I was thinking about this today, so I decided to blog about it. :)
I feel like throughout a 12 hour shift, my role as a person's nurse can be different every 10 minutes. Here are a few examples.
Friend
If I have a patient multiple nights in a row, I feel like I can develop a friendship with them. I love that. I ask them about their day, if their kids visited that day, we tell stories, and laugh. I had a patient last night telling me all about his new truck and snowmobile. He was comfortable with me and wanted to talk to me as a friend.
Answering service
Not as much on nights, but there have been a few times when a patient's family will talk to or call the nurse constantly. There was one night where I talked to 6 different family members before 9pm. They would all call for updates instead of talking to each other. After rolling my eyes, I actually found it kind of funny.
Counselor
I had a patient who had lost his wife of 42 years last month. I walked into the room to find him crying and upset. My role at that point was to take the time to hold his hand and listen to his thoughts. My priority was no longer giving him the medications I had brought in, but to let him know that he was important and that I was listening to him. Also, praying with my patients. Helping them find spiritual comfort in tough times.
A Vicious Bee
I hate giving shots. I like getting IVs, but I hate it when I miss. So many needles!
Teacher
Unfortunately, night shift doesn't include as much teaching as day shift due to the fact that the patients should be sleeping for most of my shift. However, when I get the chance, I love the opportunity that I get to educate people. I love finding ways of explaining things in ways that everyone can understand. I had a patient who was in the hospital for the first time, so I got to explain his upcoming procedure to him. For someone who is nervous, knowledge is power.
Mother
This one isn't quite as common, but I had a patient recently who called me into the room and complained of a stomach ache. I palpated (a fancy word for touching) her stomach and asked her if it hurt when I touched it. She exclaimed, 'Oh no! You made it feel all better!' As I walked out of the room, I felt like I had those special mom superpowers where she make something feel better with a simple touch. It was a sweet moment.
Drug Lord
So. Many. Pills.
Advocate
Part of my job is to go to war for my patients. I look at the big picture and try my best to find out what is best for the patient. I spend 12+ hours with them while the doctors only get a few minutes each day. I know the patient and it is my responsibility to fight for what's best for them.
Slave
Out of all of my roles, there are some nights where I feel like I went to college for 4 tough years to be a slave. I wipe butts. I clean up vomit. I fetch countless cups of ice water. I move the bedside table 6 inches closer. I hand them the phone. I bring graham crackers at 2am. I rub lotion on smelly feet. I help people put pillows under their head. Sometimes, this can be frustrating because I feel like I am doing things for people because they are choosing not to do it for themselves. That's the worst. If they are helpless and can't do it for themselves, I don't mind. If they are capable of doing things, but choose not to, I get frustrated.
Superhero
Not always. Not every night. Not every patient. But sometimes, I feel like a superhero.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
3 Things
I can't exactly remember how it started, but on some vacation with my family, we started asking each other the question, "What do you love?" and the person would list off 3 different things. The next question would be, "What don't you love?" and they'd list off another 3 items. Always three. It became a sort of tradition that we use most frequently on long drives during vacations. Some examples of 'loves' would be whitewater rafting, air conditioning, sunsets, and geocaching. Some examples of 'not loves' would be white pumpkins, 19 hour drives, long lines, and tolls.
Here's my nursing version. I love and don't love more than 3 things though.... But I can't break the tradition, so I'll just play multiple times because it's my blog and I can do what I want.
Round 1:
Caroline, what do you love?
-Doctors who call you back right away
-The thrill you get when you successfully insert an IV
-Getting vital signs without waking a patient up
What don't you love?
-Doctors who don't call you back
-Putting people in restraints. Ew.
-Giving people heparin shots at 6am. "Good morning! Here, let me jab you with a needle! Have a nice day!"
Round 2:
Caroline, what do you love?
-Pain medications available to patients
-Drawing blood from central lines
-Blood sugars under 150 so I don't have to given insulin shots
What don't you love?
