I work in a zoo

I've decided that I work in a zoo.

In the dead of night, when all the day-shift workers are at home in bed dreaming about how all the night-shift workers are sitting around watching their patients sleep, the nursing unit takes on the feel of a zoo.

The little old confused ladies are screeching nonsensical words or calling out a name repetitively. The confused old men are yelling obscenities. The unfortunate patient that we had to restrain to the bed is writhing around in the bed and trying to chew his way out. The patient off his psych meds is jumping up and down on his bed. Some patient is smoking in the bathroom. IV pumps are beeping. Cardiac monitors are alarming. Bed alarms are blaring. Phones are ringing. A family member wants us to order them dinner. The alert patient is yelling because it's so noisy and it sounds like someone is having a party. And somewhere there is a patient taking off his hospital gown, removing his IV, and taking down his surgical dressing. (I've even seen a patient chew off his splint!)

The nurses are running around like they are in the midst of a prison riot.

I just feel like I'm in a zoo. I'm just waiting for the day when I have to tell a patient that they shouldn't be swinging from the ceiling.