“In Praise of Nurses”

“In Praise of Nurses” From the Nytimes. By Dana Jennings, December 29, 2010. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/in-praise-of-nurses/

“It hurt. I got dizzy, nearly threw up and broke out in a cold sweat. When I told her I was going to pass out, she sheepishly went and got help.”

 “Real help. She went and got a nurse.”

Form all this reading articles and doing research on how nurses are and treat patients, I have come to love them. As I have said I have had a couple run INS with nurses. And from all my experience with them, I have to say they’re the best. From what I can tell most of all other people feel the same way towards them. “I love and admire nurses. Oncology nurses and ostomy nurses. Radiation nurses and post-op nurses. And those essential, always-there-when-you-need-them, round-the-clock nurses. (And though most of my experience is with female nurses, I admire male nurses, too.)”

I try to explain to people about how they act and work with you. About how they’re the nicest people and love their job. Do you love your job?? It’s like having a good day at work. Everything goes smoothly, which puts you in a good mood. Nurses love what they do so in the concept of it they are always happy and have a big smile when they tell you hello. “To generalize: Nurses are warm, whereas doctors are cool. Nurses act like real people; doctors often act like aristocrats. Nurses look you in the eye; doctors stare slightly above and to the right of your shoulder.”

My curiosity question was “Why do and how can we trust putting our lives in the hands of nurses?” There is no way that I can speak for everyone, but I trust them!! To start, to be a nurse you have to go thru a lot of schooling. Which means that obviously they’re not going to be a dumb ass. They know what to do when needed and how to do it.

My main point is the personality of a nurse. They’re not going to be a mean guppy person. They are kind and gentle people, who care and will sit down and talk you through what is going to happen or is happening. For them to have so much stuff to do and have that much responsibility is saying something. Especially when they still make time to talk and take their time with you even though you’re not the only patient in the hospital.   

“Nurses, Addicted to Helping People”

“Nurses, Addicted to Helping People” From NYtimes.com, Abigail Zuger, M.D. October 29, 2012. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/nurses-addicted-to-helping-people/

“Once you get a taste for helping people, its kind of addictive,” I have first hand experience with this. It’s so true that the first time you help someone wont ever be the last. But I guess it all depends on the type of person. On the way they were raised through their childhood. “I decided to be a nurse because taking care of patients interested me. Once I started, nursing just grabbed me and made me grow up.” It would make you see the reality of life and how precious it is.

Says Judy Ramsay, a pediatric nurse in Chicago: “For twelve years I took care of children who would never get better. People ask how I could do it, … all we wanted to do was make their day a little brighter.” Have you ever wandered if there is any good in a person? I am almost positive that you would never ask your self that question about a nurse. They always want the good to come out of all situations.

John Barbe, a hospice nurse in Florida, sums it up: “When I am out in the community and get asked what I do for a living, I say that I work at Tidewell Hospice, and there’s complete silence… It doesn’t matter because I love what I do; I can’t stay away from this place.” A hospice is were people go when they are on their last leg. When they are about to pass away. To have people die almost every day has to be really hard on the mind.

“But even the best photographs are too static to capture people who never stop moving once they get to work. For a real idea of what goes on in their lives, you have to listen to them talk.” The nurses are the strongest people in the hospital. They deal with every thing in all cases. On day-to-day bases they see the most horrific things. But they always come back for the next shift because they are always need and will be always needed. Do you put your trust in the hands of a nurse? Why do you or not?

“When Nurses Make Mistakes”

“When Nurses Make Mistakes”From the NY Times, by Theresa Brown, on July 6, 2011; http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/when-nurses-make-mistakes/

“The patient told the doctors that I had done a good job caring for her that evening, and she didn’t want me to be fired.” Why do we have to grow up? Why can’t we stay kids? Why do we get responsibilities as we grow older? You know that down low feeling you get, when you know you screwed up on something you did. Even though we grow up we have had that feeling sense we were kids. The big part that changes is that the consequences are bigger. Especially when you’re a nurse, caring for multiple patients, when you’re at work.

 “We’ve all made mistakes, most of them small and inconsequential to the patient’s health, but sometimes the mistakes are serious.” Okay, so this kind of scares me. Makes me think about how many times they have messed up while working on me or my family. It gave me some reinsurance when I read “The hospitals where we work have put in place systems of checks and balances to be sure serious mistakes don’t slip through.”

““A situation like this can build trust, Theresa,’’ he told me, “because the patient knows we’re being honest.”” The doctor that told Theresa this is one smart cookie. Honesty is one of our biggest problems in the world. When it comes to my life I want to be told the truth. What if there was good and bad news? Which one would you want to hear first?

For every mistake a nurse makes they have to live with for the rest of their life. Sure it’s easy in some cases to forget what happened out here in the real world, but when you in the room with the person spending hours on end with them. They build up a trust with you; they know that you won’t mess up. Hopefully you won’t, but if you do you still have to face the person you did it to.