-When a patient is in pain and nothing is available for them
-When patients have to stay in the hospital for an entire weekend waiting for a procedure that can't happen til Monday
-Endless charting
Round 3:
What do you love?
-Watching a patient get better. There's nothing better.
-Educating patients and watching the lightbulb go on
-Efficiency in all of its forms
What don't you love?
-Realizing a patient isn't going to get better
-Isolation rooms
-Getting an admission as soon as I walk onto the unit
Round 4:
What do you love?
-Connecting the dots
-Seeing the big picture
-Making a plan based on the big picture
What don't you love?
- No plan
-The 6am rush
-Day shift nurses who come in late
Lots of love!
-C-
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Moments: Episode 3
Hope this post makes you smile, tear up, think differently, or roll your eyes (By the way, it's possible to do all of these at the same time)
-This literally happened. A patient who is confused is trying to get out of bed to go home. I keep running in there to make sure she doesn't fall. She wants us to call the police. Eventually, my manager goes in to explain to her that she needs to stay in bed but she has a call light to call us if she needs anything. (I'd already explained this, but she didn't listen to me) She pushes the call light (which happens to be connected to my phone so it rings whenever a call light goes off) and I walk into the room. I ask her, "What can I get you?" as I turn the call light off. She pushes the button again. My phone rings and I shut it off. I turn the light off. I ask her what she needs. She pushes the button. My phone rings. I shut it off. I turn the light off. I tell her that I'm in the room to answer the light. She pushes the button. My phone rings. I shut it off. I turn the light off. I tell her that the button is calling me. She asks us to call the police. She pushes the button. My phone rings. I shut it off. I turn the light off. I ask her why she keeps pushing the button. She pushes the button. My phone rings. I shut it off. I turn the light off. Another nurse comes in cracking up cause she can hear the conversation. We try to distract her with something else so she doesn't keep pushing the button. She pushes the button. My phone rings. I turn the light off.
Eventually, she quieted down a little bit.
-I have a patient who is unable to eat, move, or talk. All she can do is lie in bed and moan in pain. The patient's family won't consider hospice or making her a DNR patient. They want to take her home and let an 18 year old family member be the primary caretaker. I can't do anything to help her or make her more comfortable except give her medications through her feeding tube.
-I spend less than 10 minutes explaining diabetes and it's management with a patient who is newly diagnosed. He tells me, "Thank you so much for explaining this. You made so much more sense than the doctor who was in here earlier. I really appreciate you taking the time cause you made it very clear."
Eventually, she quieted down a little bit.
-I have a patient who is unable to eat, move, or talk. All she can do is lie in bed and moan in pain. The patient's family won't consider hospice or making her a DNR patient. They want to take her home and let an 18 year old family member be the primary caretaker. I can't do anything to help her or make her more comfortable except give her medications through her feeding tube.
-I spend less than 10 minutes explaining diabetes and it's management with a patient who is newly diagnosed. He tells me, "Thank you so much for explaining this. You made so much more sense than the doctor who was in here earlier. I really appreciate you taking the time cause you made it very clear."
-Sidenote: I am definitely going to teach someday. It gives me such satisfaction to see somebody understand something for the first time.
-I help a tiny old lady up to sit in the chair, and as she stands up, she urinates all over my shoes. She doesn't even know it.
- It wasn't my patient, but I witnessed a patient pass away for the first time. It was expected and peaceful, but still heartbreaking for the family that was there.
-A patient tells me that I shouldn't sneak up on him during the night to get his blood pressure because he was in the war and might accidentally punch me. I followed his advice and keep my distance until he was definitely awake.
-I have had the opportunity to pray with more patients. I've gotten bolder about asking. Each time, it feels like a sacred moment. Prayer is a powerful thing. It can calm a woman who is anxious about an upcoming surgery. It can give confidence to a man who is worried about paying for his medical bills. It can bring emotional healing to the family of a very ill patient.
