My grad year has been more than consolidating and learning skills. It's also been about finding myself, finding my path in this world of nursing. And I think I have. It's far from concrete, but it's more than a scrubby bush track ahead of me now.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Time flies.....almost RN2!
Tomorrow is the final shift of my grad year. As my first year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting a lot. Have I become a "Real Nurse?" Have I earned the title RN? I really don't know. I do know that I have gained confidence and knowledge, so much more than I ever learned at uni. I think I've evolved into a fairly competent nurse, at least I hope so! I don't get an awful lot of feedback, but I guess the old "no news is good news" kinda fits. Most of my colleagues speak to me on the level now, and I haven't heard the term "just the new grad" in a long time now. The next eager graduate is about to start, and I am embarking on my next challenge - student midwife! L plates on again!
I was just thinking the other day how things have panned out for me. Moving my family 400km from everything familiar, out into a small town, with a small rural facility was daunting to say the least. The first few months, as you can tell from the nature of my posts, had me thinking "what have I done?!" and wanting to just go back to my comfort zone. But you know what? I'm glad I didn't. My city friends don't know how easy they've got it - and I've experienced so much more than I ever would have in a big hospital. I've been in the thick of it with critically ill patients, where a MET team would have taken over in a big hospital - some made it, some didn't. I've helped resus a child (frightening). I've helped bring babies into the world. I've been on my own in ED with the doorbell going nuts. I've done transport duty to escort patients. I've worked with the retrieval, RFDS and NETS teams, who are just amazing. I've helped people leave this world how they wanted to. I've been part of a research study. I've been the only RN on the ward, with all the responsibility that entails. All these things that I bet few of my classmates would have done! It's this constant challenge of not knowing what you'll have one day to the next that is exciting about rural nursing. It's a world I never really understood until I arrived up to my neck in it. And what a ride it's been!
My grad year has been more than consolidating and learning skills. It's also been about finding myself, finding my path in this world of nursing. And I think I have. It's far from concrete, but it's more than a scrubby bush track ahead of me now.
My grad year has been more than consolidating and learning skills. It's also been about finding myself, finding my path in this world of nursing. And I think I have. It's far from concrete, but it's more than a scrubby bush track ahead of me now.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The nurse's view.....
Patient goes to doctor's office.
Doctor: You have high blood pressure. Take these tablets and see me in a month.
Nurse: Oh, you have high blood pressure. Have you always had high blood pressure? Are you under any stress? Do you have pain? What about your family, do they have high blood pressure? Hmmm, you're a little overweight, do you exercise? What about your diet? Have you had a medication review lately? Can I refer you to someone to help with *any and all of the above*?
Now, I know this isn't true of everyone, but a recent conversation with a colleague highlighted that yes, this does happen! Doctor's tend to be diagnosis focussed, identifying the immediate problem and trying to fix it - and this is not a bad thing. We go to them when something is wrong, and we want it fixed right now, we don't think about why we had the problem in the first place. Of course, we don't want to hear that it MIGHT be our own fault! Society is like that these days. We want to just take a pill and be done with it.
Nurses tend to be more holistic, interested in the bigger picture. We assess, refer and follow up. Bear in mind that it's often our information that the doctor relies on (in a hospital or aged care setting at least) so it's in our patient's interest for us to dig up the full story. We aren't interested in your excuses, because we've heard them all before. We want the whole story, so we can give you the best care. You can't hide anything from us! Ha!
And here's another interesting conversation I had - things that are supposed to make our life easier. Take gloves for example. If you are allergic to latex like me, the night mare starts when you can't find anything but latex gloves in the place. I don't know about you, but having itchy hands all day is not what I would call pleasant. Then, when you find the blue ones, you try to pull out a pair of gloves, and fifteen fall out - maybe onto the floor, maybe in the sink, maybe into whatever procedure setup you happen to be carrying. This is seriously annoying, not to mention wasteful (you have to throw them out) and time consuming because you have to pick them all up!
Then there's hand gel - useful to save time when handwashing, yes? Well, mostly. (We'll ignore the fact that some patients have been known to drink the stuff!) Once you get about halfway through the bottle of stuff, the nozzle starts to clog, so when you try to pump some out, it squirts in every direction BUT onto your hands. My shirts have been gelled that many times I don't think any bugs could even try to live on them. Not to mention my shoes, and the floor! I've even squirted a few patients with it. Luckily nowhere near any eyes but the potential is there I suppose. Then once you get the nozzle issue sorted out, there's the problem of when you get about three quarters through, and it just doesn't come out any more. You can pump and pump and pump, and all you get is a piddly little squirt that barely covers your index finger. Some of the full bottles have these fail pumps too.
So, share your items that are supposed to make life easier, but drive you nuts instead!
Doctor: You have high blood pressure. Take these tablets and see me in a month.
Nurse: Oh, you have high blood pressure. Have you always had high blood pressure? Are you under any stress? Do you have pain? What about your family, do they have high blood pressure? Hmmm, you're a little overweight, do you exercise? What about your diet? Have you had a medication review lately? Can I refer you to someone to help with *any and all of the above*?
Now, I know this isn't true of everyone, but a recent conversation with a colleague highlighted that yes, this does happen! Doctor's tend to be diagnosis focussed, identifying the immediate problem and trying to fix it - and this is not a bad thing. We go to them when something is wrong, and we want it fixed right now, we don't think about why we had the problem in the first place. Of course, we don't want to hear that it MIGHT be our own fault! Society is like that these days. We want to just take a pill and be done with it.
Nurses tend to be more holistic, interested in the bigger picture. We assess, refer and follow up. Bear in mind that it's often our information that the doctor relies on (in a hospital or aged care setting at least) so it's in our patient's interest for us to dig up the full story. We aren't interested in your excuses, because we've heard them all before. We want the whole story, so we can give you the best care. You can't hide anything from us! Ha!
And here's another interesting conversation I had - things that are supposed to make our life easier. Take gloves for example. If you are allergic to latex like me, the night mare starts when you can't find anything but latex gloves in the place. I don't know about you, but having itchy hands all day is not what I would call pleasant. Then, when you find the blue ones, you try to pull out a pair of gloves, and fifteen fall out - maybe onto the floor, maybe in the sink, maybe into whatever procedure setup you happen to be carrying. This is seriously annoying, not to mention wasteful (you have to throw them out) and time consuming because you have to pick them all up!
Then there's hand gel - useful to save time when handwashing, yes? Well, mostly. (We'll ignore the fact that some patients have been known to drink the stuff!) Once you get about halfway through the bottle of stuff, the nozzle starts to clog, so when you try to pump some out, it squirts in every direction BUT onto your hands. My shirts have been gelled that many times I don't think any bugs could even try to live on them. Not to mention my shoes, and the floor! I've even squirted a few patients with it. Luckily nowhere near any eyes but the potential is there I suppose. Then once you get the nozzle issue sorted out, there's the problem of when you get about three quarters through, and it just doesn't come out any more. You can pump and pump and pump, and all you get is a piddly little squirt that barely covers your index finger. Some of the full bottles have these fail pumps too.
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