“One Nurse, One Patient”

“One Nurse, One Patient” by Theresa Brown found on NY Times, May 4, 2011. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/one-nurse-one-patient/

“As a nurse on the oncology floor, I’m usually responsible for at least four patients each shift.” Theresa says starting off the article. I was thinking that, now that she has only one patient then her day would be a lot easier. As she talked about her patient and how his cancer could be completely wiped clean from his slate after this Four-hour vigil. I was thinking to myself that; its life, you’re going to have to bet big to win big and that being cancer free is a very big win.

 When she administered the drug to him he told her that he “Felt weird”.  “No shit dumb ass! Of course you do it’s not normal to have a drug this strong pumped into your body.”I said profusely at the computer screen. But you’re at a hospital where the only reason why you’re there is because you don’t feel good. So she let it go until he had a shaking attack called “Rigoring “  witch the doctor had seen coming so they were able to help stop it early. Now his vague complaint put her on alert!

“As always in these situations, I was trying to project calm, but inside I was debating my next move. “ She was trying to figure out if her patient was crashing or not. She called the doctor to come down to the room and told the Doc everything that had happened. “Suddenly I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and pulled out my phone. “I’m calling it,” I said, preparing to dial the number that would bring in a rapid-response team, My fingers were on the keypad, but then, suddenly,” Theresa’s actions in the final moments of the situation. But then like an act of god “the patient’s oxygen level started to climb.”

She told us that “We give dangerous drugs all the time, but I’d never felt so fully responsible for making a patient very sick in the course of doing my job.” “I’d also never been so close to calling a code.” There’s always time for a first but not to day for this RN.

I’ll give you a reason to trust a nurse “For four stressful hours I had delivered all the care that had been prescribed, reacted quickly to problems that developed and met all of my patient’s needs.” Honestly to have a human beings life in your hands is the most stress full thing in the world. Then on top of that you are needed to stay calm and remember how to do anything that pops up, and from what it sounds like you get a lot of curve balls.

“Can Nurses Care Too Much?”

“Can Nurses Care Too Much?” - THERESA BROWN, R.N.  NY Times posted on February 4, 2009, 11:25 am - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/can-nurses-care-too-much/

“If he dies I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I confided to the dayshift nurse. She looked at me, then looked down at her papers and nodded. This is what it means to be a nurse in oncology, a no-win situation where compassion routinely gets hijacked by grief.” When I read this I ask myself “Why do nurses care about their patients so much?” But then I realized it’s a humanity thing. We care about the ones we are around, the ones we help, and most importantly the ones who care for us back.

The guy in the story had a brain bleed from some of his medications that he was on.  Theresa was his nurse, and of course she cared too much. When Theresa was doing his first neurological tests, during this visit to the hospital, he wasn’t following her commands. Her next visit into his room, he grabbed her firmly and asked “So am I going to live or am I going to die?” Form this moment you can tell Theresa cared too much, she said “I wish I could look in a crystal ball and find out, but I can’t.”

Theresa had taken a few shifts off since that visit. She called in one day to ask how he was doing. The office said “C.M.O,” C.M.O. means Comfort Measures only, ultimately that means that they were withdrawing care. Theresa knew that her patient had passed. She headed to the hospital; first person she saw was her patient’s wife. She asked if Theresa wanted to see her patient, she said no, instead they talked about her patient and his wife’s lives. Her last words were “I love you.”

“It hurts even now. A nurse on my floor said, “You girls get too attached,” and she’s right, of course.” Theresa said, finishing off the article. So why do nurses care too much? Why do they get attached?

“A Nurse’s Very Bad Day”

“Why do and how can we trust putting our lives in the hands of Nurses” is my curiosity question. I went just for a basic article for my first post. The NY times gave me an article By Theresa Brown, RN called “A Nurse’s Very Bad Day” July 22, 2009, at http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/a-nurses-very-bad-day/?pagewanted=print. What does this have to do with my curiosity question?

  When I picture a nurse and their day on the job I think it’s hard. Nut this article told me how hard it can really get. As I was reading this I thought to myself “not just any average Joe off the street could do this job”. She just keeps moving on even after a person died, I guess that’s what happens in hospitals. People die and more sick people get entered into the system. I felt like she was running the entire place. I know she was understaffed, but I pictured her as like the head coach of the team. Demanding and spitting out commands, left and right. This RN took up a lot of responsibilities and hit them out of the park for a home run. Even though she talks about how the other nurses have had these very bad days, it’s got to be another thing entirely to experience it. Also at the end of it all why can’t she break down a cry like a baby? Is it because she is a girl? Not to say bad things about girls but females are more emotionally inclined to cry then guys. I’m sure after one of these days I would just want a cold drink and a comfy chair. But how does this article fit with my question? Because I would bet a million dollars that she went right back to work next shift. Like I said not anyone can be a RN, it takes a very strong willed/minded human being.