- Part 1. I have a semi-violent patient who is getting worse as time goes on. She tries to pull out her IV and heart monitor, refuses to take her medications, she takes off her oxygen, she breaks her breathing machine, and is screaming at the top of her lungs, so we get an order to put her in restraints. While we're putting them on, she slaps me in the face (lightly, luckily) and grabs my nametag and starts pulling. Luckily she's not very strong.
-Part 2. The scenario above takes place in a semi-private room where the beds are separated by a curtain only. While I'm getting slapped and am trying to do some damage control, the patient's neighbor is calmly describing to my her new problem of incontinence, asking me to bring her some peanut butter, and asks me if I can change the TV channel for her. My verbal response, "I'll be with you in just a minute!" My mental response, "Can't you see I'm busy here!"
-I help a tiny old lady up to sit in the chair, and as she stands up, she urinates all over my shoes. She doesn't even know it.
- It wasn't my patient, but I witnessed a patient pass away for the first time. It was expected and peaceful, but still heartbreaking for the family that was there.
-A patient tells me that I shouldn't sneak up on him during the night to get his blood pressure because he was in the war and might accidentally punch me. I followed his advice and keep my distance until he was definitely awake.
-I have had the opportunity to pray with more patients. I've gotten bolder about asking. Each time, it feels like a sacred moment. Prayer is a powerful thing. It can calm a woman who is anxious about an upcoming surgery. It can give confidence to a man who is worried about paying for his medical bills. It can bring emotional healing to the family of a very ill patient.
- Part 1. I have a semi-violent patient who is getting worse as time goes on. She tries to pull out her IV and heart monitor, refuses to take her medications, she takes off her oxygen, she breaks her breathing machine, and is screaming at the top of her lungs, so we get an order to put her in restraints. While we're putting them on, she slaps me in the face (lightly, luckily) and grabs my nametag and starts pulling. Luckily she's not very strong.
-Part 2. The scenario above takes place in a semi-private room where the beds are separated by a curtain only. While I'm getting slapped and am trying to do some damage control, the patient's neighbor is calmly describing to my her new problem of incontinence, asking me to bring her some peanut butter, and asks me if I can change the TV channel for her. My verbal response, "I'll be with you in just a minute!" My mental response, "Can't you see I'm busy here!"
That's all for now. More to come in the future!
-C-
-C-
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
My John 13 Moment
"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
Picture this:
It's 3am. I'm walking into my patient's room to get a set of vital signs. She is on isolation because she has a very contagious skin disease. I get into my gown, booties, hair net, and gloves. I quickly get the blood pressure while the patient is still mostly sleeping and start to head back out to assess my other patients. My patient wakes up and asks me if she can go to the bathroom. I help her up and escort her to the restroom. She tells me it'll take a while so I take off all my gear and head out of the room. I'm about to walk into another patient's room when she puts on the call light. Sighing with exasperation, I head back into the room, once again putting on all of the isolation equipment. I am getting her back into bed when she asks me if she can wash up. I think to myself, "It's 3am! Who in the world would want to wash up at 3am?" In addition, she's not very steady on her feet, so I feel obliged to stay in the room to make sure she doesn't fall. I help her get the soap and water situated and remake her bed as she starts to get clean.
After I finish with the bed, I stand there as she takes her sweet time. She turns to me and says, "I can't reach my feet. Can you get them for me?" My honest feeling here was annoyance. At this point, I had been in the room for over 20 minutes and I felt like there were other things that I needed to do. I help her into bed and start to wash her feet. I tried to do it quickly and efficiently but then my patient asked me to do it again. I had to get down on my knees and start scrubbing her feet.
I'm going to confess to you some of my short comings. At times like this, I start having thoughts like, "I'm not your maid or your personal servant" "Can't this wait til morning?" "This wasn't in my job description" "Of course it had to be the isolation room" I was doing the act, but my heart and attitude were in the wrong place. My patient made a comment about how she wanted to get washed up while there was still someone who was willing to help her.
