Every nurse knows the moment. You look at the clock and think, “Perfect. I’m actually going home on time.” Dangerous thought.
Your patients are settled. Your documentation is nearly finished. The computer has finally decided to cooperate. You can practically taste the freedom.
Then someone says: “Can you just…?”
Can you just check this? Can you just help with this? Can you just have a quick look? Can you just… and suddenly your carefully planned exit strategy has collapsed.
Nurses have developed a unique relationship with the phrase “one more thing”. It is never one thing. It is a gateway.
One more thing becomes a phone call, which becomes a question, which becomes documentation because, of course, if you didn’t document it, it apparently never happened.
And then there is the colleague who appears at the nurses’ station with the innocent words: “Before you go…”
At this point, every nurse experiences the same internal negotiation: “I love my job. I care about my patients. I am a professional. Please, for the love of everything, let me leave.”
The funniest part is that we eventually do leave. Usually much later than planned, carrying a half-finished cup of coffee, a bag containing approximately three pens that do not belong to us, and the emotional exhaustion of someone who has survived another episode of “Just One More Thing.”
So, if you are a nurse reading this at the end of a long shift: you are not alone.
Your shift may say 19:30. Your nursing reality says: “We’ll see.”
If this made you laugh because it is painfully accurate, share it with the nurse who always says, “I’m leaving on time today.”
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