March 07
Long day...
You know you are in for a long day when the patient you are on the phone with says, "I'm going to put you on hold while I get my bowel movement diary."
Sunday, June 13, 2010
August 2009
August 08
Advice for Nursing Students
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!
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.
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:
Click here to see advice from other student nurses:
January 2009
January 20
May I have your attention....
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......
Christmas memories......
December 2008
December 08
Garage sale treasures
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?
"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?
July 2008
July 07
Respect
Some people earn instant respect by the credentials after their name. Others earn it by the school they went to, the awards they have won, or the position they hold at their job. In pediatric nursing, these achievements mean absolutely nothing. A few weeks ago I had a fifth grade boy as a patient. He had a wound on his leg that I needed to examine, but he was terrified that I was going to hurt him. When I would come near him he would move to the other side of the bed. I needed to earn his trust or I was going to get nowhere. “How far can you get in Guitar Hero?” I challenged him. “I can almost beat it on medium,” he bragged. “That’s cool, I can beat everything but Jordan,” I casually said. His eyes got large and his mouth dropped open as he froze and looked over at me. “You can almost beat Guitar Hero on medium!?” he asked. I smiled and replied, “No. I CAN beat it on medium. I just can’t beat Jordan on expert.” As we continued to discuss Guitar Hero, I assessed his wound and changed the dressing without even an “ouch”.
May 2008
May 30
The power of gas
After certain abdominal surgeries, passing gas can help relieve pain. I learned yesterday that farting is such a powerful healing tool that even fake farts can make someone feel better. My patient was a grade-school aged boy recovering from a painful operation to his leg. He paged me to his room for pain medicine and as soon as I began examining his IV, he let out an extremely large fart. I looked at his face and could tell he was trying not to laugh, so I smiled and said, "Feel better now?" Both he and his sister burst out laughing. This laughter led to several more drawn-out farts, and it did not take me long to realize that there was a fart machine involved. "Where is it?" I asked with a smile. He pulled out from under his sheet a little remote-operated machine. Wow, the whoopee cushion has gone high tech! His doctor had ordered that he get up and out of bed several times each shift, but he had not been willing to walk around yet. Applying my hard-learned critical thinking skills from that awful experience I call nursing school, I said, "Want to have some fun with that?" His whole face lit up and he shouted, "Sure!" I grabbed his crutches and handed them to him. I gave his sister the fart machine and I took the remote. "Let's go for a walk by the nursing station," I casually said. His mom laughed and his dad hid his face in his hands. Peter* slowly climbed out of bed and our journey began. At first he was slowly navigating down the hall. When he passed the extremely busy nursing station, I pushed the button on my remote. A loud but quick farting noise was immediately heard, and Peter hunched over forward and put his hand on his stomach. A few nurses and doctors paused and looked up, but no one said anything. As he stood there, I pushed the button again. This time the machine picked a long, diarrhea-sounding noise. Peter took off on his crutches moving down the hall. The nurses all looked around at each other, and my coworker Donna said to him, "Are you ok?!" He replied, "Yea, I *INSERT LOUD FARTING NOISE*, uh..." His sister was laughing so hard she was almost crying. Donna was obviously trying to stay composed, but after another push of the button, she could not control herself. As she started laughing, so did Peter, followed by most people at the nursing station. "I think I should go back to my room," Peter said, and as he began going back down the hallway, I accompanied him with the appropriate sound effects. When he finally returned to his room and was filling his parents in on his performance, he could not stop smiling. "How's your leg feeling," I asked, expecting it to be pretty sore after walking around. "Oh, it's great!" he answered, surprised. Two hours (and numerous times retelling his story) later, he still was not having any pain.
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