It was then that it hit me. This woman was the modern day version of a leper or an 'untouchable'. She was an undesirable patient. Nobody wanted to touch her. She had made a comment earlier about how another nurse had made her feel like she was a dangerous and disgusting thing. And there I was, kneeling at her feet at 3:30 in the morning, scrubbing her feet. Whoa.
Our current sermon theme is the book of John. We had just gone through John 13 where Jesus washes the disciples feet. Jesus tells them, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." I had the perfect opportunity to be like Jesus, and I had almost missed it because of my surly attitude. What an amazing job that forces and allows me to humble myself every single day- to remember that my Lord humbled himself for me, and I am expected to do exactly the same. My attitude changed a little bit after that :)
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Thoughts from a sleepyhead
Sleeping has been a lot better recently. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me. December was a rough month, but I've been a lot better at adjusting my schedule. However, on my nights off, I only take a nap after work and then force myself to stay up so that I can quickly adjust to a day schedule. It works well, but then I end up sleepy and my thought processes aren't the most logical or rational. Here's the result.
My latest theory is that God was having a lot of fun when He created people. He made sure that things down here don't get too boring. Not only are we incredibly different when it comes to appearance, but the plethora of ways that the human mind can deal with the same kind of things astound me.
One person can be in their 40s and extremely ill because they haven't taken their medications or followed their diet. They are going to have major surgery because their heart is failing, but they still tell you what you can and can't do. They argue with their doctors and refuse treatments because they feel too tired.
Another person can have cancer 4 times and still be the sweetest human being to walk the earth. She can make you laugh out loud at 3am when you have to take her vital signs. She can ask you to call her 'auntie' and make a toast to 'our futures' with her midnight ice water and graham crackers. Another can be in the manic stage of her bipolar disorder and make your life miserable for 12 hours. Another patient might sleep the entire time you're there and wake up to take his medications and then fall back asleep.
Walking into work can be a little scary. You never know what you're going to get.
Oh how I wish I could let each of you join me on the floor for a night. Can you imagine how different the world would be if we could all live one day in another person's life? How would I treat my neighbor/teacher/cashier/waitress differently if I knew what their day looked like? I am positive that if some of my patients lived a day as a nurse, they would be very different.
I'm going to jot down a quick list off the top of my head on how to be a good patient:
- Bring a list of medications with you.
- Try your very best not to ask for anything when the nurses are changing shift. This is their busiest time.
-If they tell you that you can get up, please do. If they tell you not to get up without help, DON'T!
- Try to pee when the nurse or nurse assistant is already in the room.
- Don't get upset with the nurse if they can't give you something right away. We need to call the doctors and get an order. We can't give you even a tylenol or a sandwich without an order. Sometimes the doctors take a long time to call back. We're sorry.
-When the hospital calls you after you go home, give honest feedback. If you had a great nurse, say so. If you weren't satisfied, tell them why.
-If you're having pain, describe it. It can be sharp, throbbing, stabbing, aching, cramping, pressure, burning, dull, radiating... use your words!
That's all for now. See ya soon!
My latest theory is that God was having a lot of fun when He created people. He made sure that things down here don't get too boring. Not only are we incredibly different when it comes to appearance, but the plethora of ways that the human mind can deal with the same kind of things astound me.
One person can be in their 40s and extremely ill because they haven't taken their medications or followed their diet. They are going to have major surgery because their heart is failing, but they still tell you what you can and can't do. They argue with their doctors and refuse treatments because they feel too tired.
Another person can have cancer 4 times and still be the sweetest human being to walk the earth. She can make you laugh out loud at 3am when you have to take her vital signs. She can ask you to call her 'auntie' and make a toast to 'our futures' with her midnight ice water and graham crackers. Another can be in the manic stage of her bipolar disorder and make your life miserable for 12 hours. Another patient might sleep the entire time you're there and wake up to take his medications and then fall back asleep.
Walking into work can be a little scary. You never know what you're going to get.
