...is duramorph. That's a long-acting morphine that is injected into the patient's epidural or spinal catheter to manage post-operative pain, in case ya didn't know. And what it means is, if you've had it, your friendly nurse will be checking on you veeerry frequently, you know, to make sure you're breathing :-)Instantly quadruples my workload.
Just what a brand-new-just-had-a-cesarean-mom needs right? Being woken up all night long? Ugh.
The pain control? Not yet convinced it's that much better than a PCA (patient-controlled analgesia- the patient is able to inject themselves with dilaudid and we bolus them as needed). I think some it works great for, others, not so much. And the side effects: Nausea/Vomiting (common with a PCA too), itching, respiratory depression, bladder retention. Sometimes it feels like we're chasing people with zofran and nubain all night....giving one medication only to need another. Not sold yet on this duramorph thing. I think it should be decided on a patient-to-patient basis whether or not they get duramorph versus PCA.
Other work-related headaches?
Breastfeeding problems. Neurotic parents. Hemorrhages. Infection. Not getting my time off approved. Being SO tired at work in the middle of the night and not getting to take a nap break, because I use my free time to pump. And so on.
On a more positive note, my patient's last night were fab. And I only had one C-section and one vag. Like, wow. Easy-peasy.
Sorry if this post was boring.
1 comment:
I have never heard of this duramorph... obviously. Bummer on the lack of napping. Pumping is lame sometimes.
-Lisa
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