WANTED
People to work long hours with frequent mandatory overtime. Few holidays and weekends off. Must be able to keep massive amounts of paperwork up to date while making split-second, life or death decisions.
Must be immune to verbal abuse and able to neutralize occasional physical assaults. Must display patience, kindness, understanding, and caring even when your personal life is coming apart at the seams.
Must show no aversion to blood, vomit, oozing infections, or human body wastes. Salary in no way commensurates with knowledge and ability. Only those interested in dealing with depressing situations on a daily basis need apply.
Showing posts with label Nursing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nursing. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
First Day of Freedom
Yesterday was my last day of nursing school and today was my first day of...nothing. Oh yes, it was grand. So in honor of the first day of no nursing school, here are my five favorite nursing t-shirts from cafepress.com.
#5- Polyuria Rocks!
#4- Annie's in V-tach
#3- Oh I wish I were a ninja...
#2- Florence Nightingale is my idol!
#1- My all time favorite
#5- Polyuria Rocks!
#4- Annie's in V-tach#3- Oh I wish I were a ninja...
#2- Florence Nightingale is my idol!
#1- My all time favorite
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Some Deep Thoughts
Happy Fall! Things have been a little hectic lately, but I'll start with the good news. I passed my comprehensive exam in the 99th percentile! That means that I can in fact graduate in 27 days. It also makes it very tempting not to study any more. Now that this test is finished, I've been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on the last few weeks. I get pretty fired up about a lot of things. I'm a notorious ranter. Hey, that's why I have a blog. But recently it's gone beyond just rants.
As I handle progressively more acute patients, I often find my head spinning. There is so much wrong in our health care system. Staff are over-worked and unable to perform some of the most basic, important things that every student learns (like checking medication orders). Nurses spend less time at the bedside, providing direct care and more time supervising, charting, and giving medications. It breaks my heart to see the way some people are treated in the hospital. There is no one to blame though. It's not as though the staff sit and around the nurse's station and polish their nails. Every one's working as hard as they can, but you just can't do everything. Health care in our country is politically motivated, it's financially motivated, it's so far from ideal it sometimes hurts me.
On the other hand, there are my classmates, the future shining stars of nursing. I don't want to say too much, however, some seem to have a skewed view of what nursing is. As nurse, you do sometimes have to do things that are disgusting and you do have to do things that could pose a risk to your health. You always watch out for your own health first, however, we learn infection control in order to have a correct and appropriate understanding or infectious diseases and how to prevent them. But no matter what you do, if you choose health care as your profession there is the chance that you will be exposed. It's slight, but it's there. Every profession comes with its own job risks. The risk in nursing is largely to your health. Accept it or move on. No matter what one's view of nursing, whether it's a calling, a job, or a profession, we touch patients. It should be our goal, as human beings, to touch them and treat them in a way that is respectful and dignified. Sometimes, that requires me to change a diaper. Sometimes that requires me to ignore things like dirt, flaking skin, or bad breath. But I do it because that human being I am treating has a right to dignity and compassion. I try to treat every patient like I would want to be treated in their situation, or like I would want my family and friends to be treated. Sometimes that means challenging my patient or encouraging them to do something they don't want to, but it is always with their best interest in mind. I question that motivation in some of my classmates. When we fail to see the humanity in the people that we encounter, we commit the greatest injustice of all.
My recent patients have also been challenging my beliefs about euthanasia and in some ways the very meaning of life. It is so hard to see the value in preserving a heavily medicated, slowly deteriorating life. I almost hate to admit that I ever had such thoughts. I know that every human life has value, that no life is a mistake, and that there is a purpose to everything. It's so hard to watch some one's life break down. To see someone who was once a vibrant person become a completely dependent, helpless thing. To literally watch someone slowly, pitifully, helplessly march to their death all the while expending energy and resources to prevent their body from shutting down becomes so exhausting. I cannot imagine the physical and mental anguish. You don't have to walk a mile in those shoes to know that they just don't want to walk anymore. But for whatever reason or whatever circumstances, I have to do everything in my power to prolong that walk, to slow the march, and, in many ways, slowly torture them. I'm just not sure I can keep doing it. I know I have to and while I think euthanasia is a slippery slope, I wish that we were more willing to challenge families and doctors and institutes that prolong what is inevitable. In the last 10 months I have faced more death then ever in my life and while it is so hard and so painful, it is something we must accept. We can make it comfortable and dignified or we can make it long and painful. Why do we keep insisting on the latter?
Whatever the current climate in health care is and whatever my classmates may due, I am so glad that I know where I want to be and that I can keep challenging the status quo. The only thing scarier then facing these thoughts is reaching the point of acceptance and tolerance of the way things are.
