Priorities

   I recently had an admission that came in close to midnight. This patient had a lot going on. She was in restraints after pulling out two IVs, she had a blood transfusion going, she had pressure ulcers, she was on oxygen, she was confused, and had a fast heart rate. When a patient first gets on the floor, there is a LOT of stuff to do. We have to make sure their vital signs are stable, get them into bed with all of the tubes and wires attached to them, we have to get a list of medications, ask admission questions, call the doctors and get orders, and do a buttload of paperwork. Depending on how complicated it is, it can take quite a while to get someone settled.
   While I was taking care of some very basic things with this complicated patient, her daughter proceeded to ask me for things that she thought were very important at that moment. She wanted to be put on the list for a different room, she wanted a fan, she needed lip moisturizer, she wanted a glass of ice, she wanted some gauze to wrap around her mom's arm, and quite a few other things that I am kindly choosing not to remember. While I understand that all of these things are within reasonable requests, at the time they were wildly inappropriate. As a nurse, you have to prioritize. It is one of the hardest things and patients don't always understand why it takes you twenty minutes to bring them a glass of water. I wish it didn't work that way, but it does.
    My priorities with this patient were to make sure she got in bed without pulling out an IV or injuring herself on the restraints, making sure her vital signs were stable and she wasn't having a reaction to the blood she was getting, making sure she was getting enough oxygen, and calling the doctor to get orders. While the daughter continued to ask me for things, my response was, "I'm going to get your mom all settled and comfortable. Then I'll call the doctor and try to work everything out. I'll make sure we get to that in a minute." Yet she still didn't get it and continued to ask for things. For the evening, I succeeded in being patient, but I was pretty exasperated by the end of my shift.
   After I got home and got some sleep, I started thinking about the situation again. (When someone really annoys me, I try to learn something from them to put a positive spin on things) Then I thought about our relationship with God. We ask Him for things that we think are so important and need to happen right now. I make plans for my life and ask God to help me out. We think that our priorities and demands take precedence over God's.  I bet that God in His unending love might want to say to us, "That isn't the priority right now! There are other things in your life that I'm trying to teach you. There are things that I have planned for you that you don't even realize are important. Trust me."
    This was the lesson I am learning through that tough situation. I realize that what I can see and what I think is important is limited by my humanness. I have a very limited view. God sees the whole picture and knows exactly what is best.

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Love to all.
-C-