weight. It took us 2 attempts and all our strength to move her up in the bed.

The next time she called, I tipped the bed so it was slanted head down and feet up. Then I had her bend her knees and hold her that when I said "3" she needed to dig her heels into the bed and push with her legs to help us. That worked way better.

When we get someone back from the OR, if the are able to use their arms (IE: didn't have breast surgery or open chest surgery), we have the raise their arms and grab hold of the side railings above their head and help to use those along with their bent knees and feet to help boost themselves in the bed.

Another tip is to get them up and have them stand at the side of the bed and march their legs up and down just to increase circulation. Then have them move a few steps high up toward the head. They need to be sitting on top of where the bed bends at the head. Then they lean their upper body sideways towards the head of the bed and lift first one leg and then the other into the bed.

I rarely "boost" people up in bed anymore when I've assessed the person to be able to assist with it themselves. Having them help themselves also gives them some exercise and helps keep their muscles strong, which is a good thing when in a hospital. The activity also gets them breathing a bit heavier which keeps their lungs expanded.

For every 24 hours you spend laying in a bed, you lose 20% of your muscle mass, and that is accumulative. So if you started with 100% muscle mass, in 24 hours you have lost 20% of that and are left with 80%. If you spend another 24 hours in bed, you loose 20% of that 80% that you had left, so you've lost another 16%, and so forth.

So that explains why the longer someone stays in bed, the more tired they are and the more they want to stay in bed. Plus the body gets accustomed to wanting to stay in a laying down position and has a hard time when it's suddenly put to the test of having to sit, stand or walk.

If you do have to actually boost someone who can't help you. Make sure the bed is at a good height for you. Put down the railings on your side of the bed. Put your knee up on the bed to give yourself leverage. For me when I'm on the left side of the bed and I'm going to be helping boost the person towards my right, I put my right knee on the bed and position myself so that I'm not using my back, but instead I'm using my legs and entire body to help move the person up. If you don't have that knee on the bed, you tend to end up using your back and shoulders.

Nursing school does teach you proper body mechanics to lift. But where you go to work their health and safety department will also go through proper body mechanics...or they should. Where I work did. But I learned way more from working with Health Care Aides. Their jobs are lots of lifting and they can teach you lots.

When I was on CVT and was getting my patients to help boost themselves, even a man who had a stroke, the nurses couldn't believe how easy it was and how less taxing it was on our backs.
 
Top