My patient was an elderly woman with severe dementia. She had tried to punch my coworker the night before, and frequently refused letting anyone touch her. I introduced myself as Katie, her nurse for the night. “Why I need a nurse?” she said, eyebrows furrowed.
“Because you are in the hospital, and I am here to take care of you.”
Her eyes got wide and she looked around the room. “You think this is the hospital? Girl, this is my home, what you talking about?”
I looked around the room and had a quick decision to make. I could argue with her and reorient her to her surroundings, which is the textbook correct thing to do, or I could make both of our lives easier. “Oh, I’m so embarrassed. I get confused sometimes. Yes, we are at your house. Your daughter asked me to come by to check on you. She must really love you!”
She nodded her head. “Yes, my mother does.”
“Well you have a good mother. Is it ok if I listen to you breathe?”
“Sure!”
I did a full assessment on the patient with her full cooperation. As I finished, she asked, “How many blocks you cover?”
Blocks? Hmm…. “Eight.”
“You cover eight blocks? Wow! You crazy!”
The next time I came into her room, the question was repeated. My new answer was six blocks. This was still too high. The third time the question was asked, I said, “Four. How many do you cover?”
“Girl, I don’t get paid for that!”
But I do? What did I just tell my patient I do for a living? I could feel myself blushing.
A few hours later, the question was repeated. “I don’t get paid for that!” I said.
“That’s good.”
While giving report to the day nurse, I made sure to tell her the correct answer to the blocks question was four.
I was unable to find the pharmacology files my classmates and I made in nursing school, but did find my printed copies of those files. I have scanned them and they are posted for you nursing students here:
http://pharmacologyhelp.wordpress.com/
Now you guys will all buy my book if/when I get it published, right?!
I just realized that in the transfer of my blog when Windows Live shut down, over 400 of my guest book comments were lost! I was heartbroken until I found that I had saved some of them on my husband’s computer. Now if only I could find those missing pharmacology tables…..
Starting nursing school soon? Scared out of your mind? Don’t worry, so is everyone else in your class. One of the most popular searches that leads to my blog this time of year is: "scared to start nursing school." So you are definitely not alone!
My advice for soon-to-be nursing students:
1. Never forget that every other person in that
classroom is just as scared as you are. If they always look confident,
it is just an act. So don’t let them stress you out.
2. Be prepared to work hard. You will have to do a
lot of reading, and it will be very confusing at times. Do the best you
can to get through it, and highlight anything that might sound
important.
3. Find a few classmates you get along with, and
stick with them through the whole program. At times when no one else in
your life fully understands what you are going through, they will. I
can’t emphasize enough how important this mutual understanding is, and
I guarantee that these people will talk sense into you every time you
are 100% sure you are going to quit.
4. Be prepared to feel lost. My first time doing
everything (including putting a patient’s sock on her foot), I was so
scared I was shaking. It is normal to completely forget how to do
everything (even the most simple tasks) when you are nervous. So don’t let this make you feel stupid or inferior- it is NORMAL!!
5. Ask tons of questions. If you are told by a
nurse to do something on a patient and you are not familiar with it or
are uncomfortable, ask for help. Don’t let it bother you that she rolls
her eyes at you, you have the right to learn, and your patients have
the right to receive safe care.
6. Be prepared to laugh at yourself. If you fail to
do this, you will be more stressed out than necessary. When you do
something stupid, laugh. Don’t be embarrassed, we all do dumb things.
Also, allow your patients to laugh at you. One patient told me that
watching me frantically search for my clipboard (the clipboard I was
holding in my hand) and then laughing with me when I realized my
mistake, was the highlight of her week.
7. Even though you are extremely busy, take one
night off. This means do not do any school work whatsoever one night
every week. Thursday night is my night off. I watch TV, catch up with
friends, just do whatever I want. On Monday, when I really want to
watch something on TV or feel unmotivated to work, I keep telling
myself that I only have a few more days until Thursday.
8. Find an outlet for your frustrations. This site
has been wonderful for me- I just write about what I feel, and even
though I usually don’t end up posting those things for the world to
see, just writing about them makes me feel a lot better. Although this
takes away from my study time, it is well worth it. I don’t think I
could keep going all those hours if I didn’t have some way to release
some steam.
9. Know that you are not alone!! If you need
someone to vent to or share your wonderful experiences with, leave me a
comment and I will get back with you (just don’t forget to leave your
email address).
Good luck!!
Click here to see advice from other student nurses:
Christmas dinner was held at my sister-in-law’s house this year. She did an amazing job with the decorations and the food, and everything seemed perfect. She has two adorable sons, and the younger one just finished potty-training. As we were sitting at the table eating, the older son Joey got up to go the the restroom. Soon after he closed the door, it flew back open and Joey stood there with a huge grin across his face. No one said anything to him and we kept talking and eating. After standing in the doorway unnoticed for a few seconds, Joey shouted, "May I have your attention please! There is poop on the bathroom floor!" Unsure of the socially correct thing to do, everyone continued talking and ignored Joey. Not satisfied with the response, Joey repeated his announcement. Still nothing. In a high-pitched whiny voice, Joey added, "It’s real live poop, I promise." Christmas memories……
I should have braced myself for something awful the second Mike said
the words, "You are not going to believe what I got for FREE at a
garage sale down the street!" I knew the excitement was probably over
some random piece of junk, but wasn’t prepared for what Mike had
sitting in our living room:
"We
got a free step-stool!" he said, sitting down on his amazing find. I
would have immediately informed him that an elderly person was probably
recently sitting on his "step-stool" completely naked and possibly even
going to the bathroom, but I was laughing so hard that all I could say
was, "Great!" Husbands. Gotta love them, right?