As I handle progressively more acute patients, I often find my head spinning. There is so much wrong in our health care system. Staff are over-worked and unable to perform some of the most basic, important things that every student learns (like checking medication orders). Nurses spend less time at the bedside, providing direct care and more time supervising, charting, and giving medications. It breaks my heart to see the way some people are treated in the hospital. There is no one to blame though. It's not as though the staff sit and around the nurse's station and polish their nails. Every one's working as hard as they can, but you just can't do everything. Health care in our country is politically motivated, it's financially motivated, it's so far from ideal it sometimes hurts me.
On the other hand, there are my classmates, the future shining stars of nursing. I don't want to say too much, however, some seem to have a skewed view of what nursing is. As nurse, you do sometimes have to do things that are disgusting and you do have to do things that could pose a risk to your health. You always watch out for your own health first, however, we learn infection control in order to have a correct and appropriate understanding or infectious diseases and how to prevent them. But no matter what you do, if you choose health care as your profession there is the chance that you will be exposed. It's slight, but it's there. Every profession comes with its own job risks. The risk in nursing is largely to your health. Accept it or move on. No matter what one's view of nursing, whether it's a calling, a job, or a profession, we touch patients. It should be our goal, as human beings, to touch them and treat them in a way that is respectful and dignified. Sometimes, that requires me to change a diaper. Sometimes that requires me to ignore things like dirt, flaking skin, or bad breath. But I do it because that human being I am treating has a right to dignity and compassion. I try to treat every patient like I would want to be treated in their situation, or like I would want my family and friends to be treated. Sometimes that means challenging my patient or encouraging them to do something they don't want to, but it is always with their best interest in mind. I question that motivation in some of my classmates. When we fail to see the humanity in the people that we encounter, we commit the greatest injustice of all.
My recent patients have also been challenging my beliefs about euthanasia and in some ways the very meaning of life. It is so hard to see the value in preserving a heavily medicated, slowly deteriorating life. I almost hate to admit that I ever had such thoughts. I know that every human life has value, that no life is a mistake, and that there is a purpose to everything. It's so hard to watch some one's life break down. To see someone who was once a vibrant person become a completely dependent, helpless thing. To literally watch someone slowly, pitifully, helplessly march to their death all the while expending energy and resources to prevent their body from shutting down becomes so exhausting. I cannot imagine the physical and mental anguish. You don't have to walk a mile in those shoes to know that they just don't want to walk anymore. But for whatever reason or whatever circumstances, I have to do everything in my power to prolong that walk, to slow the march, and, in many ways, slowly torture them. I'm just not sure I can keep doing it. I know I have to and while I think euthanasia is a slippery slope, I wish that we were more willing to challenge families and doctors and institutes that prolong what is inevitable. In the last 10 months I have faced more death then ever in my life and while it is so hard and so painful, it is something we must accept. We can make it comfortable and dignified or we can make it long and painful. Why do we keep insisting on the latter?
Whatever the current climate in health care is and whatever my classmates may due, I am so glad that I know where I want to be and that I can keep challenging the status quo. The only thing scarier then facing these thoughts is reaching the point of acceptance and tolerance of the way things are.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A Week of Excitment
This week has been pretty...eventful. To start with, Monday I woke up with bug bites from my toes to my waist. This annoyed me all day and only seemed to get worse through Monday night and into Tuesday. Tuesday I washed all my bed linens and that seems to have taken care of the problem. The bites are so itchy and annoying I couldn't tell if I was getting more or not, so last night I circled them all to see if any new ones appeared. Then I decided since they were all so obvious now I should count them. Well I lost count somewhere around 70! I'm pretty sure I've gotten no new bites and the problem is now under control. There must just have been some bug in my bed. The only problem now is that they itch like crazy. I've been taking Benadryl at night to prevent myself from itching and today when I got home it was overwhelming. I popped a Benadryl and in 45 minutes the room was spinning every time I moved too quickly. I'm much recovered now, but the itching it back in full force. At least the problem is contained now.
Tuesday and Wednesday for my clinical I was in the ER. Tuesday was ok, but Wednesday was quite eventful. I got to insert two foley catheters which doesn't sound so exciting but is a major think you practice and hype up for in nursing school. Then, someone came in CPR in progress and we were allowed to do the chest compressions. While I wasn't happy about it, it was exciting and a great opportunity to practice a needed skill hands on. Way different then "Annie" in the BLS class. The weirdest part was when tje ribs cracked. If you're doing CPR correctly the ribs should crack (after all, you're pushing all your weight into somebody's chest to try and pump blood to their whole body) but the feeling and sound were very weird. It also made me very aware just how much power our little hearts have.