Oh how I wish I could let each of you join me on the floor for a night. Can you imagine how different the world would be if we could all live one day in another person's life? How would I treat my neighbor/teacher/cashier/waitress differently if I knew what their day looked like? I am positive that if some of my patients lived a day as a nurse, they would be very different.
I'm going to jot down a quick list off the top of my head on how to be a good patient:
- Bring a list of medications with you.
- Try your very best not to ask for anything when the nurses are changing shift. This is their busiest time.
-If they tell you that you can get up, please do. If they tell you not to get up without help, DON'T!
- Try to pee when the nurse or nurse assistant is already in the room.
- Don't get upset with the nurse if they can't give you something right away. We need to call the doctors and get an order. We can't give you even a tylenol or a sandwich without an order. Sometimes the doctors take a long time to call back. We're sorry.
-When the hospital calls you after you go home, give honest feedback. If you had a great nurse, say so. If you weren't satisfied, tell them why.
-If you're having pain, describe it. It can be sharp, throbbing, stabbing, aching, cramping, pressure, burning, dull, radiating... use your words!
That's all for now. See ya soon!
Friday, January 9, 2015
A Night in the Life
A few months ago, I wrote a post entitled, "A Day in the Life" which attempted to show you what an average day on my floor looked like. Now I've been on night shift for over 2 months and I think it's time for this post.
05:00-05:30pm- Caroline wakes up and gets ready for the day. I've found that I usually eat breakfast foods at this time.
06:00pm- Head out the door with a hot drink in hand
06:30-40- arrive on unit, get all supplies for the day, get assignment and start looking up patients
07:00-07:30- Get report on patients from other nurses
07:30-8:00ish- Do full assessments on patients and determine any immediate needs for that night (If I do this now, that prevents me from having to call doctors at 1 in the morning.)
8:00-9:00ish- Give night medications
9:00- Start charting and filling out patient sheets. My unit has report sheets that has a lot of patient information on it for report. Night shift gets to rewrite them with all of the updated information. I actually really like doing this even though it's a lot of work because I have to look through all of the orders, notes, and results in detail to know what's going on with the patient. I get to look at the whole picture and see the big plan for the patient.
And that's where the consistency stops. Ha. Here's the lovely thing about my unit. Most of our patients end up going home in the afternoon which means that when I come onto the floor, there are either a whole bunch of patients who just got there or a lot of empty beds. The night shift usually ends up admitting a lot of patients right off the bat which can throw off your entire night. If I get an admission when I walk in, I'm running behind until midnight when I can catch up. If I'm lucky, I end up getting an admission later in the night so that I have time to do a majority of my tasks before the admission comes. Unfortunately, most nights I have to walk in to work ready to hit the ground running as new patients come in. I prefer late night admissions, but the downside to that is I might have to call a doctor at 2:00 in the morning for admission orders and no one likes that...
At 11:00 I start the next assessments and chart them.
When I'm done with that, I write the progress notes on the patient and sign off on their heart monitor strips.
Usually around 1-1:30am, I eat my 'lunch' at my computer while reading through patient notes. If I have good patients, I can end up not doing a whole lot at this point. I don't want to wake my patients up, so it has the potential to be quiet. That being said, there is rarely a night where my patients are all asleep and behaving. Here are some of the things that can take up time:
-Answering the call light for insomniacs who are so bored that they end up riding the call light all night asking for things because they can't sleep
-Taking people to the bathroom
-Making sure my confused patients don't jump out of bed and fall
-Helping other nurses with admissions
-Turning bedridden patients and cleaning them up
-Getting people fresh water/late night snacks
-Changing wound dressings
-Inserting new IVs
-Replacing batteries and electrodes on the heart monitors
-Sneaking around in the dark trying not to wake anyone up
-Various other nursing tasks that can't really be predicted
3am- I have another assessment
5:30am- morning medications
6:00- If there's anything that I wanted to ask a doctor that wasn't urgent, I call around 6.
