Most days, my job is just like any other job. I try to do the work I have planned for the day, try not to get too sidetracked by the unexpected and work on getting out of there at a reasonable hour. But sometimes, my job beats most others in the REALLY BAD DAY department. That's because unlike most jobs, mine can not only pull out the really busy card but it has the ultimate trump card - life or death - which when combined with really busy makes for a top 2 bad day.
Yesterday, I had that day. Weekends are bad at work because there is no medical centre open after 11 so we get everything. So I walked into work yesterday and within 10 seconds I was sent off on a task for a patient that I knew nothing about. The shift continued with many outpatients, lots of interuptions and frequent pestering of the very unfortunate Doctor on call. We had a patient who was rapidly losing blood from her stomach and were pumping her with extra blood and fluids as fast as the machine would go (999 mls/hr for those who get how fast that is). Then in the middle of this I recieved a call from the ambulance communication centre saying that we had a patient coming in in full cardiac arrest. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally freaking out. I hadn't ever witnessed an arrest and I wasn't thrilled to have my first one on one of my busiest shifts in ages. So I saw CPR in action, lots of people moving very fast, most of my patients ignored for the shift and the unfortunate ending of one life but one save with the lady who didn't bleed out on us and was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital.
Suffice to say, there are days when my job's bad days, trump yours.