Today, we oriented at a home care agency for community health. It's a very extensive agency with many, many services. Listening to the different nurses speaking about their roles and their passion for advocacy for their patients really got me excited. It reminded my why I went to nursing school in the first place and where my true passion lies. (In case you didn't know, it's to hopefully go to a developing country and provide services and resources to marginalized women and children). I think the community/home care setting is really the area where I'm going to get the best experiences to prepare me for the kind of work I want to do. I think my clinical instructor thought I was a little crazy when I all but begged to go to the AIDS clinics. I'm really looking forward to the semester and it should generate some good stories.
In other news, I'm going to add two new kinds of posts to huruma. One I've been planning for awhile and they're going to be about my favorite, moderately healthy, easy, one-person friendly meals. I've tried cook books, but there are always too many ingredients or too time consuming so I've worked out some of my own (which usually consists of putting everything in one pot/skillet/dish) and I'll share them with you. I don't claim to be gourmet, but they're pretty good and pretty easy and won't cost you too much, time or dollars. The second kind of posts are going to be things I discover that I think are really cool and kind of want. I have a whole folder in my bookmarks of fun things I find and so I figured it's time to share them with someone. Anyway, just some things to look forward to. Happy Friday everyone!
Tuesday and Wednesday for my clinical I was in the ER. Tuesday was ok, but Wednesday was quite eventful. I got to insert two foley catheters which doesn't sound so exciting but is a major think you practice and hype up for in nursing school. Then, someone came in CPR in progress and we were allowed to do the chest compressions. While I wasn't happy about it, it was exciting and a great opportunity to practice a needed skill hands on. Way different then "Annie" in the BLS class. The weirdest part was when tje ribs cracked. If you're doing CPR correctly the ribs should crack (after all, you're pushing all your weight into somebody's chest to try and pump blood to their whole body) but the feeling and sound were very weird. It also made me very aware just how much power our little hearts have.
Today, we oriented at a home care agency for community health. It's a very extensive agency with many, many services. Listening to the different nurses speaking about their roles and their passion for advocacy for their patients really got me excited. It reminded my why I went to nursing school in the first place and where my true passion lies. (In case you didn't know, it's to hopefully go to a developing country and provide services and resources to marginalized women and children). I think the community/home care setting is really the area where I'm going to get the best experiences to prepare me for the kind of work I want to do. I think my clinical instructor thought I was a little crazy when I all but begged to go to the AIDS clinics. I'm really looking forward to the semester and it should generate some good stories.
In other news, I'm going to add two new kinds of posts to huruma. One I've been planning for awhile and they're going to be about my favorite, moderately healthy, easy, one-person friendly meals. I've tried cook books, but there are always too many ingredients or too time consuming so I've worked out some of my own (which usually consists of putting everything in one pot/skillet/dish) and I'll share them with you. I don't claim to be gourmet, but they're pretty good and pretty easy and won't cost you too much, time or dollars. The second kind of posts are going to be things I discover that I think are really cool and kind of want. I have a whole folder in my bookmarks of fun things I find and so I figured it's time to share them with someone. Anyway, just some things to look forward to. Happy Friday everyone!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The End is Near
This is my nursing pin. My Seton Hall University nursing pin. It's white gold.
This will be pinned to me at my pinning ceremony in roughly 48 days. This means the end is in sight! I looked up the history of nursing pins today and, according to Wikipedia, the ancestor of nursing pins is the Maltese Cross which has been used since the First Crusade. I'm not so fond of this. The pinning ceremony is a nursing tradition that traces its roots back to 1880 and the first Florence Nightingale School of Nursing in America. Nursing pins have become a symbol of professional status as well as a way to declare which nursing school you attended. Each school has their own unique design and coloring. I didn't expect to be as excited about my pin, but when I got it in class on Monday, I completely fell in love. I think it represents everything that all the frustration, all the work, all the lack of sleep, and all the stress has helped me achieve. I can't wait to actually wear it!
This will be pinned to me at my pinning ceremony in roughly 48 days. This means the end is in sight! I looked up the history of nursing pins today and, according to Wikipedia, the ancestor of nursing pins is the Maltese Cross which has been used since the First Crusade. I'm not so fond of this. The pinning ceremony is a nursing tradition that traces its roots back to 1880 and the first Florence Nightingale School of Nursing in America. Nursing pins have become a symbol of professional status as well as a way to declare which nursing school you attended. Each school has their own unique design and coloring. I didn't expect to be as excited about my pin, but when I got it in class on Monday, I completely fell in love. I think it represents everything that all the frustration, all the work, all the lack of sleep, and all the stress has helped me achieve. I can't wait to actually wear it!
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