6:30- Morning labs come back and I call doctors with any critical results for orders
7:00-7:30- Give report to next nurses
Here's the thing. Most patients wake up between 6 and 7. At this point, everyone needs to go to the bathroom, everyone wants their breakfast, everybody's family starts calling, everyone suddenly needs their pain medication, and someone ends up ripping their IV out. Sometimes it feels like I've been in control all night but when the day shift comes, my patients are all a mess. I hate that feeling, but it's kind of out of my control.
7:30- drive home
8:00- eat 'dinner', shower, pack lunch for next night, take a few minutes to breathe, fall asleep.
Hope this helps!
-C-
05:00-05:30pm- Caroline wakes up and gets ready for the day. I've found that I usually eat breakfast foods at this time.
06:00pm- Head out the door with a hot drink in hand
06:30-40- arrive on unit, get all supplies for the day, get assignment and start looking up patients
07:00-07:30- Get report on patients from other nurses
07:30-8:00ish- Do full assessments on patients and determine any immediate needs for that night (If I do this now, that prevents me from having to call doctors at 1 in the morning.)
8:00-9:00ish- Give night medications
9:00- Start charting and filling out patient sheets. My unit has report sheets that has a lot of patient information on it for report. Night shift gets to rewrite them with all of the updated information. I actually really like doing this even though it's a lot of work because I have to look through all of the orders, notes, and results in detail to know what's going on with the patient. I get to look at the whole picture and see the big plan for the patient.
And that's where the consistency stops. Ha. Here's the lovely thing about my unit. Most of our patients end up going home in the afternoon which means that when I come onto the floor, there are either a whole bunch of patients who just got there or a lot of empty beds. The night shift usually ends up admitting a lot of patients right off the bat which can throw off your entire night. If I get an admission when I walk in, I'm running behind until midnight when I can catch up. If I'm lucky, I end up getting an admission later in the night so that I have time to do a majority of my tasks before the admission comes. Unfortunately, most nights I have to walk in to work ready to hit the ground running as new patients come in. I prefer late night admissions, but the downside to that is I might have to call a doctor at 2:00 in the morning for admission orders and no one likes that...
At 11:00 I start the next assessments and chart them.
When I'm done with that, I write the progress notes on the patient and sign off on their heart monitor strips.
Usually around 1-1:30am, I eat my 'lunch' at my computer while reading through patient notes. If I have good patients, I can end up not doing a whole lot at this point. I don't want to wake my patients up, so it has the potential to be quiet. That being said, there is rarely a night where my patients are all asleep and behaving. Here are some of the things that can take up time:
-Answering the call light for insomniacs who are so bored that they end up riding the call light all night asking for things because they can't sleep
-Taking people to the bathroom
-Making sure my confused patients don't jump out of bed and fall
-Helping other nurses with admissions
-Turning bedridden patients and cleaning them up
-Getting people fresh water/late night snacks
-Changing wound dressings
-Inserting new IVs
-Replacing batteries and electrodes on the heart monitors
-Sneaking around in the dark trying not to wake anyone up
-Various other nursing tasks that can't really be predicted
3am- I have another assessment
5:30am- morning medications
6:00- If there's anything that I wanted to ask a doctor that wasn't urgent, I call around 6.
6:30- Morning labs come back and I call doctors with any critical results for orders
7:00-7:30- Give report to next nurses
Here's the thing. Most patients wake up between 6 and 7. At this point, everyone needs to go to the bathroom, everyone wants their breakfast, everybody's family starts calling, everyone suddenly needs their pain medication, and someone ends up ripping their IV out. Sometimes it feels like I've been in control all night but when the day shift comes, my patients are all a mess. I hate that feeling, but it's kind of out of my control.
7:30- drive home
8:00- eat 'dinner', shower, pack lunch for next night, take a few minutes to breathe, fall asleep.
Hope this helps!
