Night Duty Nightmare

It was around 2:00AM one morning on Night Duty, and I was in charge of all the Diabetic and Asthmatic patients. That means checking their blood sugar, or giving them Nebulizars and Oxygen, respectively, every four hours (and reporting to someone of higher authority if there's a problem).

I come along to an old homeless man and check his blood sugar. 20mmol/l. O_o A normal blood sugar reading is 3-7mmol/l. This is not good. If it increases much more, he'll end up in a coma. I run to find the sister and can't find her in any of the cubicles. I eventually run to the kitchen and there she is with the rest of the staff members, fast asleep. One nurse is sleeping curled up on the warming cupboard (which is for food, not asses), another is sleeping on the floor. These are South Africa's nurses. ANYWHO, i wake the sister up and tell her about the emergency. Her reply to me? "Don't wake me up. Call the Doctor." Stupid cranky bitch. So I phone the doctor who tells me, "Just give 20 units of Insulin." (This decreases blood sugar levels). Now, 20 units is a crapload, considering the usual amount of Insulin given is 2-8 units, depending on the condition of the patient.

However, as a nurse, we do as we are told by the high-and-mighty Doctors, and I administer the Insulin. I re-check the sugar levels five minutes later and it isn't better. I phone the Doctor again. I am instructed to leave it, the reading will come down in a few minutes - and get hung up on. I supposed she would rather catch up on her beauty sleep, which is understandable because she sounded a bit doggish.

Five minutes later, I go to check on my patient. Dead. Nice. Plus, my damn asthmatic patients were half an hour late getting their oxygen and I like to run a tight ship.