Won't you be my neighbor?

I've learned, in my very short experience, that taking care of my neighbors' patients is often much easier and more educational than taking care of mine.  I think it has something to do with the level of responsibility that I hold over my neighbors' patients versus my own.  For example, were my patient to get peritonitis followed by septic shock and rapid intubation in the middle of the night, I might freak out and forget what to do.  In fact, it's probable.  However, when it's my neighbor's patient, no problems are had.  I know the answers to all of the questions.  Have you told the doctor this?  Have you given her that?  Does she have suction?  Is this tube draining?  How much stuff has come out of here?  Do you know she has no pressure?  Do you want me to start that IV for you?  How about hanging some Dopamine?  Can we get some more IV channels in here?  I could not, for the life of me, figure out what was going on with my patient last night, but I sure did squeeze a bag of fluids into my neighbor's IV when I saw something was wrong.

The fun part about nursing is that sometimes I get to use a rapid infuser to pour 3 liters of fluid and 2 pints of blood into a person in relatively no time.  Sometimes I see a gallon of fluid leave a belly at one time.  And sometimes, the meanest doctor I know is nice enough to let me poke my head over his shoulder during an intubation just so I can see the vocal chords as he passes the tube through.  It's dirty and it's gross (I had to change my top and cavidide my pants), but the feeling of preventing a code, thereby saving a life, is the best feeling in the world.  It sure beats a desk job any day!