Sunday, October 28, 2007

sick

Vixen is sick she has been in the hospital for the last two weeks hopefully she will be back home this week
this is kafo her sister

Monday, October 22, 2007

Tables Turned

Okay, I have posted in a while because I've actually been a patient. I was at a branch of my Hospital but closer to my house for the last week with a severe anemic attack (H&H 4.3/12.8). Most of the time I was groggy but when I was lucid, I noticed that of all the nurses I had...I only connected with one. Everyone just came to do their job, answer the call bell and leave at the end of their shift. Noone even talked to me as a person...I was the patient in 305B.

Yuck, yuck, yuck! If ever this does realign my outlook towards nursing, I always knew that my ability to connect with patients was something they appreciated, but from the inside looking out now I get it. You're stuck in a world out of your control, constantly bothered for vital signs and assessments, rarely if ever getting a shower that you so desperately crave and wishing that you could get out of this purgatory before you picked up some other disease. You are stuck watching reruns on tv...no cable mind you, and your room mate screams out in distress 24/7.

So many people wander in and out of your room and yet all of them are still strangers to you. Your family rarely stops by so the only consolation you have is reading last week's newspaper or counting ceiling tiles.

When the tables got turned, it really made me wish that I had a nurse as fabulous as I was.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Patient Twelve

The service coordinator of all the Company hospitals found me out on the floor today and shook my hand. "I'm honored to meet you," she stated. My manager was there and they were both smiling at me benignly.

"Ummm, okay, yeah, nice to meet you too!" I said as I tried to extricate myself.

"Vixen, we just interviewed your new patient in room 12 and she's very impressed with you. She said that you two have formed a bond in the last 2 hours and that you were making efforts to help her get a shower---the one thing that she has been desperately craving."

Patient 12 was a new admit from ER, having been down there for almost a day. We joked as I settled her in and assessed her, and her mom was there, showing me pictures of her grand-daughter. I hadn't thought I'd done much, but apparently, P12 did.

"Really?" I asked incredulously. Did they really have the right nurse?

"Yes, she specifically said your name and how helpful you've been. You've shown the kind of service that we want from all our nurses," stated the service director as she shook my hand again, gave me a smile and walked away. My manager winked at me and whispered, "Good Job Vix!"

Hot diggity damn! I mean, I knew I was a fab nurse, but such positive reinforcement was enough to make my month. P12 got her shower that evening, and I got another great reason of why I love being a nurse.

It's about the connection.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

The Preceptor

Okay, I've only been back to nursing since July, and I already got made a Preceptor. Talk about fast track. The nurse I'm precepting, she's a total doll, we were actually in New Employee Orientation together. Her son is a year younger than me. I haven't precepted since I worked in Baltimore, so I was a little worried about it, but so far so good.

She knows her stuff. She's solid in assessing a patient, and has amazing nursing instincts. The main thing with her is her lack of confidence...she's very intelligent, but lacks the confidence. On two separate occasions, she followed her instincts and assessment to get the doctor to come in to see 2 patients that ended up needing intensive monitoring the next day. She's a solid grade A nurse.

My preceptor in Bmore was the shizznit! I had alot of trepidation my first day but Betsy showed me how to work wonders on the unit. She taught me pretty much alot of what I know in nursing, who the 'it' people were and how to connect with people. She was fun, relatable, and went out of her way to develop a connection with me. We ended up really good friends and made me want to be that type of Preceptor. It's weird, she was 27 when she precepted me---and I was 21. Wow, time flies.

So anyway, I'm a preceptor. I'd like to think that so far I've been at least half the great preceptor that Betsy was to me. I'm paying it forward.