-C-
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
You Give and Take Away
I'm posting this after a 12 hour shift, so if my grammar or spelling is poor, you'll know why.
I had a crazy night last night. It was really busy right off the bat. I don't think I sat down to take a breath and regroup until 1am. (However, I think I handled a busy night rather well which I'm kind of proud of.) After I had caught up on everything and was able to set my mind straight, I had an encounter that I'd like to share with you.
A while ago, I worked three nights in a row (36+ hours) with the most difficult patient I've ever had. Not only was he very insistent and particular about his care, but he was unkind at times and he was medically very complicated. He was an extremely sick man and we were doing absolutely everything we could for him, but he was really discouraged and frustrated with his progress. Every day when I gave report, I would apologize to the day nurse because I felt like he was such a heavy load. During my time with him, I had the opportunity to pray with him multiple times. The day after my 3rd night, he ended up going to the ICU. Although he was the most difficult patient I've ever had, I cared about this man and wanted to know what his outcome was.
Fast forward to last night. I was sitting at the nursing station and found out that this patient had passed away that evening.
The next minute, one of my patient puts on his call light. I go into the room for some small thing and at 3 in the morning, I end up having a 20 minute conversation with this guy about how he fell in love with his wife the moment he saw her on the dance floor 67 years ago. He told me all about his sons, his business, and some of the most important points of his life. He had been the hospital for over a month and was finally getting ready to go back home, so he was ecstatic. He told me that I was a kind and intelligent nurse and then muttered that I was his favorite.
As I walked out of that room, it hit me just how ridiculously dichotomous my job is. It blew my mind for a minute and then I moved on and finished my shift. Then, on my way home, the song Blessed Be Your Name came on the radio. When it hit the bridge, "You give and take away" I thought of these two moments that came back to back and both touched me in powerful ways. Then I knew I had to blog about it. It's a crazy thing when a nurse can be in tears one moment, walk into a different room, and start laughing right away. I hope this encounter gives you a glimpse of the nursing life.
Love to all,
-C-
BTW, you all are really bad at commenting on my posts.
I had a crazy night last night. It was really busy right off the bat. I don't think I sat down to take a breath and regroup until 1am. (However, I think I handled a busy night rather well which I'm kind of proud of.) After I had caught up on everything and was able to set my mind straight, I had an encounter that I'd like to share with you.
A while ago, I worked three nights in a row (36+ hours) with the most difficult patient I've ever had. Not only was he very insistent and particular about his care, but he was unkind at times and he was medically very complicated. He was an extremely sick man and we were doing absolutely everything we could for him, but he was really discouraged and frustrated with his progress. Every day when I gave report, I would apologize to the day nurse because I felt like he was such a heavy load. During my time with him, I had the opportunity to pray with him multiple times. The day after my 3rd night, he ended up going to the ICU. Although he was the most difficult patient I've ever had, I cared about this man and wanted to know what his outcome was.
Fast forward to last night. I was sitting at the nursing station and found out that this patient had passed away that evening.
The next minute, one of my patient puts on his call light. I go into the room for some small thing and at 3 in the morning, I end up having a 20 minute conversation with this guy about how he fell in love with his wife the moment he saw her on the dance floor 67 years ago. He told me all about his sons, his business, and some of the most important points of his life. He had been the hospital for over a month and was finally getting ready to go back home, so he was ecstatic. He told me that I was a kind and intelligent nurse and then muttered that I was his favorite.
As I walked out of that room, it hit me just how ridiculously dichotomous my job is. It blew my mind for a minute and then I moved on and finished my shift. Then, on my way home, the song Blessed Be Your Name came on the radio. When it hit the bridge, "You give and take away" I thought of these two moments that came back to back and both touched me in powerful ways. Then I knew I had to blog about it. It's a crazy thing when a nurse can be in tears one moment, walk into a different room, and start laughing right away. I hope this encounter gives you a glimpse of the nursing life.
Love to all,
-C-
BTW, you all are really bad at commenting on my posts.
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